Wednesday 28 April 2010

Old OOTD

From last week. I was just going to the post office or something.

Playsuit: New Look
Tights: Topshop
Shoes: Office

Face: BFTE foundation in Alabaster, Collection 2000 illuminating concealer, Sleek Flamingo
Eyes: A pencil eyeliner (i think it was a lancome one that came with my mascara), Lancome Oscillation macara
Lips: MAC Kanga Rouge Lipstick, Spell Hologlow lip gloss in Absinthe.


The green glow from the lipgloss is really hard to capture, also over the red it became a little less green, i think it would work best over a stain so the pigments don't leak into one another.

Sorry have been busy today so this is just a really quick post. I have tonnes of comments to answer (haven't forgotten i swear!) so hopefully i'll get those done tomorrow if anyone's waiting for a response :)
Beddy byes now!
xxx

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Nails - OPI Mad As A Hatter

Hi everyone. Apologies again for having disappeared for a while, i've really been trying to knuckle down and paint every single day. I should be doing that anyway but i've had a big crisis of confidence lately and hadn't been. And then i wanted to catch up on everyone's posted I'd missed so i did that before writing my own posts.

Anyway here's just a couple of photos of a manicure (and i use this in the loosest sense of the word :P) i did recently using OPI's Mad as a Hatter polish. I have a stupid story about this. Basically i missed out on getting the bottles cheap from one of the US sites (i forgot the first rule of shopping: 'thou shalt buy when you first see') and didn't want to spend £10 on a bottle of polish so i bought the mini set of all 4 Alice in Wonderland polishes even though i had no interest whatsoever in the 2 reds. When i got it i was so enamoured by Absolutely Alice and Mad As A Hatter i decided i had to get full bottles of those 2 and sell on the mini set. I've never used up a nail polish in my life, but.... well i needed the full bottles! XD



Mad As A Hatter is a multiocolored glitter in a clear base. As you can probably see the colour looks very black and silver overall but there is red, blue, green and purple in the mix as well. These were the best pics i could get but it's a lot more exciting in real life. These photos show 4 layers with top coat (i use Collection 2000)

This and Absolutely Alice are the first OPI polishes i've ever tried and, while i still wouldn't pay £10 for a polish unless i was totally besotted with it like these ones, they probably have the best formula i've tried so far. Usually with glitter polishes i need to do at least 3 layers before they look remotely opaque and at first i thought these would be the same. The first coat was very thin and sparse but when i added the second i was shocked that it was somehow practically opaque already! But i was also amazed at how quickly this dried, after about 30 - 45 seconds each coat would be completely dry. So i did 4 coats of polish to make it absolutely opaque as it was just so easy to apply! (sick of reading the word 'opaque' yet :P). It also lasted brilliantly, after 5 days of wear i had a tiny amount of tip wear and one chip (and that came about from me biting my cuticle so it was my fault) but i felt like a change and took it of then, i don't know how long it would have lasted if i left it.

So yeah, i'm really really happy with this, even though i think the UK price is stupidly expensive.

While i'm talking of polishes i've had a rather frustrating time lately relating to them. I basically decided that, as i have a little bit of money lately and have become raher obsessed with polishes, i would do a big haul from one of the US sites which sell polishes cheap. I ruled Head2toe beauty out as they don't ship China Glaze to the UK so i went to 8ty8 and started filling my basket. When I'd finished my (shamefully large) haul and went to check out i saw that they ask international buyers to email them first if they want to know approximate shipping costs. So i did so and got a reply (which was very quick so that's good) saying that they weren't actually taking any international orders at the moment and won't be for at least 2 weeks due to a backlog of orders. So then i decided to go to Transdesign which i had heard great things about from other UK polish hounds. They used to do flat rate shipping boxes for polish at a really reasonable rate (i think around $18 for up to 9 polishes and $50 for up to 50 polishes or something) but apparently not anymore :( Now it seems that no matter how many polishes you have in your cart (i had less than 9 when i tried to check the shipping price) the international shipping will be over $40 because apparently nail polishes are hazardous. I've emailed them about it because somewhere on their site it still mentions the flat rate boxes but still no reply and it's been about 4 days now so i doubt i will get one :/

So now i think i will be forced to beg someone in the US to let me ship to them and then pay them the money to send them to me (like many of you kindly offered when i wanted some stuff from Sephora but i didn't take anyone up on it because i realised i didn't have enough money at the time) but that's so annoying :( Boo on you transdesign! So if anyone's up for that i would be in your debt. Or if anyone knows any websites that sell polishes to the UK for reasonable prices (i'm interested in color club, OPI, China Glaze and Orly mainly) please tell me and i will be very grateful.

Thursday 22 April 2010

A trip to the BBC

On Monday i went with my Mum to see 'Would I Lie To You?' being filmed. If you've never seen it WILTY is a comedy quiz show where celebs tell either truths or lies about themselves and the other team have to guess if they're telling the truth or lying. One of the team captains is David Mitchell who i think is the most beautiful and wonderful man in the world so i was very excited to finally have a chance to see him in the flesh (the secret i learned about him is so amazing i love him even more) so decided, pathetically, to dress up pretty and slightly... scholarly in an attempt to catch his eye (didn't work much to my disappointment and Claire's gladness :P)




So apparently my idea of looking 'scholarly' is a black check dress with a big plastic elizabethan ruff necklace, big nerdish glasses and bunny shoes....



I like the glasses, though they do make my face look even bigger than usual. I also thought i looked a bit like the receptionist from Ghostbusters. :P



I didn't leave myself too much time to get ready so my makeup was pretty basic:
Face: ELF concealer, BFTE foundation in Alabaster (Review coming shortly), Illamasqua Powder blush in Nymph, Sleek blush in Flamingo.
Eyes: Mac Brow pencil in Fling, Sugarpill Goldilux shadow (applied very very lightly), Rimmel black liquid eyeliner, Lancome Oscillation Mascara in black.
Lips: 'Make up Artist' brand red lipliner, Mac lipstick in Kanga Rouge.

Trip to Brighton

Hi everyone! Sorry i've been away a little while, have just had a lot of things happening all at once. Anyway i'm back now but might be a bit more sporadic than usual as for some reason the internet has stopped working on Claire's laptop and lots of my photos are on there. If it isn't sorted out soon i'll transfer them across to this one, but i'm putting it off because i'm lazy :P

Anyway on Saturday Claire and I had our first day out in a while and went off to Brighton. Apparently half the country had the same idea as it was more crowded there than i've ever seen it (was our fault though, we went on the last saturday of the easter holidays which also happened to be one of the sunniest days of the year so far :P We are dumb).

Go through the jump if you want to see some pictures :)


Wednesday 14 April 2010

Quick Review of Paul and Joe's Nail Polish Remover

Ok i'm just going to go out and admit it straight away, i bought this purely because of the bottle. I know it's ridiculous but... well when you see it you might understand, it's so beautiful! While the rest of my room is very silly and circusy i want my dressing table to look vintage, like something from a 1950s magazine and Paul and Joe's aesthetic is just perfect for this.

 Firstly it comes in a lovely cardboard box, the pattern looks like retro wallpaper:


And here is the actual bottle:

Beautiful ain't it? I love the shaped glass and the delicately pink ridged lid and the beautiful pale raspberry colour of the liquid, so glamourous <3

So yeah, i basically bought it on the strength of its packaging, but i'm glad to have discovered that the product is actually very good. In fact i can honestly say it is the best nail varnish remover i have ever used. Basically it's great because you only need a tiny bit to remove all your polish. The polish comes out of quite a small hole (about the size of a 5 pence piece) so i tip it up onto a cotton pad and it will leave a circle of remover the size of the hole. It only takes about 3 of these little circles to remove all the polish from one hand, even glitter polish! In fact it's brilliant at removing glitter polish, usually i struggle horribly with it (often i end up naughtily nibbling my polish off), but with the Paul and Joe it comes off just like other polishes (though it does take a little more remover than regular polish). Also, while this does still have an undernote of the classic acetone scent, it's the only remover i've tried that has a perfume. It's floral and nice, and when i've done taking my polish off my nails smell like the perfume, not like the acetone. When i usually have taken my polish off i often forget and eat things with my fingers and the taste of chemicals gets on my food but that doesn't happen with this.

However at the end of the day it's just a nail polish remover and while it is better than others it is no miracle. They all serve the same purpose and unless you're a millionaire i think it would be foolish to buy this at its price instead of a cheaper bogstandard one.

This retails for £9.75 for 100ml which, yes, is ludicrously expensive for nail varnish remover. I certainly wouldn't repurchase it, even though it is a very good remover, but i'm very glad to have it. I have a stunning bottle to refill with whatever remover i choose and the remover it comes with looks like it will last a good while.

(i also own the makeup remover which comes in the same gorgeous bottle, i'll be reviewing it soon up against a lot of other high and low end makeup removers :P)

Quick note

Hi everyone
I want to offer a huge apology to my giveaway winners and people who paid for their blog sale items yesterday. I took my huge bag of parcels down to the post office nearest me but it had closed early!
So i will be going out early tomorrow morning.
Sorry again :(
x

Tuesday 13 April 2010

Surprise Package!

Today i woke up to find this big box waiting for me:


I had no idea what it could be because the only thing i've bought recently was a few bits from the Asos sale, and they always have 'ASOS' written across their boxes. So i wondered if i'd bought something and forgotten. I opened it up and inside there was:
Another box! A pretty pretty black box tied up in a bow! 

I still had no idea what it could be, so i was desperate to open it up. So i did. Inside was (no, not another box :P):

  

Aha! Finally i knew what it was! My surprise present from Illamasqua! I couldn't believe how beautifully it had come, it really felt like opening a special gift box.

So inside (as well as the great lime green lining and iridescent packing... stuff which i shall use in sculptures) There were two of the new Illamasqua products for me to try as well as a new brochure, poster and information about the new collection.


 
Gorgeous poster


 
Postcard with a little message on the back, brochure and infomartion leaflet (I absolutely adore the picture on the leaflet. God i wish i had that kind of talent!)



And my presents :)

I recieved the new Liquid Metals palette, which i was so, so happy about because it was one of the things i was most excited about buying from the new collection! And it is just great, i love the new colour, Surge  and am very happy to finally have Phenomena which i've wanted since the Dystopia collection. I also think that having smaller amounts of each colour is just more sensible for me as a little bit goes a really long way and i love all the colours.

Here it is, you can see the lovely large palette packaging made of sturdy, shiny black plastic with a really good quality mirror. One problem with the packaging though is that because the products are cream when i used my finger to swatch and apply the product gets onto the casing and can look messy. However i don't think there is any way around this, and it won't happen when i apply it properly with brushes.


Left to right: Phenomena, Solstice, Surge, Enrapture

And here is Surge worn on my lips

 

You can see my previous review of the Liquid metals here

I absolutely love the new colour, Surge. It's such a unique colour, to me it seems like a silver but with tiny hints of gold and green. And Phenomena is just a perfect pure silver. Beautiful. I can't wait to try out proper looks with them!

The other item i recieved was their new bronzer in Writhe which is not available on their website yet and they describe it as a 'golden tan'. They describe their bronzer as a whole as such: 'shape, define, tempt and tease. Illamasqua Bronzer contains crushed pearl powder, for a smooth, even finish that leaves skin begging to be caressed. Apply to face and body for a beautiful bronzed glow that will last until dawn'.


  
(these photos have bleached it out a little and made it look more pink. In real life it's slightly darker and more golden, though it does have a pink undertone.)

I haven't swatched this as i'm not sure what i'm going to do with it. I never use bronzer as, quite frankly, it looks rediculous on me. I'm just too pale and pink, wearing bronzer just looks silly. It could be used for contouring, but i prefer a matte finish for that and am happy with what i already have. Still it's a very pretty colour. Hmm.

Also in the new brochure i learned that their foundations have been reformulated. The light foundation has had its texture and finish perfected to look even more natural and they have also made sure that the colours in the range are now consistent across the range. I'm hoping i might be able to find a match for my skin now :) I've also heard that the cream eyeshadows have been discontinued due to their creasing problems but they are being refomulated and should hopefully come back soon and be much better than the ones i reviewed.

Anyway thank you Illamasqua! You really are too kind. And as i said in my last post about them they were so sweet and good at contacting me. I can't wait for it to arrive on counters so i can test out the other products in the range :)





Meeting a New Friend :)

On Sunday morning Claire went round to the Co-op and when she returned she was very excited because she'd seen this guy:

This is Cocoa, an absolutely stunning Siamese who lives in a house just off our road but who we have only ever seen once before. I was very excited that she was out and about so we rushed back (me still in my pyjamas) to say hello to her. She was just the sweetest cat, coming up to greeting us and letting us cuddle and stroke her for ages :) If you've ever heard a Siamese cat miaow you probably know they have the worlds greatest miaow, it's like a bizarre 'rroooowwwww' noise :D


  
Lovely Claire and Cocoa :)


She really seemed to like my boots :P

When i was a little girl we used to have a cat called Johnny who was half siamese but just looked like a ginger cat with a long face and he also had the Siamese miaow. He was evil though and hated everyone, he would hide under chairs and when my sister Laura (who would have been about 10 at the time) would walk past he would leap out and savage her. She's still got a scar on one of her legs from him biting her. Eventually he just got too fed up and left home.

Anyway i just wanted to share some pictures because she was so beautiful. She's so leggy and pretty,not at all like my lovely flabby dirty moggies :P

Monday 12 April 2010

Outfit of the (satur)day and face of the (satur)day


On saturday it was my sister's birthday so we went to her house and then out for a nice little meal. I wanted to look nice but not overly done (as i often do)


 

This is a nice easy outfit i love for summer. The dress is from H&M a few years ago but has served me well! ...I dont know what i'm doing with my arms.

My necklace has flipped round to the back, which is irritating, this is it:

 
Snow White is probably my favourite Disney Princess, well her or Belle.


 
And here is my face


 


 

Wearing:
Face: GOSH x-ceptional foundation in porcelain, ELF concealer in fair, Avon powder, Illamasqua Nymph blush, Sleek Flamingo blush, Sleek contour kit in light (only used the highlight, not the contour powder).
Eyes: Sugarpill Goldilux, Bourjois glittering liquid eyeliner (dont remember what its really called), Lancome Oscillation mascara, some eyebrow pencil (have forgotten what)
Lips: Too faced Borderline pencil, Urban Decay Pleather pencil in Kink.

I love the UD pencil, it's a gorgeous colour, but has a lot of problems. It comes out in little nodules sometimes and somehow gets on my teeth like nothing else! I had some really nice photos with me smiling all wide but my teeth were covered with red crap! I did the finger-in-mouth trick about 5 times and it still creeped onto my teeth :/

And finally:



Umm... your guess is as good as mine!

Sunday 11 April 2010

A painting

Just finished it. It's King Calcium, ruler of the pigeons :)

It looks nicer in real life, there are iridescent green and purple tinges that you can't see in the photo And the light grey bits just look a flat white when really they have very subtle shadows. Anyway comments or (constructive) criticism is very much appreciated!


I was wondering if any of my followers or friends in the US could do me a huge favour? Starting tomorrow Sephora is having a 15% off sale. As they don't ship to the UK i've been wanting a load of stuff from them for ages and now seems a great time to get some. So basically i'm asking if someone would let me ship the package to their address, and then i'll pay you to send it on to me?


Also i just uploaded some new OCC lip tar swatches here

Hope everyone is having/had a lovely weekend.
xxx

Storage

For ages, due to my incredibly messy nature, my makeup was scattered all over the place. I usually just had a cardboard box or plastic bag which i kept my 'day to day' makeup (like mascara, blush, powder and various lip products) in which would hang around the front room, and the rest of my collection was either just spread over my vanity table or in a fancy makeup artists case thing (is it called a train case?). But i got fed up and wanted to organise it all so i would always know where to find things.
I had a look through lots of blogs and videos to see everyone's different ways of storing their stash and decided my favourite was some stationary drawers from WH Smiths. They come in various designs but i chose one with cupcakes and polka dots and pink :) First i bought one, then that wasn't enough so i bought another, then i still needed somewhere for my lipsticks, which take up a lot of room. But still altogether this cost me about £40 and i think that's alright and i'm so much happier now i have everything neat and tidy (or neat and tidy-ish anyway :P). I probably could have done with a full chest of drawers like some people have but i don't have enough room in my room for it.

So here is the new storage:


I'm not so keen on how it's postitioned in the room but i love the drawers themselves. I think they're very pretty and functional too.

Behind the cut you'll see what's in each drawer :)


Saturday 10 April 2010

FOTD (From last week)

Hooray Claire found the camera lead! Now i can bombard you with posts whether you like it or not mwa ha ha (much evil laughter).

This was a look i  did when i was waiting to hear if i was going out or not, so it started off sort of sensible but neon and 80s and then just went super over the top and silly.



Behold how i use blusher to pretend to have cheekbones!

Not a great photo, but it shows the amazing colour of the eyeshadow properly. This is how it looks in real life. So neon <3

I was wearing: 
Face: Can't actually remember the foundation or things, but my guess (because i've been wearing them a lot recently) would be that i'm wearing ELF concealer and highlighter, GOSH foundation in Porcelain and Avon powder. My blush is Sleek Flamingo.
Eyes:  Sleek Acid palette (just wearing the white on my browbone and the neon pink) and Mac brow pencil in Fling (cant remember what mascara i used)
Lips: Mac Violette and Neon Orange.

Ok i've bitched about MAC before and i stand buy what i said, but i do adore their lipsticks. Probably my favourite ever brand for lipsticks (at least the amplified creams and Mattes anyway, i dont think i've tried any other finishes) they're creamy and super pigmented and just lovely. So good on you Mac, but i still won't be buying as many from you anymore.

Friday 9 April 2010

Illamasqua Body Electrics collection is out now!

So i did mention a while back that i was invited to the Illamasqua London bloggers event, but as you may know, due to unforeseen circumstances (damn you british transport strikes!), it was cancelled :(
But still i just wanted to take a minute to talk about how amazing the customer services team have been. The event suffered some problems and was initially changed from two dates across the country to just one in London, I had already replied to say i would be attending the London event but Halimah from Illamasqua sent me an email just to make sure i could still come after the change. Then before the event had been cancelled, but after the strikes had been announced, the team contacted me again, this time asking roundabout where i live so that they could help work out my travelling route during the strike, if possible. After the event had to be cancelled they contacted me again to inform me, give their apologies and offer to still send me a product from the new collection to try. Finally today i recieved another message just to tell me the new items were online as well as sending me some information and pictures about the collection. All of this was done off their own backs, not in reply to emails i had sent and they were all personalised emails, written especially for me, not just copy-and-pasted. Absolutely amazing. 


Anyway their new collection, Body Electrics, was just released today and it looks stunning. Just take a look at these promo images:


You've outdone yourself again Illamasqua my darlings! 

This collection is based around the idea of the body in movement and the products are made to help contour the body all the more to emphasise the curves, shadows and peaks of the body. It contains Illamasqua's first products designed for use on the body as well as some new nail polishes, liquid metals and face products. The products are mainly different sorts of highlighters and bronzers, and include a lot of iridescent finishes.
Personally i am not 'into' bronzing, preferring to stay pale and interesting, but there are still a lot of products i'm very interested in. 

I'm most excited by their Illume oil in Volt, which is a dry oil made for the body ( i assume it can be used on the face too, but i'm not sure) with a violet iridescence to it which illuminates your skin and makes it glow. To me the blue glow just reminds me of neon lights and clubs and i just love the idea of my skin shifting colour in the light. I also like the look of the nail varnishes (though at the moment they're far too pricey for me) and the new 4-colour palette of liquid metals. The palette retails as £29 which seems very good to me as the single liquid metals cost £17 each. Me and Claire already own one a piece, but i thought it might be a good idea to buy the palette and sell or swap the two we already have. I can't imagine either of us using a whole pot of the stuff, i've wanted the silver shade, Phenomena, since it came out and i love the look of the new one, which is a green tinged pewter colour. So the idea of a palette with all the colours for less than the price of buying the 2 colours i don't have is very apealing.
The collection boasts an illuminating cream, some bronzers, a large body brush and another Illume oil which leaves a bronze shimmer.I

All in all i must say this collection doesn't have as many products that i am personally interested in than last Autumns Dystopia, but i think it's a really exciting and innovative new range. I can't wait to try the Illume oil and am very excited to see what i will be sent to try. The promo images are absolutely stunning and overall i think this is a wonderful collection, and will probably be even more exciting to people who like a sunkissed look!
Hi everyone
sorry for the lack of updates recently. I've been doing loads but have lost the lead that connects the camera to the computer so i can't post anything. Or well i could, but it would be without pictures and that's no fun.
Hopefully i'll have found it by tomorrow because i've got some really good FOTDs coming up to about a week old now, and want to show off my new makeup storage and things.
I was very good today, i had to go to wimbledon to pick up something for my sisters birthday tomorrow (another birthday!) and i went into superdrug but only picked up one small thing for myself! I did also get some creme eggs and nose pore strips for Claire though, a winning combination! :P
However there are lots of clothes on the internet i want to buy, and as i've gotten too big for a lot of my things i have an excuse to buy, so i doubt i'll be too good at my spending ban.
Speaking of fatness, thank you to everyone who commented on my last OOTD post saying i don't need to diet. To be honest i'm not overly happy with the way my body looks right now, but that's not the problem, the problem is that i no longer fit a load of my clothes. I love my old clothes so much so i need to lose weight so i can wear them again :P
Giveaway prizes will be sent out tuesday at the latest :)
kisses to all

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Giveaway Winners Announced!

Sorry it took so long guys, i was going to pull names out of hat, but that didn't happen so i just used Random.org.
Anyway in first place was  Kerry!

In second place was RaeRae!


And then the runners up, who will each get to choose 2 products from the runners up prize (first runner up gets first pic, second gets second pic etc) were (in order):
Heather 
Helena
Jane
Y
and finally Carm_en

Thanks to everyone who entered :) I'll be contacting all the winners by their emails shortly. If you're a runner up i'll be contacting you in order to get your choices of products :)
I'm also going to try to throw in a few extras with the prizes but i can't promise everything as i'm a bit skint at the moment.
Congratulations to the winners!
Kerry, RaeRae, Jane and Helena please email me at queen-cry-baby@hotmail.com so i can get your address and send out your prizes :)

Monday 5 April 2010

Muso Mondays - Feeling Gloomy

This week this is a bit different as i'm not talking about a band i love, this time it's a club i love.
Despite being incredibly shy and awkward i absolutely love to dance. I'm no good at it, but i am passionate and over-the-top and have good stamina, i can dance for several hours non-stop, sometimes even through a broken foot (which actually happened at the club i'm about to discuss, but i was too drunk to realise until the next morning. Good fun.). Generally people either make fun of me or i form a 'circle of fear' around me where folks fear to tread. But i don't ever care because i'm having far too much fun.

I do however have a bit of a problem finding clubs that cater to my musical tastes, i generally hang around 80s or 90s clubs or other 'indie' clubs but stay well away from anything with house music or modern pop (not that i don't like any modern pop, i just dislike the majority). There are a few i frequent but probably my all-time  favourite is Feeling Gloomy.

Feeling Gloomy is a club that will basically play any genre of music, from any era, as long as it has sad, miserable or pessimistic lyrics but a beat you can dance to. So they'll play anything from Rolf Harris to Leonard Cohen to Bonnie Tyler to McFly, though generally it stays more around a modernish indie sort of sound. It's the only club i've been to that plays both the Arcade Fire and George Michael within a few songs of one another and i love it. On a good night it can be the most fun ever. Though sadly there is one DJ who i dislike more than others as he is fond of Dizzee Rascal and once called security on a friend of mine because apparently he has no sense of humour and the club did, in my opinion, go downhill a bit a while back. Can't really explain why, i just didn't have as much fun for a while, there was too much modern music and not enough songs that actually had sad lyrics (though of course songs are subjective, me and Carl have often argued about whether or not a song is sad) and not enough 'classic gloom'. I'm very happy to say i think it has gone right back up and now i am so happy whenever i get to go.

This night is run by two great blokes, Mike and Carl, who masquerade as 2 sad, lonely, nerdy muso men who live with their Mums (Phwoar!!) named Len and Cliff, who formed the club and come and dance and play on stage sometimes. These guys also have a club i used to adore, Club de Fromage, which is basically a cheaper, more fun version of Guilty Pleasures. I still love the club but some of the male clientelle really put me off going back (just a note guys, rubbing your erect penises up against a woman who has shown no interest in you whatsoever is not the way to win her heart) though i do like going on occaision if i have a big enough group to protect each other. 

 But anyway, Feeling Gloomy is just my absolute favourite club (so far) there's generally only a few songs a night i dislike and can tolerate just standing around for them, or going to pee or whatever. It can be busy but i always find a little nook where i can flail myself around like a mental patient in a padded room and if you're brave you can dance on the stage. A faux pop band called the Miserabalists lipsynch and play air guitar and give out carnations which is entertaining. There are themed nights like Mozza night or Bowie night where there will be lots of songs played by those artists, so it's good to check on the website so you don't miss out on Belle and Sebastian night, or wander in on Rolling Stones night as i did (there are only 3 stones songs i like). Also if it's your birthday (or you're pure evil and lie) you get cake! 
Drinks are pretty expensive (for a poor artist like me anyway) so i generally just get pissed before i get there. It's just pure fun for me, listening to gloomy songs really does make me feel better, and the melodrama in a lot of the lyrics really cheers me up. Also lots of the DJs are really very handsome so i can have a good perve.

If i were a DJ there (which i should be because i am cool and they need a lady DJ) here is a little sampler of what i would play which also acts as one great big playlist with most of my musical tastes for anyone interested!
Spotify Playlist
If you don't have spotify... Umm... i'll try and work out how else to post this, but i'm so bad with these things i only just got my head around spotify.

Feeling Gloomy goes on every saturday from 10:30 to about 3:30 (website says it's 4 but it's usually earlier) and costs from £4.50 to £8 depending on the time you arrive, if you have a flier or are a student etc. It's on at the 02 Islington Academy which is very near Angel tube station. Also they have just opened a once a month night in New York.




Fun Fact: Carl who runs the club was the first person i was brave enough to ask out since Robert Lever when i was 14. Poor Robert, when i asked he stared, open-mouthed in horror before shouting 'NO!' and running across the playground.

Latest Haul

This was my most recent haul, from about 2 weeks ago (i'm proud of myself, i've barely bought anything since! This may not seem much of an achievement to most people but i am very proud of myself) when i took a little trip into Wimbledon and visited the shops that are my current Kryptonite: Superdrug and Boots.


Firstly i popped into Superdrug and, for me, got away with a very small amount! I picked up Sleek blush in Flamingo, GOSH foundation in porcelain ( i may have finally found my skins perfect match!) and GOSH nail polish in Bright Passion and Sweet Peach. Sweet Peach was on clearance and should have been half price (£2.50) but i found out when i got home and looked at my receipts (i really should start looking at them sooner!) that i had been really undercharged. I only paid £1.25 for Sweet Peach, a quarter of the full price, and, for some reason i have no idea why i only paid £1 for Bright Passion! I felt quite guilty about it, but also very pleased! Saved me a few bob, thanks Superdrug :)



Then i went to Boots and picked up a lot of bits:
Colorsport 24 hour eyeliner in black, Maybelline Falsies mascara in black, Collection 2000 eyeliner in Dig It, 17 Nail polish in Tropical Island, 17 nail polish in Orange Soda, 17 Eyeshadow in Funfair

i had a voucher for 150 extra points when you spent over a certain amount, and another for 50 points if i bought a 17 Eyeshadow. So i did, and it was 3 for 2 on 17! I also got Soap and Glory's Flake Away but forgot to photo it and I think i also got some boring lady things like tampons.

Swatches and reviews of these new products will be coming up! :)

2True Cheek n Lip Tint in Blush Pink

I've had the photos for this review on my computer but managed to misplace them in a folder where they shouldn't have been, but i've finally found them! Hooray.


I bought this a long time ago but i still love it. Like all 2True products it costs just £1.95 or you can get 3 for a fiver. There are 2 shades of this product, this one i'm reviewing 'Blush Pink' and another which i don't know the name of (i do have it somewhere but i have put it somewhere) but is basically a very cheap Benetint dupe.
I picked up this colour as, having a few cheap dupes of Benetint already, i wanted to try a cheap dupe of Posietint. I was going to pick up the 'Me Me Me' version (I cant find it online so i can't tell you what it's called but i think it was around £5 ) but then spotted this. Now what i realised when i got home is that this actually isn't a particularly good dupe of Posie tint, but i actually like this so much better!
Posie tint is (I believe, i've never tried it just seen photos) a light, slightly iridescent pink liquid, 'Blush pink' from 2True is a bright, bright, basically neon pink.

(it's actually brighter and more neon in real life)

It's thicker than other lip and cheek tints and stains i've tried, seeming more like a runny cream, but it works in much the same way. While the colour might look a bit scary in the swatch if you only use a tiny dot it applies as a sheer, clean wash of pink but it's buildable so if you're like me and want fluorescent cheeks you can achieve it on your skin.

Here's my naked cheek:



And here it is using Blush Pink (i applied 3 dots in a triangle shape on the apple of my cheek and then blended)


As you can see it just gives a lovely bright pink 'rosiness' to my cheek. You could always make it more sheer by using a smaller amount, or more vibrant by using more :)

However there was a problem when it came to applying it to my lips. At first i wanted to get the stain to apply the same colour as it is in the swatch, a bright, bright neon pink. However to get it to that colour i had to use lots of layers to get it to that colour and i really don't recommend that.

Naked lips

Applied very thickly.

As you can see adding lots of layers made it look odd and sort of clumpy, patchy and thick. It also didn't feel nice, it was too thick and quite drying. However when i applied just one or two sheer layers it looked really lovely:

  

A more natural flush of neon pink :P This time it felt fine, i could forget i was wearing it and looked a lot less messy.

I've found that on my cheeks this will last all day with no problems and basically no fading at all. But on my lips it will probably last for an hour or 2 before it starts to fade. But i bite and lick my lips a lot.

However i had one problem with this stuff, i do not like the taste or smell. You only notice it when the product is wet, when it has dried i can't tell it at all. I can't really descrive why i don't like it, it seems to be entirely unflavoured and unscented, but tastes and smells chemical-ish and just nasty to me. Also if you are looking for a posietint dupe this really doesn't work, i'd try the Me Me Me version or just shell out the big bucks on Benefit.

However if, like me, you really like this bright candy pink i would absolutely encourage you to try this. It works well, it's under £2 and the only downside i an see is that before it sets it tastes and smells a little funky :P

Sunday 4 April 2010

Happy Easter

I hope the Easter bunny visited everyone and now you're all relaxing and eating a lot of chocolate, eggy-wegs and other tasty things :)

Have been busy doing some very boring domestic chores, but i have a few posts coming up soon.
I was leaving a comment for someone and this is the word verification that came up:


Tee hee!

Also Superdrug.com is having an easter half price sale. A lot of stuff (basically everything i wanted X/) is out of stock, but you can still pick up a lot of bargains :)

Oh and the Lush giveaway winners will decided ASAP!

Dear Anonymous Lime Crime lover:

Well i wanted to answer your question directly in it's own post, so anyone who was also wondering the same thing could see the answer.
So your question is:
'Anonymous said...
I don't get you, a while ago you said that Xenia apologised to you for insulting your mum and that you accepted her apologies but still you keep dragging the accident up again and again, did you accept her apologies or not? And do you know what that means? Please behave like a grown up! I think you keep talking about Xenia and Lime Crime because somehow you feel at the centre of all the drama being involved because one time, centuries ago, your mum bought some shit off of her ... got a life much?'
Which you wrote in response to this post:
Firstly i'm confused as i only mentioned my Mum's experience in that post once, in a very fleeting comment also chronicalling Limey's other scams, so i'm guessing you're just asking in general why i am still bothered by Lime Crime scamming people when she has apologised to me. Also you claim i am dragging up an 'accident'. Well while the dress being hemmed with gaffa tape might be an accident, insulting my Mum wasn't. How do you accidentally call someone an asshole?
I have always said i am still biased. While she did offer me a very basic apology, it was about 5 years after the original comment was made. When she made the comment she sent me an email, which i have never posted until now (i'm just posting a little bit of it as some of it was bizarrely confessional and private and i don't want to embarrass her any more than she embarrases herself. This is the only bit that actually pertains to the duct tape dress and her comments):
'Hi. I figured I'd email you directly instead of commenting in your journal. First of all, I am sorry you didn't like the dress. Heck knows why I didn't fix it up. Maybe my sewing machine was broken that week, or maybe I just didn't know how to do it at the time. Or maybe I was just broke and desperate to sell it in as-is condition. I really can't remember.'
It then just goes on and on about the pressure on her to be the world's greatest fashion designer, and how people would commit suicide if they found out she was quitting fashion (seriously).
Do you see any hint of an apology for calling my Mum an asshole? I don't, i see an apology for selling a faulty dress, feebly excused by her saying she was probably just in a rush and needed money. In fact she doesn't even say she's sorry she did it, just she was sorry i didn't like it.
So after that point i stopped being a fan of hers (i was, even through recieving the duct-tape dress, right up until she called my poor mum an asshole) and shut up about her for years. Even through her charity scandal, up until about a year after she started selling her makeup.
When Lime Crime first started i had no idea her products (the eyeshadows, glitters and blushes) were just repackaged TKB as at the time i was completely ignorant about mineral makeup. I thought they were quite pretty but, because of my bad experience, wouldn't buy. But i didn't say anything about it, right up until i was actually tempted to buy her lipsticks, when i just told my story and asked my followers what they would do in my situation. I was then told about the repackaging, and decided to check it out and was shocked by what i found.
And yes, she did offer me an apology, as i said only after years had passed and she had accused me (and anyone else with any problem of her company) of being a jealous liar, and at the time i was rather happy that i at least finally got one. But then i was contacted by someone who had asked Xenia about the duct-tape/asshole incident to which she replied that it had never happened and i was lying. So not only is she again lying about me, but her apology was completely disingenuous.
Also, am i supposed to ignore everything else this woman does because she apologised once about what she said about my mum? She has lied and cheated almost consistently since her makeup company launched (as well as before), offered crappy products and threatened people who post bad reviews. Even if i had completely forgiven her for insulting my Mum, i'm not going to forgive her for these other things.
Even if she hadn't done anything else remotely shady, if her products had consistently been good, if she had amazing customer service and had responded reasonably to negative comments, even if she hadn't lied and changed things on her blog to claim she used her own brand, claimed her products were vegan when some are not, even then i would not be able to forgive her because, well maybe you don't care so much if people insults your mother but i do.  People can insult me and i'll shrug it off, but my Mum is different, insult her and i'll want to scratch your eyes out. This is the woman who gave me life and has nurtured me into adulthood. She is also one of my best friends. And furthermore the insult was completely unjustified, my Mum gave this woman money and didn't complain when she found what she bought was faulty. And then Xenia calls her an asshole because she was stupid enough to buy from her. Now maybe you would disagree, but i must say the small apology i did get wasn't really enough for me to get over what she did, let alone ignore all the other appalling things she's done.
And i do have a life, it's just a very small part of it finds her hilarious, shocking and appalling, so i like to chronicle it in my blog. Judging by the fact i had 42 comments on my last post about her (all apart from yours, mr/mrs anonymous, agreeing with me) people rather enjoy reading about this joke of a woman, so i'm not going to stop until she stops giving me fodder. I'm not the only person writing about Lime Crime, and i never write posts that are just bitchilly going on about how much i hate her and how noone should buy from her (in fact i've stated repeatedly that if you don't care about what she does then i'm not going to resent or dislike anyone just because we have a difference of opinion), instead i only post about her when she has done something new. That just sadly happens very often. If i knew of other brands doing such rediculous things i would write about them here too (and in fact i have). This is a blog about makeup and makeup brands. There are many more than Lime Crime that i don't like or have problems with and i have discussed them here too (Eyeko, Mac, the many etsy shops that sell repackaged mica, etc) it's just none are so shady, or at least are better at hiding it. The majority of my posts have nothing to do with her.
If you don't want to read about her then just don't, go and buy more of her crappy products and keep on closing your eyes, putting your fingers in your ears and chanting 'la la la' whenever some new awful thing she's done comes  to light, which at this rate should be sometime next week.
xx

Friday 2 April 2010

An OOTD


necklace: gift from Claire (somewhere on Etsy)
Jumper: Miss Selfridge
Skirt: Nicked off Claire, from the Miss Selfridge sale
Tights: possibly primark
Shoes: Office

I really liked this outfit on but looking at photos it seems to make my body look really long and my legs look short. On the plus side i don't look as if i've put on as much weight as i have! (Need to diet :( )