EOTD: Remember the NAKED palette?

Of course you do... :) 

For me this is the palette that I would choose above all others if I had someone (for whatever reason) holding a gun to my head and giving me a palette ultimatum.It's a palette I reach for most days, weather I'm having a lazy day, but not so lazy that I go sans eye shadow, or I feel like a full on smoky eye. It's so versatile that there's no wonder it has withstood the initial hype and remains a firm favourite.

Today was a 'day time smoky' kinda day, initially, as I didn't plan on venturing out too far in the torrential downpour that this morning offered us up in the UK I was planning on having an above mentioned lazy make-up day, but I was off work and had a bit of extra time to play so this is what I ended up with instead.

Virgin all over lid
Toasted in centre of lid
Gunmetal in crease and 'outer v' then blended upwards and outwards
A mixture of Gunmetal and Creep on a damp angled eyeliner brush pushed into top lash line
A mixture of Toasted and Gunmetal on a pencil brush smudged into lower lash line.
One coat of Max factor eye brightening mascara on upper and lower lashes

This follows the rules of my usual day time smoky eye.

A light colour on the lid with a smoky 'outer v' blended into the crease, and a little definition along the lash lines using powder to avoid being overly harsh.

Paired with a nude lip and a bit of bronzer I was good to go (nowhere!) 

I had to search my blog archive for this as my NAKED palette is feeling a little camera shy these days (ie the mirror is smashed and it is very well loved ;) )


Is this a 'go to' palette for you?
xxx

EOTD (Shock) Adriana Lima's signature look using only drugstore products

Channel your inner Victoria's secret Angel 

*Apply foundation over eyelid then blend over with translucent powder

*Apply the palest colour from the MUA innocence trio over the entire lid and blend slightly using a fluffy brush

*Apply the mid toned colour from the trio over lid just up to the crease and blend

*Using a tapered crease brush apply a black shadow (I used the one from the Sleek Acid palette) 

onto the outer V of the eye and blend into the crease

*Apply a gel liner (I used the Maybelline drama liner) all the way along the upper lashline

*Line both waterlines using a waterproof kohl pencil 

(I cheated slightly here and used MAC Smoulder)

*Take the mid toned colour from the MUA innocence trio on a liner brush and apply underneath the lower lashes thickening the line as you reach the outer corner.

*On the same liner brush apply black eye shadow under the lower lashes starting from the outer corner and tapering off at the centre of the lower lash line.

*On a small detail brush (or a small flat e/s brush) apply a pale gold highlight on the tear duct area. (I used one from the MUA heaven and earth palette)

*Curl lashes and apply black mascara. (I used bourjois volumiser of which I am not a fan!)

G-STRING AND ANGEL WINGS OPTIONAL! 

;) 

If my 'typetorial' made no sense,  I made a short video on my You Tube channel

(Complete with awkward narration)

I adore the Blue eyes and dark hair combo.

I would chew off my right arm for those blue eyes!

So being a good blogger I did my research on the beautiful Adriana Lima and let me tell you if ever there was a surefire way to kickstart a diet then watching the Victoria's secret fashion show is it!

My new phrase is WWAD (what would Adriana do!) I even refused chocolate cheesecake and carte d'or ice cream when I visited the rents last night!! 

AND WHEN I HAVENT BEEN PRETENDING TO BE IN THE VICTORIA SECRET GANG....

*Yesterday Babyliss tweeted me to let me know I have won one of their Volume waves stylers in the Christmas competition that they are running...I'm hoping that this tool will aid me in my mission to be a VS Angel (ahem)

* My lovely friend and fellow One direction <3'er Charli bear has asked for my address and is sending me something that she is keeping a secret (to do with Aussie haircare) through the post :)

*Also speaking of one direction loverrr's it's Hayley bear's (sense the bear theme, I can't actually stop) birthday today YAY! Happy birthday Hayley!! we are trying to get Zayn from 1direction to tweet her, so if you have time please pester him and tweet "@zaynmalik please could you give  @HayleysXO a birthday shoutout #comeonZayn :) it would make her day" 

Hopefully you aren't sick to the back teeth of seeing close up eye shot's, I promise to mix it up and pop up some reviews, quite a few of you have been asking me what I think to the Jemma Kidd light as air foundation and to be honest I still haven't made up my mind on it, I plan to wear it constantly for the next few days so that I can give it a fair review. 

Also I have a rather spesh e/s palette on it's way to me which I will most definitely be posting about!  ;) 

XXX

Xmas Party IOTD: Feline green

Hey girls,

Firstly that's not a typo in the title, Of course I was going to name this post EOTD but I felt like a bit of a fraud doing so as this is not a look that I have being sporting for the whole day also sadly I am not attending any sort of Xmas party shenanigans this evening, oh no, its a True blood sofa fest with my boyfriend up in here tonight!

So the IOTD was born (Idea of the day) wow Im a pioneer! ;) 

Type-torial (pioneer I tell ya ;)) 

*Apply black kohl pencil over lower lid concentrating on the lash line (it will look messy don't worry)

*with your ring finger smudge the colour upwards to create a 'smoked out' effect that finishes just above the crease of your eyelid

*blend over with a clean fluffy brush 

*neaten edges with a cotton bud and (non oily) eye make up remover

*Dampen a flat (lay down) brush and use to apply the green pigment over the lower part of your eyelid 

*lightly blend upwards with another clean fluffy brush

*On a tapered crease brush apply a sparkly black pigment into the crease and blend

*blend the outer edges using translucent powder

*On a pencil brush mix black pigment (or e/s) with the sparkly black and apply under the lower lashes

*using a push liner brush line the upper lashline with either a black eye shadow or gel liner

*Line both water lines with a waterproof black eyeliner

*Apply two coats of black mascara, and false lashes if you have them (I didn't)

Et Voila!

Colours used

*MAC Dark soul pigment

*MUA shade 3 pigment

*Lumiere cosmetics starry night pigment

This is a very messy look to recreate, always have make-up wipes and non oily eye make-up remover soaked cotton buds handy to minimise mess (and stress) and always, always do your eye make-up first.

And now in video 

(This is not the best video, I must warn you but all the steps are there ;))

Also I realise that it has been getting very eye orientated around here of late, I kinda think it could be the next big thing, d'ya reckon Apple might like the idea of the iblog ;)

I hope you are all having a lovely Friday night!

xxx

..

Quick and easy EOTD...Xmas party?

Evening lovelies :)

I hope you are all good! 

This post is the second that I have written tonight, I just stupidly wrote out a whole post on a Jayne Eyre costume exhibition that I went to see a few weeks ago, then when I went to edit my pictures realised that I had accidently deleted them off my camera, so I guess that's a valuable blogging lesson learned today! I.am.a.dope!  Haha ooh well! Luckily I had a few pictures on there that I had taken of an eye look I did based on a picture of Jessica Alba that my friend Rhiannon sent me last week and had asked me to do a video on the look for her.

 I wasn't going to post these because I don't feel like I got the Jessica Alba look quite right (Im a sucker for perfection) but I do think it's a pretty look for the festive season and I am feeling sooo in the festive spirit at the moment I thought it would be nice to glitterize the blog to match my mood :) ...

Products used

benefit lemon aid eye primer all over the lid

MAC bronze eye shadow (on a MAC 217 brush) blended all over the lid

Urban Decay Half baked eye shadow (on a MAC 239 brush) on lower lid up to crease

MAC solar bits pigment (on a MAC 239 brush) patted randomly on top of the bronze and half baked  

MAC bronze (on a MAC 219 brush) on inner corner of lower lashline

Urban Decay Half baked eye shadow (on same 219 brush) on outer 2/3 of lower lashline 

Collection 2000 intense colour black kohl on top and bottom waterline and smudged slightly under lower lashes

Lashes- Eyelure 107's

For some reason I didn't line the upper lash line to disguise the lash band (or trim the end of the lashes. Rookie. lol!), I think I was rushing out of the door, but you would want to do this with these particular lashes as the band is quite noticeable. 

I hope you like it :) 

Anyhooch I have a bubble bath waiting for me which I can't wait to get into as I've felt quite poorly today so hopefully it should sort me out, then I plan on settling down to watch the rest of True blood series 1 with the boyf under a blanket with a big bar of nestle crunch! Oh and there is also a new Yankee candle burning away (vanilla frosting!!) 

 I do <3 cozy winter nights ;) 

xxx

F/EOTD: Diana Vickers Collection 2000 inspired Make-up

Hey Girls,
The other day I got the new issue of more magazine, not sure if 27 make's me too old for it but I still love it, in fact it's the only magazine that I buy on a regular basis, In my head I am totally still 18!

Anyway the reason I'm drivelling on about a magazine is that, while flicking through, not to giggle at Barbie and Ken doing position of the week,I might add ;) I noticed a rather bright advert for Collection 2000's new pump up the volume mascara featuring Diana Vickers (The new face of the brand) The make-up, I thought looked stunning and it was instantly something I wanted to recreate myself.

Image from DianaVickersDaily.com
Another mascara ad with obvious falsies WHY?

No Lash inserts or dramatisations have been used in this photo ;p

Although it would look better with lashes lol

Sorry for the shoddy webcam picture, I find it so hard to take a decent picture of my face with my camera any tips would be hugely appreciated :D

I know that Yellow eye make-up is not everyone's cup of tea, and I never pick a yellow to wear on my eyes, although with this look I think the smokiness under the lower lashes and warm brown in the socket help to make it wearable. I honestly really loved wearing this look out last night, it was so nice for a change, and it's definitely something I will wear again with pleasure! 

Righty then, I'm off for homemade pizza at my Mum and Dad's house now, so naughty but so amazing! My mouth is actually watering at the thought of it! Also very excited that it's The Batchelor night tonight, any other Batchelor fans out there? Who do you think he will pick? I was thinking Layla but it's looking more and more like he will pick Carrie-Anne...urgh... me no likey xxx

In case you want to watch me waffle on while I Diana-fy

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

xxx

EOTD: Autumn trend/Graphic lines

Hey Girls,
Yesterday I got my subscription email from In style magazine, which had a section on Autumn/Winter eyeliner trends, one in particular caught my eye (geddit eye haha.Small minds!) It was a trend used in the Louis Vuitton A/W 2011 ad campaign in which the models wore a stroke of liquid liner drawn freehand in the inner corner of the eye.

This afternoon I had a bit of spare time, so as always when this happens, I sat on my bedroom floor with my make-up and entertained myself, kind of like a toddler with a packet of crayons. I purchased a few Sleek palette's a couple of weeks ago and hadn't really had much chance to use them, so as the weather has finally decided to get in the right season I went with the sunset palette which has some gorgeous colours in it that really scream Autumn. I think the LV eyeliner trend must have settled it's self into my subconscious because after I had finished applying the winged liner my hand was kind of drawn into the inner tear duct area and was happily drawing a line there aswell...

The Sleek Sunset palette

Anyone for a bit of extra forehead? Crop fail :(

On the one hand it's a bit cheeky to call this an eye of the day as I haven't been out around town wearing this look, however on the other it's so on the money as I only did the one eye and am still wearing it. I have to pop to the local shop now, I wonder if the one eyed make-up look will go down well...I'll let you know ;) xxx

'Acid eyes' using the Sleek Acid palette

Hey girls,
Haha I know 'Acid eyes' just sounds wrong! But I thought it was perhaps the best way to describe this crazy eye look that I came up with using the Acid palette!
As I only had one Sleek palette in my make-up collection, which is the 'Oh so special' palette (which I love using!)Yesterday I decided it was time to immerse myself fully into the world of Sleek and went to town to pick up a couple more.

Fortunately (for my boyfriend, who's debit card I used) Sleek palette's are pretty inexpensive because I showed little restraint and slammed 3 into my basket (Sunset, Acid, and Original) oops! My justification for this (to the boyf) was that it would cost nearly £400 for the same amount of eye shadows in MAC and he should think himself lucky that there isn't a store close to where we live, so I got off the hook. Phew. hehe ;)

Anyway enough of my wittering and onto the make-up.

Eeeeeeeek! How insanely bright are these colours?? I love this palette so much and had so much fun playing around with it last night. I love that it also includes more wearable shades, so that it isn't made redundant when you don't feel like sporting acid bright's!

I also made a video on my You Tube channel so if you are interested in this palette or how I did this look then pop on over :)

Do you own the Acid palette?

Blush crush #4

Afternoon pretty ladies!
My latest blush crush is Coralista from benefit, which I received as part payment for helping to promote the new benefit mascara in Boots a few weeks back now, I did a video on that over on my You Tube channel so if you are interested in what other goodies I got and what went on, here is the link to it (Video)

At first glance I thought that Coralista was too similar to NARS deep throat blush, which I already own and love to bits (blush crush #1) and wouldn't really be worth getting. However luckily I had Lisa with me who loves it and convinced me that I did in fact need it in my life.

Coralista is a stunning pale coral/pink with a subtle gold sheen, the way I think best describes it is, If NARS Deep throat and NARS Orgasm had a baby, then this would be it, although the gold sheen in Coralista is a lot less obnoxious which makes it more universally wearable than NARS Orgasm.

Besides the colour, what I really love about Coralista is how incredibly finely milled, pigmented, and soft in texture it is, which makes it apply like an absolute dream, so can be worn as a subtle wash of colour or can be very easily built up to get a much more intense colour payoff. I also love how you get a massive 12g of product, which means I wont be having to splash out £23.50 for another one any time soon, happy days.

Top Coralista swatched lightly,
Bottom swatch built up heavily.

Do you own this blush, or any other benefit boxed blushers

What do you think of them?

Ooh just a quick p.s, I was so chuffed to guest blog over at the lovely Kat's blog yesterday while she is on holiday. It's just another EOTD using the Sleek Oh so special palette but in case you wanted to see here's the link (Clickandmakeup) :)

xxx

Playing with the Sleek Oh so special palette

Gateaux all over lid
Noir blended over Gateaux
Celebrate in crease and outer V
Noir smudged under lower lashline
Gateaux in tearduct and lower lashine

Hey girlies,
as the title suggests, I have spent part of the afternoon playing with the Oh so special palette from Sleek (the rest of the afternoon was spent coming up with a catchy post title ;))

The Oh so special palette is actually the first palette (aside from the primer palette) that I have purchased from Sleek, I have no idea why this is, and I'm pretty sure that I must be the only beauty blogger/MUA in the UK not to own at least the storm palette!

I knew that I wanted the Oh so special palette as soon as I set eyes on it and I do really like it, it has a great mix of matte and shimmery neutrals with a couple of gorgeous matte peach shades also included, which I used for the next look...

Ribbon all over lid
Organza blended into crease
Glitz smudged into upper and lower lashlines
Bow to highlight brow bone

Gateaux is my favourite shade from the palette, it's a really pretty duo chromatic soft peachy pink with gold sheen, in the first look I did where I layered noir over it, the gold really shows through and turns to a metallic olive shade when the light hits, I love it!

There are a couple of colours in this particular palette that don't rock my world ie.The mail and boxed which is just personal taste and why I didn't use them today (well actually I did, but hated the look so haven't added it hehe) But aside from that I am looking forward to picking up a few more Sleek palette's soon. 

Which Sleek palette is your favourite?

A Steamy EOTD

Evening honey's,

This EOTD came about from a funny mish mash of inspiration from fellow bloggers. Last night I read Muhsine's latest blogpost in which she created a beautiful eye make-up using Humid e/s from MAC, this morning I 'shopped my stash' after reading Fee's latest post in which she had been inspired to do the same by Laura and found that I actually had humid and had for some strange reason pushed it to the back of my eye shadow drawer, in a MAC palette of the shadows I don't really use...lost yet? It continues! This afternoon I had a little twitter convo with Yu about Humid and Steamy (my favourite ever green e/s from MAC) and decided an EOTD using both would be a good idea, so here is what I came up with.

I used to wear Green's so much more and really have gotten myself into a neutral eye shadow rut lately (I blame Urban Decay!:)), which is a big shame as Green's really compliment brown eyes. I think this is going to be the look I go for on my next night out with some false lashes for some added ooomph!

Products used

NARS EGEA E/S DUO (JUST THE GREEN)

MAC STEAMY E/S

MAC HUMID E/S

URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE ON EYE PENCIL (ZERO)

When I originally bought the NARS EGEA duo, I thought that I had royally wasted my money, however this was another product I found today when 'shopping my stash' and I fell a little bit in love with it (fickle,me?) It worked so peferctly for this look used all over the lid as a base, and as a brow bone and tear duct highlight.

 I hope you guy's like the look :) let me know what you think, ooh and also let me know what are your favourite Green eyeshadows! Im just off to try and catch up with the last half of the #bbloggers chat on Twitter, might see some of you there xxx

Mario Testino Portraits 2:Patsy Kensit inspired wet look smoky eye

I am really enjoying this book as you can probably tell seen as though I only posted a look from it last night. But playing with make-up is what miserable rainy (AUGUST) day's like today are for right?

I am obsessed with wet look smoky eyes which are pretty unwearable but photograph so beautifully
(especially if Mario Testino is behind the camera)

Again Im no Mario (no shiz!) But this is my version...

Products used

Sleek primer palette (Gold)

MAC Dark soul pigment

MAC Solar bits pigment

Urban decay Half baked

Sleek oh so special (black)

Vaseline

Loreal Carbon gloss liquid liner

Clinique lash impact mascara

I actually just noticed that I forgot to line my waterline, I blame my Pug Obi who was being needy as I was applying the make-up :) Its sods law that now I have finished he's snoozing on the rug ha!

Ooh on a totally random note, Inception starts on Sky movies tonight which , If you haven't seen it (and you are also staying in on a Friday night) I really recommend flicking it on later its amazing :D

Have a great weekend lovelies.

Mario Testino Portraits:Cameron Diaz inspired look

I have a fair few books that I reach for when Im in need of inspiration for make-up ideas/looks.One of my most treasured is the Mario Testino portrait book which includes some seriously beautiful images of celebrities shot by the world renowned fashion photographer.

I have bookmarked a few of my favourite images which I especially love the make-up in, in fact I bookmarked them a few years ago now and my favourites remain the same (maybe im not so fickle after all ;))

So tonight feeling a little inspired and not wanting to watch Scunthorpe V Newcastle (seriously why do boy's have to watch every single match) I skidaddled upstairs book under my arm and did my interpretation of my favourite look from this magical book which is the beautiful Cameron Diaz and this stunning bronze/smokey look.

Obviously I am no Mario Testino (and certainly no Cameron Diaz) but I am seriously thinking of going on a photography course as I really enjoy taking pictures and would really love to know what Im doing!

MUA 'Dusk til dawn' Pro palette:Simple coloured smoky EOTD

What a mouthful of a title that was! EOTD would probably have sufficed, oh well!

Today my hand spazzed out and bypassed the Naked palette in favour of the MUA pro Dusk til Dawn one, which has seen very little love in the couple of months that I've owned it. In fact truth be told I swatched it for a blog post, popped it into my palette drawer and forgot all about it!

what big eyes you have!

Products used

MAC Paintpot-Painterly as a primer

Gold colour bottom row, far left all over lower lid taken into the tear duct and just past the crease.

Turquoise middle,bottom row all over lower lid (excluding tear duct) up to crease.

Deep Purple,bottom row blended up to crease on the outer 2/3rd of eye.

Turquoise and purple colours both used under lower lashline.

Loreal telescopic mascara.

Urban decay 24/7 eyeliner (zero) along waterline.

If that makes sense "/

Hello humidity frizz (what's with the weather?)

S'cuse the dodgy FOTD I know it's a little whited out and bos eyed, but I wanted to show how I wore this look as a daytime smoky keeping the rest of my make-up as natural as possible, using just Chanel Pro lumiere foundation and MAC creme cup lipstick.It felt like a no blush/bronzer/highlighter kind of day and it's so damn hot and sticky in the UK at the moment I really couldn't be bothered faffing around.

With a pair of false lashes and extra eyeliner this could also be taken into a night-time smoky eye.

Let me know what you think girls, and also which other MUA Pro palettes are worth picking up?