Wednesday 29 October 2014

NOTD: Essence - Thermo Effect Hello Autumn Beauti-Fall Red

Today's choice of nail colour is a pretty cool one!


Essence recently brought out their Hello Autumn collection which features some autumnal nail polishes and makeup items including an eyeshadow palette. 


I picked up the Thermo Effect polish in the Shade Beauti-Fall Red

Being the slight idiot that I am, I thought "hey that's a lovely autumnal red nail polish!"

Only when I got home did I notice the "Thermo Effect" sticker. 

I painted my nails and was left with an orange toned red.


Once the polish dried I ran to the kitchen and turned on the cold tap. What was a orange toned red polish turned into a dark red/burgundy colour! 

I then proceeded to spend the next hour doing this with cold and warm water: 


I actually really hurt my index finger just after taking my nails out of ice water to take this picture so that finger is hot which means that nail is still orangey-red but you can see on my other nails, the polish is a totally different colour! 


I just love little things like this and for less than €3, why would you say no?

Let me know if you've tried anything from the Hello Autumn range and if you think thermal colour changing polish is cute or too childish. 

Thanks so much for reading! :) 






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Monday 27 October 2014

Updated Travel Makeup Bag

A few months ago, I wrote a What's in my Travel Makeup Bag post. That included a lot of summery products so I decided to show you what I'm bringing with me to Cork for the long weekend now that the bold lip and matte complexion is in full swing.


L'oreal True Match Foundation in W3 - I've been using this foundation for a couple of months now and I love how light it feels on the skin but still gives a good coverage. I use about half a pump and stipple it on then blend it in using my Blank Canvas F22 brush

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer in Light - After hearing some great things about this, I decided to actually get it. I got the shade "Light" but I think it's a little too light for me so it looks a little grey on my skin. I also find the sponge applicator extremely painful and rough to use under my eyes because my skin is very sensitive. It does wonders with my dark circles though, I just wish it came with a doe foot applicator.

Soap&Glory One Heck of a Blot Powder - You've already heard my rave about it but this translucent powder is brilliant for setting my foundation and concealer without any caking.

Urban Decay All Nighter Spray - This setting spray works so well to keep your makeup in place. I know that once I have this sprayed on, my makeup won't budge.


Essence Hello Autumn Powder - This is a new purchase so I haven't had too much of a chance to test it out but so far, I'm liking it. I've been using it as bronzer and under my blusher. I then use my finger to take the white colour and blend it along my cheekbones as a highlighter. This is also great as a little eyeshadow palette. I do find it quite hard to actually get any product out so you kind of have to go in hard with your brush.

Essence Silky Touch Blush in Adorable - My good old reliable blush is perfect for adding a little flush to your cheeks.

Maybelline The Falsies and NYC Big Bold Curl Mascara - My tube of The Falsies is running a little dry so I've been using my NYC mascara to finish off my lashes.

Benefit Gimme Brow in Medium/Deep - I just love this for doing my eyebrows because I don't have to fuss with pencils and powders.

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Palette - I have my full review of this palette here. It's so compact and perfect for travelling.

Blank Canvas Boarderlines Felt Tip Eyeliner - I've been really enjoying using this eyeliner because it's so easy to use. I've mentioned that I'm no good at doing eyeliner but this isn't really runny so you have a lot of control over the line you draw.

Wet n Wild Lip Liner in Fab Fuchsia - I am genuinely shocked at how good this lip liner is! It's so creamy and incredibly long lasting. For €1.99, I'm going to be stocking up on these babies.

Catrice Lip Liner in Sweet Aubergina - I'm not as blown away by this lip liner but it's a nice colour match for some of my more purple lipsticks.

MAC Amorous Lipstick - I mentioned this in my Top Autumn/Winter Lip Products post. This is my first MAC lipstick and I just can't get enough of it!

Rimmel Kate Moss 107 Lipstick - Another lipstick that got a mention in the A/W Lip post, this matte, dark red lipstick is perfect for a bold lip.

Wet n Wild MegaLast Lipstick in Sugar Plum Fairy (not pictured) - This lipstick was in my Dublin Haul but I hadn't tried it at that point. I can now confirm that this lipstick is amazing. It's like a purple version of 107 but it isn't at all drying and lasts for hours!


For my brushes face brushes, I have Blank Canvas F22 for my foundation, Real Techniques Blush Brush for my powder and Real Techniques Contour Brush for blusher and bronzer.


For eyeshadow brushes, I have the Real Techniques Deluxe Crease Brush, MAC 217 and Real Techniques Accent Brush. I'm only bringing these because I have the little dual end brush in the Pulp Fiction Palette.

What makeup do you bring with you when going away? Do you have any tips for not over packing?

Thanks for reading! :) 








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Friday 24 October 2014

Cute and Creepy Doll Makeup for Halloween

This is another super easy Halloween look that can be achieved by using only a few basic items in your makeup bag.


The first look is just a normal cutesy little doll look which is still a little creepy if you ask me!

 My lips are uneven and I didn't notice until now... FORGIVE ME!


Much like my other Halloween look, you can use a white face paint base for this but my skin really hates face paint so I just used my normal L'oreal True Match in W3. Again, if you use white face paint, blend it down onto your neck and chest.


I applied my foundation all over my face and lips then piled on the setting powder so I would have a completely flawless, matte finish.

I used the "base" shade in the Wet n Wild palette all over my lid and blended the "eyelid" shade into my crease. I then packed the base shade into my waterline but I would have used white eyeliner if I could have found it!

I then set my eyebrows with Benefit Gimme Brow and used NYC Big Bold Curl and Maybelline The Falsies to achieve huge eyelashes.
Feel free to apply false lashes to the bottom and top of you eyes at this stage, I just didn't have any.

Next, you'll want to apply a bronzer pretty heavily to contour you face. Then HEAP on the blusher. Go crazy with it but make sure it's blended well and not just sat in big blobs on you face.

Finally, you'll want to draw on your lips. To do this, use a lip liner and really exaggerate your Cupid's Bow and overdraw your bottom lip. Don't fill in the full length of your lips, go about 3/4 of the way and dab concealer and powder to the edges of your lips to disguise them.

The second look - and the one I'll be wearing for Halloween is a stitched doll look.


The only thing you need to do for this look is grab a black eyeliner pencil or liquid liner and draw on a line that goes from each side of your mouth up to your cheeks like a smile. Then just draw some straight lines and crosses to imitate stitches. 
You can then add a few of these sewed patches to the rest of your face, neck and wherever else you feel like! 

You can also use black thread and eyelash glue to stitch your mouth together for this look. You won't be able to open your mouth but it would look great! 



Remember to pop your hair up into really high, slightly scraggy ponytails to really get the whole doll vibe going. Add some ribbons or bows if you have them. You still want to look cute, just a little spooky.

This is a great look if you're heading out to a party and don't want to look all bloody and dishevelled.

I really hope you all like this little Halloween look and please let me know if you try it on yourself!

Thanks for reading :) 






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Thursday 23 October 2014

Halloween Nails with imPress

As we know, I'm obsessed with Halloween so when a little package of Limited Edition imPress Halloween Collection nails* arrived for me, I got very excited.


I've never tried imPress nails before but I know they have a pretty big following. I used to always wear false nails back in the day but the glue really took a toll on my nails.
imPress make stick on nails. When I think of stick on nails, I think of the little ones that come in makeup sets for children that fall off about two seconds after application but these claim to stay on for up to a week.

There are six sets of limited edition Halloween nails available for €4.99 - half price because they're limited edition - in leading pharmacies and Dunnes Stores nationwide.

I received:

Supernatural:



 

These black nails with green cat eyes are my favourite set from the collection. 

After Midnight:





These nails are black tipped with red rose detailing. I'll be wearing these as part of my costume this year!

Daredevil:




These nails are plain black so they can be worn any time of the year. I'm going to save them until Christmas/New Year time.

Rager:





These nails are a florescent orange that would be perfect if you're going as the stereotypical witch. I also feel like these would be nice for summer too haha.

Each set contains 24 nails of various sizes. You will find a Prep Pad to make sure your nails are free of oils and dirt before application as well as a tiny little file to shape the nails however you prefer.



The collection also offers a set of black nails with yellow spider webs and skulls and a set of black tipped nails with spider web design.



 I think these nails are a great idea if you aren't very good at nail art or you just aren't someone who enjoys doing their nails!

Let me know if you've ever tried imPress Nails before and if you liked them.

Thanks for reading! :) 








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Wednesday 22 October 2014

Easy Generic Halloween Makeup Look

If you still aren't sure about what you'd like to dress up as for Halloween, this is a really simple versatile look that can work for a zombie, dead bride, ghost girl or dead anything.


(not airbrushed, just a bad quality crop)

You can play around with this and add a completely white face or some blood around the mouth/nose/eyes, add some weird contacts or whatever else you think will look good.
I decided to do a face of foundation but in a couple of shades too light for me so I don't look ghostly, only a little ill.

These are the products I used. As you can see, it was very minimal.


The first step is to apply your chosen base. You can even use your normal foundation for this if you aren't keen on looking slightly paler. Whatever you choose, blend it down your neck, over your lips and any other visible skin. You can then set it with a pale powder if you like.
Then apply an eyeshadow primer on your lids and under your eyes.

Next, you get to start having fun.
Usually we conceal our dark circles, for this look you'll want to accentuate them as much as possible.


To start with, I applied the grey "eyelid" shade all over my lids, under the lash line and then down where your natural bags/dark circles form.


Using the same brush, I lightly picked up Garnet from the Lorac Pro Palette and placed it over the Wet n Wild shadow, but only under my eyes, keeping close to my nose and not following along the whole eye socket.


Of course, use whatever eyeshadows you like but brown, grey, purple and reddish pink are best for under the eyes. (I also set my eyebrows with Benefit Gimme Brow at this point)

Next, I took the "define" shade from the Wet n Wild palette and drew really harsh contour lines around my face.  
I contoured my cheek bones, temples and under my bottom lip.


I then blended this out to give an instant bony, sunken face effect.

My favourite step is to add a massive bruise or two to your face/chest/neck or again, anywhere that will be seen. 
I don't even have to hit up Google to know this isn't the "proper" way of creating a fake bruise but I think it works really well.


First, get a foundation that is either your normal shade if you're using a pale base, or a darker shade if you're using your normal foundation and a brown shadow and blend it into the shape you want your bruise.


I used Sable and Espresso as a base colour, the went with Deep Purple to add some colour to it. 
I kept building this until I was happy with it.


I don't have any green eyeshadows but I did remember, I had a Cover All concealer and correcter palette from Wet n Wild.


I used the green corrector in this and dabbed it around some of the bruise.


I then went back in and dabbed Deep Purple over the green. A non-shimmery purple would be good but I didn't have one.


I then just went back in with Sable and blended out the edges. 
After that, you should have a fairly realistic looking bruise! 


Make these as big or as small as you want and play around until you're happy with the results! 

What I forgot to photograph, was my lips. I kept them covered in foundation then got a lip brush and picked up a tiny amount of Rimmel Kate Moss 107 and Wet n Wild Sugar Plum Fairy and dabbed it where your lipstick would normally rub off if you'd been drinking from a straw.

I then used the leftover lip product on the brush and dragged it under my lower lash line.

And that's it! 
This is seriously such an easy look to achieve and you don't have to be good at makeup or face-painting to do it.

I really hope this helped you out if you were in need of a Halloween look! I'll have a super simple porcelain doll/creepy porcelain doll 2-in-1 post coming on Friday so keep your eyes peeled! :)

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading :) 





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Tuesday 21 October 2014

Urban Decay Pulp Fiction Eyeshadow Palette

If you were around last week, you would have seen that I picked up the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction palette.


I've been in two minds about getting this since it was released. "Do I really need another neutral palette?" "Yes, yes you do, it's Pulp Fiction." "But is it just a gimmicky, pretty packaged palette that you could get at the Wet n Wild stand for one third of the price?" "Probably but get it anyway."

Well, after finally swatching it in Debenhams, I realised I did need it and that the eyeshadows themselves were of the same high standard as the Naked Palettes.


The palette is perfect for anything from an everyday neutral eye, to an intense winged smoky eye with the help of a gel liner.


It comes with a little double ended brush which I haven't tried yet but it feels soft and like it would pick up a nice amount of product.

The eyeshadows are so pigmented it's ridiculous. They aren't chalky and I've found the only fallout occurs in the palette rather than on your face.


Righteous is a slightly pink toned, skin shade. They say to apply this all over the lid and up to the brow bone.
Tyranny is a terracotta kind of brown that you apply to the eyelid.
Vengeance is a much darker brown than Tyranny, you're meant to blend this into the outer corners and your crease then smudge it under the lower lash line.
Furious is a black shadow that can be used as a more subtle way of doing a winged liner.
Anger is a white shimmery shadow that you can pop along the brow bone to brighten the look up. You can  also place this on the inner corners of your eyes.


For some reason, the eyeshadow just doesn't show up in any of the photos I took but I think you can get a slight idea of the look you can achieve with this palette. In real life, it's a much smokier, dark eye look that actually goes above my eyelid...

Failed picture aside, I hope you enjoyed this post!
I'm seriously loving this palette and I have a feeling I'll be reaching for it a lot in the next few months.

Let me know if you have this palette or if it just didn't appeal to you.

Thanks for reading! :) 





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