Blue Belly

Back here I said I'd show you my full outfit. At the time I wore it I felt pretty fabulous, I thought I looked amazing! But sadly now I've actually seen the photos I've taken I've been reticent to share. I do not think I look good anymore. I'm actually writing a big long post about my body issues and stuff so I won't fully go into it now but basically I think I look pregnant. Also when I was out in this I got a lot of dirty looks/laughter aimed at me which made me feel very uncomfortable and scared. It's a real shame because when I looked in the mirror before leaving I thought I was smoking!

 Bur I decided I should still share the pictures with you because the outfit is awesome, just maybe not great on me at the moment.

   

Hat: Ebay (vintage)

Necklace: Cicely Margo

Crop Top and Trousers: Asos

Socks: Topshop

Shoes: Office

It's the first time I've worn a pair of trousers in probably about 5 years! I really like them but they need some real tailoring. I'm going to take the hem up to make them capris and bring them in so they flatter my legs a bit more. I wouldn't wear the socks next time though, they look silly.

I bought the same outfit but in red too (it was all 50% off in the saleso I got 2 outfits for the price of one!).

And here is my face:

 

  

Face: Mac Prep & Prime Face Protect SPF 50, Sleek blush in Guipere

Eyes: some shadows from the Sleek Matte V2 palette (i lost the sheet with the names, I'm wearing the light yellow and the white)

Lips: Sleek Amped

And finally here is a photo of me pulling a face upon hearing the builders next door shouting at each other:

The builders have gone now. I am relieved but also slightly sad I don't hear their 90s Europop everyday now.

Darling Girl Eyeshadow Review and swatches

Continuing my ongoing huge Darling Girl review  I've got a bunch of eyeshadows for you today!

 Darling Girl eyeshadows come in three sizes, samples (1/8 tsp in bags), petites (1/4 tsp in jars) and full size (3/4 tsp in jars) 

As I've never actually finished a shadow I only buy samples and petites, so I can't show you the full sized packaging:

    

Eyeshadow packaging is again simple and clear. Sample bags are labelled with the ingredients, name and whether or not they're lip safe. The jars do not have room for the ingredients, but they are on the website. Darling Girl is well known for making awesome taupe colours with a twist but they also have some great bright and dark colours!

In the following photos I am wearing Dasher on my bow bone, Jewelled Taupe on my lid and a touch of Rudolph in my crease. This was applied on a bare lid (no primer) 

Freshly applied: 

10 hours later

 

So as I hope you can see the shadows stayed amazingly well! There's a tiny bit of fading in the crease but other than that it looks the same as when it was first applied! The slight change in colour is due to the different lighting.

Swatches below the cut!

Look with Illamasqua Wisdom

When I attended the Illamasqua Generation Q event a few weeks ago we were all sent home with a goody bag containing one product from the collection, the Precision Ink eyeliner in Wisdom. The event was held before the products and packaging had been completely finished so our Liners are fresh from the factory! 

 

 

 As you can see there's no writing or anything on it, just plain black. I think it looks cool! And it makes me feel sort of pleased and special to have a prototype!

Wisdom is a antique, blackened gold colour, it has golden sparkle which looks green sometimes. Also, I don't know if it's just a trick of the light but in this photo if I look at it closely I can see a few tiny flashes of pink.

  

The formula of this is the same as all the Illamasqua Precision inks, which is my favourite ever liquid eyeliner. It's really easy to apply (I don't know why but it's felt-tip just seems easier to apply precisely than others!), It's lovely an opaque, dries quickly and when it's dry it doesn't fade or smudge. It's also not waterproof but I find it water resistant, when I've swatched it on my hand and tried to wash it off it doesn't dissolve in the water, you need to rub it off.

 

I'm going to post my look and outfit from the photo above soon :)

Thanks Illamasqua for a lovely new addition to my Precision Ink collection! This product, along with the rest of the Generation Q will be released in September.

Illamasqua  have also recently launche their 'Fight for a fair Beauty Price' campaign, to try and stop the ridiculous enflation on cosmetic prices in Australia, just another reason to love this brand! You can read more about it and sign their petition here!

*The eyeliner was provided for a review, but all thoughts and opinions are my own*

Holidaaaayyy! Celebraaate!!

So in October I'm going on holiday for the first time in 3 years! Not only that but I'm going to California! 

Claire and I are going for a week and staying in Anaheim so we're central to Disneyland. We're huge Disney lovers and so far the holidays we've taken together have been to DisneyWorld in Florida and Disneyand Paris (we are super cool and not at all lame and Disney obsessed like you think). We're also going to visit Hollywood and a mall somewhere.

Neither of us have been there before and are very excited!

But.... Even though we are going in October it's going to be very hot and sunny. And I don't cope too well in the heat! (I'm HATING the weather here in London at the moment). And it's been so long since I've been on holiday somewhere hot I've forgotten what I need to take! (other than a sunhat and sunblock!)

So that's where you guys come in! What do I need to take with me? Has anyone been to California/live there and know of anything we should be doing? Does anyone know where I can get an awesome looking backpack (or other travel suitable bag) before I go? What/how much makeup can I take on the plane? Any tips to help me cope with the heat? Anyone know any comfortable but stylist/pretty shoes?

And where I can find Archie comics when I get there? I love me some Jughead.

Oh and what should I do with my hair? I feel like I should bleach it, because California just brings blonde hair to mind and I had always planned to go back to blonde. However everyone keeps telling me how great I look with black hair.

 Any tips would be really helpful! Help me with my life! :P 

Phew!

Right. I've finally finished replying to all blog comments since the beginning of June!

I will be going back until I've replied to all comments since the end of the year. I know it may seem a bit silly, as most people won't remember if they've even commented on a post that far back but I genuinely feel guilty for not keeping up. I really, really don't want to take my readers and followers for granted and truly feel grateful for every comment I recieve. I hope everyone understands that and I promise to keep up to date with replies from now on!
I am also going to be commenting on your blogs a lot more from now on! 

To fully apologise here is a loafdog:

Darling Girl Lip Products Reviews and Swatcharama!

Today I have some swatches and reviews of Darling Girl Cosmetics Lip Products.

They make several different lip products including lip balms, primer and of course colour cosmetics.

Packaging is simple but attractive:

  

Holo Gloss in a click pen, Kiss You Off Colour Rich Lip Balm in a tube, Liquid Kiss Luxe sample in Strawberry Fields Forever in a clam shell, Holo Gloss in a pot.

Reviews and swatches under the cut :)

Paradox

 It's my 600th post! WOOO!

To celebrate behold this amazing giant bourbon biscuit from Costa:

You have no idea how delicious it was.

Right now onto the proper post!

Back in the early summer my jewellery company Callooh and Callay launched a new collection based around impossible/paradox images. Because we're a tiny company we can't afford fancy stuff like models so I had to pretend to be one myself. We wanted a sort of New Wave look and I did my best!

 

 

Do you think I succeeded?

I used  Illamasqua Skin Base in 02 in several layers to give me heavy coverage. I wanted my skin to look as flawless as possible to give a mask-like appearance. I highlighted the bridge of my nose, cheekbones and cupids bow with Tiara Chromalust by Sugarpill. To make the angular cheeks I just cut a triangle out of paper and used it as a stencil with Sugarpill Love + eyeshadow. Finally for the lips I mixed Sugarpill Chromalust in Goldilux (the best gold eyeshadow EVER!) with ELF Studio Makeup lock and Seal. I knew I was going to be wearing big 80s style sunglasses so I didn't bother with any eye makeup. When I took the glasses off the look was... strange:

 

Here's a close up of the lips. The colour was amazing but it felt very dry.

So that was my 600th post. It may have been underwhelming but at least I only just realised so there wasn't a big build up to it!