Look: So Tropicana!

The fact that I'm titling posts after Grav3yard Girl catch-phrases probably says that I've been watching too much Youtube. As if I could actually stop.

Today's look is sort of one that I felt was a failure in real life, but looks okay in the pictures I took so now I'm not sure if it really sucked or not. Make of that what you will.

More pictures and product list after the jump!

Look: Cold Chemistry Oil Slick

My inspiration for this look is those puddles that form in car parks, the ones with the strangely beautiful film of iridescent oil floating on top. The oil slick effect seems to be a bit popular at the moment. Jeffrey Campbell have done several shoes in oil slick effect, like these, which I have a burning want for.

Jeffrey Campbell Kirk's on Nastygal.com

This look uses the entire Sugarpill Cold Chemistry palette and a smidge of Bourjois Little Round Pot 08. It would be completely fine to do this look with just the Cold Chemistry palette, but since my face was already going to have a lot going on, I decided to use a satin-finish shadow between my eyebrow and brow bone.

More photos and product list after the jump!

Swatch and Review: Sugarpill Cold Chemistry Palette

Speaking of chemistry, I've been binge watching The L Word on Netflix. It's not even good, really, but I can put it on while I'm doing things that require thinking as I don't find it too distracting. Except for all the Shane. Oh my glob, SHANE. I know, so predictable as everyone in the entire world has had a crush on Shane. Half the time I don't know whether I want to be her or well, you know, be with her. And Alice, too, at least for the first two series.


Buuut that's not what we're here to discuss, because Sugarpill's Cold Chemistry palette is the star of this show (holy balls that was cheesy). 

Review and swatches behind the jump!

Review and Swatch: Sigma Blackberry Essence Blush and Nyx Taupe Blush

Sigma Blackberry Blush and Nyx Taupe Blush

I was almost certain I wasn't going to be able to get any of the new Sigma Creme Couture collection because I really only wanted the Blackberry blusher and I was not going to pay £9 shipping just for the one thing. BUT! I found one site in the UK was carrying them and did a tiny little happy dance. They also had Nyx Taupe blusher, which I heard was discontinued, but perhaps I was wrong. Just in case, I bought one of them to try out on the chance it is being discontinued and I don't have another opportunity.

Swatches and review behind the jump!

Those mistakes on my face

I promised I would post about the horrid things I've done to my face in the pursuit of pretty, so here's the first but not worst...

The Ugly Truth, after the jump!

Lumikki Cosmetics: Swatches, Review, and a Warning

Lumikki Cosmetics, run by Sule, has been open as an Etsy shop since 2011 and has almost 3000 sales. Currently, Lumikki Cosmetics offer loose pigment eye shadows and nail polishes, but according to their Etsy shop notice, they are soon going to be offering a more varied product selection, as well launching their own website. Please keep reading to find out why you might want to be cautious when ordering here.

I bought ten samples from Lumikki Cosmetics and one full-size of their best-selling Dragon Scale eye shadow.  The full-size shadows come in  5 gram plastic jars with white lids. Disappointingly, the jars do not come with sifters, which means opening them is a bit like handing a monkey a grenade and hoping it doesn't pull the pin out and throw it back to you. Or maybe that's just me because I'm probably the clumsiest person on the planet.

Lumikki Cosmetics Dragon Scale

More swatches behind the jump...

Swatches and Review: Yaby Eyeshadow

One of my favourite makeup sites recently had a sale on Yaby refill pans, so despite the fact that I don't have any empty palettes to stick them in, I bought a bunch.

Yaby Eye Shadow Pans

Swatches and review behind the jump!

Review: NYC Individual Eyes Midtown Mauve Palette

I picked this up from Superdrug mainly because the aubergine colour caught my eye and also because I don't own very many neutrals. It was dead cheap, so I figured even if the shadows sucked, I wasn't out very much.

Review and Swatches behind the jump!

Look: First Go With Sugarpill's Cold Chemistry Palette

So, to start, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this palette. All the colours are amazingly pigmented. I will have a proper review of it later on.

Face:

Bourjois Mineral Matte Mousse in Tendre Ivoire

Benefit Posie Tint

Constance Carol Loose Translucent Powder

MUA Fixing Mist

Eyes:

Collection2000 Supersize Mascara in black

Bourjois Eyeshadow 08

Sugarpill Diamond Eyes, Elemental Chaos, and Subterranean on mobile lid

Soot and Stars under eye

Soap and Glory SuperCat felt tip liner in black

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-on liner in Perversion on waterline with Sugarpill Bulletproof to set

Lips:

Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Mystic

I'm pretty happy with this look. The one little sticking point is that I think my eyebrows are still the wrong colour. Does everyone have this much trouble with their eyebrows? I swear, I used to think they were just fine the way they were. I never bothered to fill them in, even when I did have a full face of makeup. I think I actually didn't realise that was possible and, in retrospect, I probably looked off with all that makeup and strangely unfilled eyebrows. I sort of wish that I hadn't started filling them because now I feel like I look sad and naked if I don't. But, seriously, finding the right colour and technique is really difficult.

*Disclaimer: All the products in this post were purchased by me with my own money. I was not compensated in any way for this review/post.

Look: Killing Joke

As I mentioned in a previous post, I haven't been into makeup for too awfully long. Don't get me wrong, I've been wearing makeup for years, but just so I didn't look like the Beast What Came From Beneath! And not as a thing that was fun to do. I had my 3-4 eyeshadows(and I was damn good with those specific shades), my one eyeliner, and maybe some tinted moisturiser and powder. But it wasn't something I really used as a thing I liked to do. It was a chore. As in, have to put my face on or else the villagers will be after me with torches again. I had my slighlty gothy/slightly punk look down and that was it. I didn't need anything else, I thought. Why fix what wasn't broken? But that was before my back issues all but immobilised me.

I wasn't raised around makeup. My mum never, ever wore it, not even for special occasions. I don't think she owns a lipstick or a tube of concealer to this day. And that's fine, she's happy that way. But, it means that when I started poking at makeup in my first year of uni, I had had no one to teach me the basics. So, I had a brief but torrid affair with spidery eyelashes, super-thick and poorly done black eyeliner, and black eyeshadow that was never blended out. I didn't realise how awful I looked until I saw end of term photos of myself about four years too late. After that, I didn't bother with my face past skin care and the occasional dress-up-for-photos event for an embarrassingly long time. I picked it up again when a friend dragged me to the Mac shop and I realised I could actually do the goth thing and not look awful, for which I bought the above mentioned complimentary set of shadows.

Anyway, that's all one loooong run-up to explain that in the past five months, I've had time to in spades. Since I often have difficulty moving, most of my old pastimes like sewing and running, are out of the question. I have plenty of time, however, to watch ALL THE YOUTUBE. Seriously, Youtube beauty videos have been my personal crash course in the wonderful and versatile art of slap, and there are videos for everything. I've watched them all. Twice.

Even with my own private tutors, I still manage to bollock everything up frequently. It's rare that I put together a look that I like 100%. So before I get into posting all the real horrorshow things I've done on my face, here is what I think is probably my current personal best:

Of course it would be Joker themed.

I know this looks super simple to all you beauty gurus out there, but it's amazing how often I manage to screw up at least one component of my face.

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Too Faced Pin-Up on brow bone 

Sugarpill Absinthe from just above crease to just below

Sugarpill Midore all over lid
Too Faced Lucky Charms on outer v, blended out
Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister 24/7 Glide On liner under eye
Yaby Purple Iris smudge over Psychedelic Sister
Avon SuperShock Gel Liner in Black on lid and waterline, smudged down
Sugarpill Lumi as inner corner highlight

Face:
Bourjois Mineral Matte Mousse in Tendre Ivoire
Too Faced Papa Don't Peach blush
BeautyUk Baked Blush in Halo as highlight
MakeUpAcademy Mosaic Bronzer as contour colour

Eyebrows:
MakeUpAcademy Undress Me palette shade 08

So, that's a look I'm completely happy with for once. Now take a deep breath because that probably won't happen again for a while.

*Disclaimer: All items mentioned in this post were purchased by me with my own money. I have not been compensated in anyway for this post. 

Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Relief Cream

For the past few years, I've had a problem with frequent redness and splotchy blemishes on and around my cheeks. It wasn't, as far as I'm aware, rosacea and it never exceeded the realm of 'sort of inconvenient and aggravating' so I didn't see a dermatologist about it. I hated the way it looked if I didn't conceal it, which I often didn't because I didn't yet have the skill to not make it look cakey or even more splotchy. I tried all sorts of face washes and skin care routines, from stuff with salicylic acid and fruit goops to using nothing but olive oil. Nothing worked for me and I had resigned myself to always looking kind of awful.

Luckily for me, a few months ago I went on holiday with a mate of mine. One morning while I was putting on makeup and opining my stupid blotchy cheeks, she took pity on me and, being the lovely person she is, gave me some Clinique Redness Solutions cream. She'd bought it for her wedding in case of a redness emergency but hadn't ended up needing it. After the customary round of Oh-no-I-couldn'ts and No-really-I-insists, I was persuaded to take it home. I didn't really have any real hopes that it'd work, but at the very least it was free moisturiser and I had just run out. 

Photo from Clinique's website

I used it every morning for the next few days and didn't see much of a difference.  But the cream was indeed moisturising and tingled in a not-unpleasant way, so despite still being as rosy as Jack Frost's girlfriend, I continued using it.  And...

Somewhere between day five and day nine, I looked in the mirror that morning and I realised I didn't look like I'd had a run in with a blush-crazy cosmetician. My cheeks were gloriously plain-old skin colour. And there were no irritated bumps! (Which upon reflection, I think may have been caused by dryness due to over-washing.) But, being my pessimistic self, I figured it might be a fluke and delayed celebrations until I'd had at least a few more days of clear cheeks.

Well, it's party time as my face has now been redness-free for a full month. That's 31 glorious days of not needing to slather on green-based concealer and being able to pop to the corner shop bare-faced without feeling like everyone is staring at me. I'm not exactly sure what this stuff is made of, possibly unicorn tears and hooves, but it is pure hammered-awesome. I use this every morning after washing my face and I don't need to use another moisturiser on top of it, except around my eyes as the directions say not to use it in the eye area. 

A tub of this is £37 for 50ml and despite the fact that I'm normally pretty averse to spending that much dosh on only one skin care item, I will definitely be buying this again when I run out. 

*Disclaimer: This item was given to me by a friend out of the goodness of her heart. She bought it with her own money. No one is paying me to review this, or any, product. 

Look: Silver and Cold

I have a deep and abiding love of Sugarpill eye shadow. Since I started getting  into makeup about five months ago, the majority of my looks have been done with Sugarpill shades. This look is no exception.

For my eyes, I first smoothed on Urban Decay Primer Potion.  I used Sugarpill Velocity as the main lid colour.  I brushed Starling into the inner corner to about centre. Bulletproof went into the outer v and I blended it into the crease to add depth.  I used Tako to blend out the colours above the crease. For the centre lid, I dabbed on Tiara and blended it up and out along the top of the crease. I also dabbed a bit into the inner corner as a highlight.  For the brown bone, I used Bourjois 08. The winged liner is Soap and Glory SuperCat eyeliner pen in Carbon Black.  The water line is Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On liner in Perversion, which I set with Sugarpill Bulletproof.  I carried a bit of the Starling down along the lower lid.

My foundation is Bourjois Mineral Matte Mouse in Tendre Ivoire. I purchased this just a week ago and I am loving it. A review of it will be up soon. My blush is BeautyUk Capitol Pink.  The lipstick is Calvin Klein Desire with some Bourjois dark brown brushed over top to deepen the colour. I set my whole face with translucent powder, which I think is by Constance Carol, and then misted MakeUpAcademy setting spray all over. 

The Good.

I was really happy with how my eyes turned out for this one. I think I managed to blend everything really well without making it muddy or accidentally getting blue all the way up to my eyebrows. I also managed a pretty decent wing for once and my eyes didn't water all over the place and ruin it. My foundation is even and my face is mostly one colour. I didn't accidentally give myself blush sunburn. 

The Bad.

At the time, I thought the lipstick went well with the eyes. Now I'm not so sure. I think it might be the wrong tone? 

The obvious problem is my eyebrows. I think the shape is fine, if a bit on the severe side, but I like severe as my eyebrows naturally grow in with a pretty wicked arch. However, these eyebrows are going into Bert and Ernie territory. They don't look as bad in the photos as they did in real life, if you can imagine how awful they must have been.  Away from the washing out effect of the flash, they were really, really black. REALLY black, like the Monolith from 2001 black. So clearly, I need to work on that. They grow in fairly black and I'm following my natural brow line here, but? Horrible things. I think it's the combination of making them so uniform, so black, and a smidge bigger than they actually are that pushes them into HOLY BALLS SHE HAS TWO CATERPILLARS ON HER FACE territory. 

As always, suggestions and constructive criticism are welcome!

*Disclaimer: All of the products used in this post were purchased with my own money. I was not compensated in anyway for this post. 

Swatch and Review: Sleek Lip 4 Palette in Tease

I was stumped for a bit as to what should be the inaugural post here at Blue-haired Beauty, but I finally decided it should be something that I couldn't really screw up. So! The Sleek Lip4 Palette in Tease pretty much fits the bill.

This palette offers 4 amazing reds, two cool tones and two warm tones, in either matte, satin, or gloss. It includes a lip brush, which is a bit crap, but as far as I can tell, that's standard for brushes that come with palettes. If you're in a pinch and don't have any other brush, it'll do. The palette includes a really good-sized mirror and the palette itself looks far more posh than the price. It's made of sturdy matte black plastic that doesn't feel as if it's going to fall apart if I bang it around in the black hole that is my bag. 

Swatches and Review after the jump!