Look: Verdigris Mermaid

I spent a few days last week feeling completely miserable, as if I were hearing and seeing things from underwater. So, I decided that I should be a mermaid because mermaids can't drown.

Mermaid look using Femme Fatale, Dawn Eyes, and Shiro

Full product list after the cut!

Swatchfest and Review: My Beauty Addiction

Sorry for the long and unexpected hiatus. To make up for it, I'm going to be posting loads of looks, swatches, and reviews this month. And the first of these is indie company My Beauty Addiction.

See the rest after the jump!

Review and Swatch: Addictive Cosmetics Part 1

A few weeks ago, I ordered a bunch of stuff from Addictive Cosmetics on Etsy. I placed my order on a Tuesday and exactly a week later, I had the parcel in my hands, which is just ridiculously fast for shipping from U.S. to the U.K. Seriously, Amber, the owner of Addictive Cosmetics, must have posted it the same day I ordered it. Also, before I finalised my order, I had a quick question. Within fifteen minutes, Amber had already replied.

Full review and swatches 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!

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!

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. 

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.