My Halloween Green Cat's Eyes FOTN

I didn't dress up for Halloween this year as I didn't go to a proper fancy dress party, but I went to my boyfriend's pub on Friday night with a couple of my friends and we all did a little subtle something.  Here's my FOTN...

Products used:
AVON Magic X Face Perfector
Revlon Colourstay Foundation in Ivory mixed with Revlon Photo Ready Foundation in Vanilla
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW15
Prescriptives All Skins Mineral Makeup in Warm Light as setting powder
Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel
Sleek MakeUP Shimmer Blush in Rose Gold
MAC MSF in Light Flush for contouring
Bourjois Blanc Diaphane eye shadow as cheek and eyebrow highlight
Lancome Le Crayon Kohl in Noir
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack on upper lashes and Maybelline Lash Stiletto on lower lashes
MUFE Aqua Smokey Lash mascara

All the eye shadows came from this Coastal Scents 88 Ultra Shimmer Eye Shadow Palette:

Eyes close up:

And with kitty kat mask (it's a child's one from Accessorize so it's a bit small!):

Next year I'm going all out, and at the moment really keen on doing a Sugar Skull/Day of The Dead make up look having being inspired by some fantastic YouTube tutorials, but am not sure what sort out outfit I should wear with it.

And finally, some snaps of my gorgeous friend Angel (Highheelsandlipgloss.com) and her fiance Mark.  Her eye make up was amazing and Mark's 'Twilight' contact lenses looked eerily real in natural light.

And every witch has a kitty kat!

What did you dress up as for Halloween?!

Don't forget to enter my makeup giveaway! (Closes 27th November)

Happy Hallo-Kitty-Ween!

I love Halloween, it's my second favourite holiday after Christmas.  I didn't really get dressed up this year, but I went to the pub Friday night with a cat mask and a green cat's eye shadow look.   Will post a few snaps/Halloween FOTD.  I've had a lovely Halloween chilling with my mum and finally getting my hands on the Sleek Bad Girl eye shadow palette - yay!  Hope you've had a great day too!

I always get a pumpkin for Halloween, and this year I got a little more adventurous with my carving :)

Who's Going to IMATS London 2011?

I was very tempted to go to IMATS (International Makeup Artist Trade Show) in January last year but in the end gave it a miss.  Did any of you go to last year's one? Would you recommend it?

I'm thinking of going, just for one of the days, and particularly interested in Crown Brushes.  I suppose it's better to go on the Saturday or a lot of the good stuff may be sold out by the second day.  But of course it depends on the seminars/talks which are running on each day.  The schedule hasn't been posted on the site yet.

It's taking place on Sat 29th and Sun 30th January 2011 at Alexandra Palace, which is in London and a pretty location, but Wood Green is not  a very convenient place to get to.  The Olympia would be better for me!  Advance tickets are on sale now and prices will go up after 17th December.

A two day ticket is £55, one day is £33, but you can get in for less if you're a student or only want to visit the exhibit floor.  The show hours are 8.30am - 5pm on Saturday and 10am - 5pm on Sunday.  Early start on Saturday then!

Click HERE for more information on the London show.  Will you be booking up?

Don't forget to enter my makeup giveaway! (Closes 27th November)

Your Advice Please! ... Shopping List Ideas for Miami...

I'm going to Miami (for work) in November, but I'm going out a couple of days early to get some sightseeing and shopping in! I'll also be there on 26th November which I hear is 'Black Friday' where a lot of shops have crazy sales on!

I used to have a list of bits I wanted to get next time I go to the US, but it's gone missing! So, I'm hoping you will give me your suggestions of beauty products and shops which I need to check out! 

Here's my list so far, I'll only get a few bits, depending on the prices of course!:

Products 
Eco Tools brushes (I know Boots stocks some of these now, but I'd rather wait to see if I can get a larger set for less $)
MAC 109 brush
MAC 168 brush
MAC 138 brush
MAC 224 brush
MAC 219 brush
Or maybe I should just order a Sigma set? It depends the currency exchange rate at the time.  I had a quick look at the MAC US site, and its not good :(
MAC Pro Longwear Concealer
MAC Antiqued e/s
Juicy Couture (original) EDP
Crest Advanced Seal White Strips (My friend brought me a set last time she was in Miami, and I like!)
A&F Fierce (I know it's a man's scent, but I love it!)
Stilla Kitten e/s
Covergirl Lash Blast mascara
Kheil's Avocado Eye Treatment
NARS Laguna/Orgasm Duo
Ped Egg blades (yuk, but good!)


Shops
Ulta
Sephora (really interested in their set of mini perfumes/mascaras and perfume rollerballs)
Forever 21
CVS
Target (hoping I can get my hands on one of the Mulberry bags, but I 'spose there all sold out now...)
Sally's Beauty Supply

A&F

And can anyone tell me if there's an In-N-Out Burger in Miami/Fort Lauderdale...Google search has proved fruitless :(

I'm looking forward to your suggestions and really interested in hearing about products you can only get in the US!

Don't forget to enter my makeup giveaway! (Closes 27th November)

5-5-5 Make-Up Challenge Round Up!

I did my challenge a couple of weeks ago but forgot to let you know how I got on!  The idea behind was to streamline my morning make up routine, tease out what really are my essential make up items (I'd now be happy to travel with just 5 items!) and to use up some products which seem to be lasting forever! (I'm looking at you, Collection 2000 Lasting Finish foundation! ¬_¬)

To recap, the challenge consisted of the following:

Choose 5 products - I've picked a mix of budget and MAC, but to make it even more recession friendly you can make all 5 budget, or if you think you'd really struggle 5 high-end may work better as they tend to be the best for 'multi-tasking' - like the NARS Multiple in Orgasm.

• It should only take 5 minutes to apply everything - I'm timing myself for the first time tomorrow morning so I'll let you know how I get on!
• Repeat for 5 days - Monday to Friday; my working week. 
• Use of beauty tools, like brushes and eyelash curlers is not restricted.

And this was my kit:

I was on 'earlies' at work that week so it was a blessing to know exactly what I was using and to try and keep it down to five minutes. I succeeded in sticking to 5 products only for 5 days, but I'd forgotten how long it takes to blend in the Collection 2000 foundation - this along took almost 5 minutes! So in reality the whole routine took about 8-10 minutes, which isn't too bad considering I did look like I was 'made up'. If I were to use a lighter foundation like Bourjois Healthy Mix or Bare Minerals I reckon I could get it down to 5 minutes.

As it was a challenge I did go back to my regular kit afterwards, but in future, if I know I have a particularly stressful work week ahead with early starts I'll pick out a few bits on a Sunday night, set them aside and stick with them for the week.

I took photos on a few of the mornings, and here they are for your viewing pleasure! On the final morning I was trying out some mineral foundation from Firstlight Cosmetics, so I look a bit paler, but I substituted it for the liquid foundation, thereby sticking to the 5 product rule!

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Overall, it was a fun challenge, but I did miss my blusher! It was very hard to resist using my new Sleek Rose Gold!

EOTD: MAC + Disney Venomous Villains - My Dark Magic Purple Smoky Eye

My Dark Magic Mineralize Eye Shadow Duo is my favourite acquisition from the Venomous Villains collection, and the last one for those of you who've been following my posts on the other items.  It wasn't a piece which spoke to me online, but in the flesh, or mica, it was too gorgeous to leave behind.  My one has a lot of pink running through it, but I would have preferred more of the purple colour.  It cost £16.50, but I try not to think about that...and it is bloody HUGE and will give me smoky eyes for the rest of time!

My last run in with a MAC Mineralize e/s was Love Connection from last Christmas's Pinkzapoppin' set.  It was very roughly milled, packed full of cheap glitter and barely pigmented, and a lot smaller than this offering.

All I used for the above look was My Dark Magic.  Easiest smoky eye ever!  I found that if you blend too much you just end up with a sheeny charcoal, but you can just dab some of the purple or magenta lightly in the centre of your lid or the inner corner to add a bit of interest.

And some close ups...

You can see here I'd blended it in a bit too much, but the purple is still showing up along my lower lid.  Below I just dabbed on some more purple/pink...

I found that the best brush to apply this with is a small, flat shader brush like the MAC 239, and then use a small blending brush on any sharp edges.

Sadly My Dark Magic is sold out now, the cheapest I saw it going for on eBay is £27 :O!

NOTD: MAC + Disney Venomous Villains - Bad Fairy Nail Lacquer

When I first saw the VV collection swatched on Temptalia, my initial reaction was...meh... (although I was soon whipped up into a frenzy by the hype), except for this little beauty: Bad Fairy Nail Lacquer.  Fell in love at first sight and it will be an enduring love.  The only drawback is that, like Mean & Green, it takes a few coats to really reach it's full potential.  But it looks 'ok' with just two, unlike M&G.


Behold the beauty...

One Coat, with flash

Two coats, with flash

I really hope MAC considering making this a permanent product, as I'd definitely repurchase.  It's Autumn and Christmas in a bottle.  Mine has a very red/orange/gold tinge but I've seen swatches that show it looking more magenta.

It chips very easily at the edge of your nails, so a clear top coat is a must.  Also it works best with a another opaque colour underneath.  When I tried it in store I was wearing Ciate's Mistress, and one coat of Bad Fairy worked amazingly well.  I'll be doing this in future to conserve it as it's only 10mls, which for £8, isn't that great!

MAC + Disney Venomous Villains: Strange Potion Lipglass

Strange Potion Lipglass - from the Evil Queen range - was another impulse purchase from the collection, but I'm pretty happy with it.  The colour flatters my skintone and for a lipgloss, it's extremely pigmented.  The colour is a bit of a tame pinky-peach and not too disimilar to Pink Lemonade, which I picked up a few months ago, with less of an orange undertone.  I'm not a huge fan of the Lipglass formulation as it's very gloopy and hair sticks to it too easily!  I would have preferred if Strange Potion was a lipstick.

It's sold out online but I've seen it going on eBay for £23 (normal price £13).  Again, this colour is easily dupable, so not worth forking out over the odds.

P.S. Is anyone else experiencing the issue with Draft Blogger where images which are 'portrait' - such as the one above, are only uploading horizontally?! It's driving me nuts, so any advice would be very appreciated!

MAC + Disney Venomous Villains: Oh So Fair Beauty Powder

It went through my heart to cough up £20.50 for this beauty powder.  Is it a blush?  Is it an all-over-face powder? Who knows!  But see that lil' cartoon on the front? My love of all things Disney runs deep.  The cartoon is actually just stuck on or 'applied' to the casing.  While I can't say I regret getting it - it was on my list from the minute I saw the collection - I do think MAC cashed in.  
I know some people keep the boxes make up comes in, and while I normally chuck mine right away, this beauty is staying in it's box, which has a nice sketchy design on the front.  Click HERE to see examples of the collection's packaging.

 

The best thing about Oh So Fair is the mirror on the lid.  MAC need to get a clue and roll it out across their other products.  The container is much larger than their blushes and closer to the size of MSFs.  In the pan, Oh So Fair is a pale pink matte powder, and swatched it is practically transparent.  In the photo below I used it as a blush - you have to layer it on about 3 times to get any sort of effect.  However it can also be used with a very light hand all over your face to give a bit of a glow, a bit like Benefit's Dandelion powder, but not as iridescent.  I considered picking up Briar Rose, as I love the name, but it was a bit too puce for me, and the image of Maleficent wasn't very exciting.

If you're trawling eBay for Oh So Fair I would advise you not to pay too much over the RRP as the product itself is nothing to write home about, but if you want it as a sort of 'show piece' - a cosmetic ornament as such - and are Disney nuts, then go for it.  However I reckon there'll be a few popping up in blog sales in the future once all the hype dies down.

MAC + Disney Venomous Villains: Mean & Green Nail Lacquer

With flash on left, without flash on right

Mean & Green Nail Lacquer is definitely my least favourite purchase from the Venomous Villains collection, but I think it's worth posting some swatches for any of you guys who may be considering paying an extortionate eBay price for it.  I did like the look of it on Temptalia, but didn't intend to get it, and so it's one of the bits that I succumbed to on the release day frenzy!  I think it is a pretty cool colour for Halloween, but it's not particularly flattering.  

On it's own, one nor two coats work, you have to apply three.  And even then it chips rapidly at the tips of your nails.  The best way to wear it is two coats over an already opaque base - perhaps a dark purple or green and then topped off with a coat of clear.  10mls is not a huge amount and after my one three-coat application quite a lot is already used up!

I wouldn't go out of my way to pick this one up, as Orly have similar offerings, and more recently, Accessorize have come out with two polishes that look like Mean & Green and Bad Fairy dupes.  I'm not sure what I'll do with this lacquer, you may see it pop up in a blog sale at some stage.

Here are some shots showing one, two and three coats...

One coat

Here I've applied one coat, and all you can really see is green, without much of the purple duochrome.

This is two coats and you can begin to see the purple shimmer asserting itself!  But it still looks pretty shoddy!

Here we have three coats under bright fluorescent lighting.

Again, three coats, but under normal artificial light, with a camera flash.  This is how it looks best.  You can see that at the tips of my nails it looks transparent and green, but this is only picked up by the camera  and not really noticeable.
All in all, while I do regret the purchase, I know if I hadn't got it I would be hankering after it.  For me, it's not worth £8, but I do think the photography doesn't do it full justice, and it does look better in 'real life'.

So, did you pick up Mean&Green? What do you think of it? Would you pay crazy £ for it on eBay?!