Models Own notd

  

Here's my current nail varnish, one coat of Models Own Peacock green with one coat of Emerald City over the top. I couldn't get a picture of this that truely does the brightness of Emerald City justice.
I've had this combination on for less than 24 hours and there's already some tip wear so not the best lasting combination, I did use a basecoat but no top coat. As the nail on the left shows my nail painting skills leave alot to be desired.

So thats my current notd and i'm kind of loving the glitter

Halloween gore makeup, not for the squmish.

Recently I've been playing around with scar/nose wax so given that Halloween is coming up I thought i'd share a few pictures.

My first attempt with the wax, figured I'd start with the obvious cut.

Then I tried Freddie Krueger-esq cuts.

A close-up edit, I really love this picture.

Grazed knees, edited because it helps distract from my legs and brings out the red.

Fight makeup.
Contrast edited only, just to bring out detail and help with bad natural lighting.

And finally tonights playing around that inspired the post...
my first Joker scar attempt. 

I had real trouble getting the wax to stay still, it got too warm and didn't stay put, so it looks more uneven than planned. 

Quick post to tell you of a good deal

If you're from the UK and fancy trying out a new mascara hqhair.com have an offer, buy anything from their 'Beauty bargains section' and get a free L'oreal Telescopic mascara worth £5 when you enter the code BBHQ1 plus uk standard Delivery is free.
I brought a mini-hair brush for my school bag for £2.33 and the code worked

Minihair brush + mascara for £2.33, can't argue with that. 

There a even a few things cheaper than the mini hairbrush, for example 25ml sachets of Fudge colour conditioning treatments if you fancy giving your hair a treat.

Its a great deal for a good mascara, i'd check it out.
For good measure, so its not a pic-less post, here's a random picture I found on my computer; 

Goats on a roof... somewhere near Portsmouth.

Haul - MAC, The body shop and Urban Decay

I did a little shopping today, okay more than a little, and picked up a few makeup and body bits.
These are the first things i've brought in weeks, since I've been trying to use up items that I've barely touched
(I also went through all my nail varnishes working out which ones i'd used in the last 2 months then made myself try out all the others, as a result of which 3 were thrown out because they were awful).

MAC Prep + prime skin base visage, Creamsheen lipstick in CrossWires and Satin blush in Cubic.

Crosswires is a lovely red with pink and blue undertones. I'm planning a post with swatches of all my MAC lipsticks so a swatch will follow (as will a review on the skin base once i've used it a few times).
Cubic is what I was hoping for from Benefits Dallas, a muted pink-brown that isn't too harsh on pale skin like a typical bronzer.

I'd like to spend a moment just enjoying how pretty the box of this is, it has glitter!
My Porefessional was an item i've finished so I was in need of a new one and having ruled out all the ones in Boots and Superdrug as too thick and decided Porefessional just isn't for me I settled on this (shortly after I knocked a half full MAC palette off the counter breaking two of the eyeshadows, I was so embaressed).

Urban Decay Skyscaper Mascara
My mini Benefit Bad Gal had began disappointing me and i'm now hunting something that gives me proper curl and volume.

Body shop Pink Grapefruit shower gel, Wild rose hand cream, Strawberry scented hand sanitizer and Japanese cherry blossom body mist.

I've nearly finished my current shower gel (a little 100ml bottle of Lush's Happy Hippy) and I don't think i'll be repurchasing so a new shower gel would have been needed probably by the end of next week anyway.
The hand cream smells lovely so this and the hand sanitizer have been earmarked for school use.
The body mist is lovely, very cherry-ish but not overpowering.

MAC On Hold lipstick

I was fairly restrained in Brighton last weekend, I only brought two things in MAC (not including the lipstick I traded in empties for).
 

Its a blue-orange based red with a little shimmer to it (the shimmer is more luster than frost, spread out and not chunky). It can look a little pink depending on the lighting.
Its a really wearable colour because its slightly sheerer than most reds and I can see this suiting anyone.
If you're a little hesitant of red lipstick I'd check this one out, I'd say its a fairly fool proof colour.
On hold is a creamsheen, I thought it was luster until I started writing this because its more luster than creamy, and wear time wise it  lasts 3 or 4 hours.

Current favorites #1 - lipsticks

Yesterday I started posting again after a few months of nothing so i'm doing a few favorites posts just to be sure my blogs caught up.
I'm starting with lipsticks with nail varnishes, eyeshadows, blushes and my usual everyday makeup to follow. 

Left to right; MAC Hold on, MAC Lovelorn, MAC Fanfare and Nars Happy Days.
Taken in natural dull light.
The swatches look pretty much true to colour on my screen so I wont describe their individual colours.

MACs - Hold on and Fanfare are creamsheen and last about 4 hours, Lovelorn is Luster and lasts about 3 hours.
Nars - This is a Velvet gloss lip pencil, its sheer and lovely (I usually layer a little of Fanfare over it for some added colour). Wear time is only about 1-2 hours. Review to follow on this one I think. 

MAC Fanfare lipstick

At the weekend I went to Brighton with my mother for two nights and I headed straight for the MAC store, I had empties to trade in and this was the lipstick I picked. 

Fanfare is a creamsheen finish, I prefer luster usually but this is such a pretty colour.
Its pink but borderline nude which makes it subtle but still gives you a bit of colour.
It reminds me a bit off a more pigmented version 17's Beehive lipstick (beehive and I had a disagreement after it melted so I'm not buying that particular lipstick again). 

Wear time is about 3-4 hours, less if you eat or drink obviously, not too bad as lipsticks go.
Creamsheens do tend to last longer than the luster finishes which I hold so dear. 

BB cream sample reviews - L'oreal

Over the last few weeks i've received samples of three different BB creams (via the brands facebook pages or L'oreal Insider which also has UK only money off vouchers like £2 off any of their products).
L'oreal sent one of each of their creams and Maybelline sent three of the same one which for me makes Maybelline the best sample wise though all the samples were in shade 'Light' which while good for my skin tone isn't going to be good for everyone - maybe NC25 or lighter would be okay.

I knew I was going to have to dismiss the L'oreal ones right away because of the shades they sent out;


Medium and Pure Beige... not a good start.


Sorry about my lack of other makeup.
One side of my face has one and the other on the opposite side.

From this photograph its not too bad colour wise but that's just fairly bright natural lighting and a decent camera setting.

L'oreal Nude Magique in Medium.
(I wrote the letters, in UD Perversion eyeliner, to remind myself)

Its claims to give;
Flawless looking coverage
Perfectly even looking skin texture
Fresh dewy look

The reviews basic because I can't wear these for long, wrong foundation isn't a good look.
Coverage - poor. Freckles, dark pigmentation and blemishes aren't covered.

Skin texture - Uneven. Pores improved very slightly.
Dewy? - No,  greasy.

 L'Oreal Lumi Magique in Pure Beige.
(I'm not sure if this is a BB cream but the L'Oreal samples came together)

Coverage - Some freckles covered but this could just be due to them being similar colours. Skin texture - Pores enhanced not covered. Breathing and hydration - This one feels much lighter than the other but to the touch its even more oily.

This is the Lumi version, to give you an idea of how beige these both are,
I know i'm naturally pale (NC15) and I don't really tan at all but these are bit dark. 
Did they send different colours to different people and I was just unlucky (?) because it seems to be that pretty much every sample sent out or in magazines are beige. 
Maybe its just me and this of sort Beige in the most common foundation tone brought in the UK but this just seems so silly.

Rant over and to end the post, a picture of my blue dip blue for anyone whose interested.

Its a slightly faded Sky blue by Crazy colour and the Brown in shade 5 by garnier nutrisse.

Sugarpill Starling

I've been lusting over Sugarpill shadows for a while but i've been put off by how bright the colours are and the fact that the colours I could see myself wearing are all loose eyeshadows and I don't get on well with pigments/loose powders. However when I ordered my second lot of OCC liptars I couldn't resist this colour.

Sugarpill Starling

Sugarpill Starling - bright sunlight

I mixed a little matt back shadow with some Urban decay primer potion and used it as a base, to tone down the brightness slightly.

Photographs seriously do not do this eye shadow justice, its sort of like a bluer, brighter version of MAC tilt.
With so much shimmer and colour to it I can't see anyone not loving it.

While I've not been fully converted to loose eyeshadows, I've definitively started on the way to becoming a Sugarpill addict. 

I can see my next purchase being either their Magpie loose powder or their upcoming Heartbreaker Pallete;

I've also got my eye on one of their older palettes 'Sweetheart' but I can't seem to find it anywhere, which sucks.

Favorite lipstick post turned dupe?

This post was originally going to be about my three most used lipsticks but when swatching I noticed two of them are almost the same.

Left to right; 

Guerlain KissKiss Strass in 362- Corail Dentelle, Chanel Rouge Allure in 07 - Genius
and Revlon lipbutter in Peach parfait.

How similar do Corail Dentelle and Peach parfait look?

Top - Peach Parfait
Bottom - Corail Dentelle 

The texture, shimmer/glitter and how long they last are fairly similar ( both last about an hour and a bit).

But swatched heavily you can see Coral Dentelle is much more red while Peach Parfait is more brown.

Peach Parfait

Coral Dentelle

Once you put them on their actually as similar as when sheer swatched, unless of course you really layer them both on.

Both are really lovely and the main difference is price, Peach Parfait is £7.99 where as Coral Dentelle is £19.80.

April favorites

As I sit here writing this, watching Dr Who on iPlayer and wanting KFC I can't help but notice i'm rather late writing this.

Left to right; MAC Light flush Mineralize skinfinish, L'Oreal Infallible foundation (my trusty favorite),
Benefit 'The porefessional' primer, MAC Rebel Nail varnish and Revlon lipbutter in Peach Parfait.

I won't go into too much detail about Light flush because its a product thats hard to get hold of but if you can get, it makes a really nice bronzer on pale skin without being muddy or overpowering.

 L'Oreal Infallible in Porcelain is a good medium-high coverage foundation that lasts all day on my oily/combination skin.

Porefessional is a great silicone-y primer, my favorite kind, that really works well on oily and normal skin. Gives such a smooth poreless finish without blocking pores and making me breakout.

I'm a bit premature with my love of Rebel, I've not even worn it properly yet just swatched on one nail, but it really is such a lovely dark purple with a hint of fuchsia. I'm just about to remove my old nail varnish and wear this properly.

I don't think I've seen a single negative review of the lipbutters apart from maybe how long they last, though their basically just a tinted lipblam and lipbalms don't last long. Peach Parfait seems to be the most popular one, most people brought two or three of them and of the 20 multiple swatch posts i've seen this has been in literally all but two.

I'll post a NOTD of Rebel, with my silly short current nails.

Dupe - OCC Grandma Vs. MAC Vegas Volt

I love dupes for products, even more so when the dupe is much cheaper, not such a lover of them when I'm the one whose brought a dupe without knowing its a dupe.

Left - OCC liptar in Grandma
Right - MAC lipstick in Vegas Volt

(natural light)

OCC Grandma - MAC Vegas Volt

I took these photographs yesterday and when I came to labeling them tonight I had to study them close to work out which was which.

There is no difference between the two, both are bright and bold peach/orange.
The OCC liptar lasts much longer, about 4 hours if undisturbed, where as the MAC lasts 2-3 hours if undisturbed.

The MAC as the typical marshmellow smell and the OCC has their peppermint oil smell, neither are noticeable once their on.
I can also see the liptar lasting much longer with .33 onces against MAC's 0.1 onces, more than three times the product and you really only need a small amount of the liptar.

OCC - £9.50 

MAC - £13.50

OCC liptars - review and swatches

OCC are a brand I've been lusting after for ages, I finally gave in last week and picked up a few.
I decided to buy Grandma and Harlot from cocktailcosmetics.co.uk as they had the old style packaged ones for £6.50 so I got harlot in the old and Grandma in the new, they didn't have Grandma in the old and I wanted it so much.

Then I was super impressed and it arrived within 48 hours, they ship all their orders recorded so you do have to sign for them, so I made another order this time of Butch and  Melange (as well as a cheeky Sugarpill shadow). Again posted the next day and arrived the day after, colour me impressed at the speedy shipping.

Anyway, shipping and order ramble over. On to the swatches.

Left to right; Butch,  Melange, Harlot, Grandma.

Butch is a blue with grey and purple undertones.
Melange is a brown with a hint of red.
Harlot is basically a bright red, sort of vintage red.
Grandma is my favorite, I love it, its a red with a little orange.

Their really long lasting, with matt finishes and I don't find them drying though I know some people do.

And for anyone who doesn't know much about these, these are meant to be mixed to create different colours (I don't think I'd wander around just wearing Butch).

Though whenever I try to mix any combination of these I basically just get various shades of purple.

For example this brown-purple mix of 1/4 harlot, 1/4 butch and half Melange.

Close up of Harlot.

If you over apply them they do feather and bleed, they did this on my hand as well so I decided to take a picture of that as well.

Old packaging, Butch.

I can see why they changed the packaging. This is what I was greeted with when I went to use Butch a second time. Even a tiny squeeze, even while the lids on, makes a mess and loads of product comes out.

I forgot to photograph the new packaging but its similar to the newer Urban decay Primer Potion packaging, thin nose sort of thing.

Writing this has made me want to order more and try to actually make different colours. I would have actually ordered more already but I'm going to Brighton on Sunday and want to keep as much of my bank balance intact because I know i'll probably have no money after I get hyper in Brighton. I plan to be good, and have enough for a few more liptars (and a few Sugarpill bits) afterwards.

On a non-makeup note;

So having swapped back to the old Blogger layout, I can actually make my way around the site with out being confused and annoyed. I don't like the scroll-y thing of the new one, I slightly like the post writing page but the rest was bothering me so much. I was trying to navigate it and came across an option to swap back, I was very happy.

MAC Lightscapade - swatches.. kinda

I've been lusting after Lightscapade for months, since I saw it being re-released with their new Reel Sexy collection.

When I saw they'd gone up on the MAC website early, the collections are usually released on the first Thursday of the month but it was up on Monday afternoon, I ordered it right away (along with the Rebel nail varnish, how am I to resist a purple?... plus it gave me free delivery.)

Anyway, onto the swatches.

MAC Lightscapade on my arm... really its there, honest.

Lightscapade heavily applied.. and I mean heavily. 

You can see some shimmer right?

As it turns out Lightscapade is basically a sheer, shimmery foundation on my skin.

I'd like to say this now, I have never found a highlight that was an exact skin tone match for me. I'm pale as hell and every highlight looks like its basically either like a bronzer or pure white with some glitter on me.

The first picture is my attempt at packing on the product with my usual blush brush (Sigma F84) the second is my attempt at making it show up with my fingers, i figured i'd pick up more product like that... turns out it makes very little difference.
Such a shame, I can see this looking pretty on anyone (and actually showing up on anyone) with darker than NC/NW15 skin. I can barely wear MAC foundations or concealers and that's in the middle of summer or after at least a week of sunny weather. Though I do love the coverage of my NW15 ProLongwear concealer, though if its not been sunny I have to make sure I wear at least a medium coverage foundation over it to cover the darkness.

I have basically brought a fairly expensive product I can think of no use for, I can't even apply it and get a slight glow like I thought I might. I had to layer it up to make any sort of difference. I just ended up looking like Edward Cullen, beyond pale and glittery. 

And its not even like I try to keep my skin this pale, I know its naughty of me but I've not used sunscreen for over 2 years. This is me with a tan.

Damn you paleness!

MAC - Bombshell lipstick

I traded this is as back2mac, the woman seemed surprised I choose one so quickly but I love this colour.

MAC Bombshell 

I love pink lipsticks but they all seem to be too pastel barbie-ish, this one has the barbie feel but its nice and wearable. 

Its quite a buildable colour, over lipblam it adds a little colour, a light layer on it own looks subtle and a bit more layering of it will give you a really bold look. Its a colour I can see suiting most people.

MAC pigments - my little collection

I don't have many pigments, or loose powders in general, because their fiddly to apply.

I know swatches can be useful, google image search is a godsend when it comes to buying makeup online, so I figure I'll post the few I do own.

Left to right - Teal, Circa Plum, Bloodline.

Left to right (wet, dry heavy, dry light) - Bloodline, Circa Plum and Teal.

Bloodline - Matt black base with a very light hint of purple, red and bronze shimmer to it, I was hoping it was going to be more bronze-red as a base colour so I was slightly disappointed with it.

Circa Plum - A really nice shimmery plum with a hint of silver and bronze. It looks far more of a bright purple when its used wet.

Teal - More green than teal, metallic and some shimmer the same colour as the metallic base.

I've got loads more swatch posts lined up, four to be exact, I'm about to schedule them for the next four days so quite a few posts in a short space of time.

Latest MAC Skinfinish purchases

I think i've developed a new love, MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes. Their just so lovely.
Sadly because Skinfinishes are limited edition its quite an expensive love, plus their MAC so bound to be a bit pricey.

In the last week or so i've brought two more (Ebay of course) and I really like them.

Top - Light Flush

Bottom - Pink Porcelain 

Close up of Pink Porcelain
(Its so pretty.)

Light flush is a colour I can actually use as a bronzer, its shimmery but its not too muddy.

Pink Porcelain is light enough for me to actually use a highlight, I'm amazed by this because i've yet to find a blush light enough for a highlight they've had to be very very sheer to look okay and light enough on me.

I can't wait for Lightscapade next month. I plan to go get one first thing on the day its released.
I'd order it online from them but i've ordered twice from MAC and they've lost my order between packaging and Yodel both times. Since its limited edition i'm not willing to risk them not having spare to send me when its a week late and I ring to chase it (Luckily my other two orders were still in stock).

March empties

I don't know about you guys.. girls.. but I struggle to finish products.
This month is quite the triumph for me, a total of 13 empties.

Five Lush empties = A free face mask

Six MAC empties = A free lipstick

I also finished two Rimmel lipsticks but I've lost the cases so can't photograph them.

I've been trying to use up the Lush ones for ages, theres two shower jellies in there and they take forever to use up. As well as the Shower jellies there is Dark Angels face scrub (makes such a mess), Lemony Flutter cuticle butter (amazing smell but takes a while to absorb), Brazened Honey face mask (AMAZING).

I waited until i'd finished off enough of each brand to trade them in before i wrote this post, so a few of the empties are from this month too.

MAC Petticoat vs NYC Chroma Moonstone

MAC Mineralize Skinfinishes are sought after and limited edition ones can sell for three times their RRP.

Petticoat is a lovely vained colour in the pan and on the skin its a lovely plum-copper colour with a golden shine but its such a difficult colour to wear I think any one with skin lighter than a MAC NC/NW40 would struggle to wear it, I never stood a chance with my NC15 skintone but I was hopeful so picked it up from a blogsale... I was right, it doesn't suit me, but I don't regret buying it.

So after seeing posts and swatches online comparing the discontinued NYC Chroma faceglow in Moonstone I knew I had to get my hands on it.

Left - MAC Petticoat

Right - NYC Moonstone

Top - NYC Moonstone

Bottom - MAC Petticoat

You can see their similar, the main difference is the lack of copper in it as well the less lower pigmentation which is this case I don't think is a bad thing. 

If I apply Petticoat in an incrediably sheer way I can make it look decent on me but this is tricky and i've only managed to be this light handed twice, most of the time i just end up looking like i've been smacked in the face and bruised slightly metallic.

With Moonstone I can get the look of Sheer Petticoat with out the difficulty.

Really their both lovey, Moonstones great for lighter skin and Petticoat for darker.

Petticoat was Limited edition and Moonstone is discontinued but you can find both online (I got mine Moonstone from Ebay), Petticoat for around £30 and Moonstone for £2.20- £4.50 - making moonstone much cheaper.