Return of the funny face!

Hello to anyone out there who is still following this blog!
I am really, truly, amazingly grateful to anyone who is reading this. I know disappearing from my blog is really uncool and some lovely people have even sent me emails worrying about me and for that I am truly sorry.

I never intended to abandon this blog. I just kept putting off posting because of writers block and it became more and more intimidating to come back. Then there were some changes in my life that have prevented or put me off blogging.

Firstly my health problems have become worse and as a result physical appearance has changed quite a bit. I have put on quite a bit of weight due to chronic fatigue combined with a broken ankle stopping me from exercising. Also my dermatilomania has worsened and at some points I was picking my face so much it was covered in little wounds and I was ashamed to take photos of makeup when my face was so scabby.

I have, very occaisionally, worked as a character/ugly model for the last couple of years. My social phobia is still extremely bad and so you'd think modelling would be the worst job ever but actually it's not bad. However most of the time I am still just not able to it and haven't worked in about a year.
Here's the best thing I've been part of:



(Did you spot me?)

I also made a (terrible) music video for one of my favourite bands!



I've also continued learning new crafts such as knitting and corsetry and will be starting a new blog regarding those sorts of things soon for anyone interested. There have also been some changes in my personal life but I'm not going to go into at this point.

But through all this I've still been buying stupid amounts of makeup that I do not need, and I will show it all to you soon!

Again thank you to anyone reading this, I hope I can make my extended absence up to you.

Ps. If you're seeing a hideous background of 'Image hosted by Tripod' I'm sorry! My background image link has broken and I am useless at html so my attempts to fix it may well fail.

Snail Slime

Hi there. I've been recently getting really interested in trying some products that contain snail slime. It could of course be just a gimmick but apparently the mucus of a certain species' of snails contains loads of skin loving ingredients like allantoin and glycolic acid so I feel it could be worth a try. Now loads of people will probably find the idea of putting something that comes from a snail on your skin kind of disgusting, and that's fair enough, but I am not one of them. I bloody love snails and in fact have had their slime on my face before.

 

Me around the age of 15/16 with some friends.

The problem is that I cannot tell if the slime is collected in a way that is cruelty-free. Obviously it is not vegan friendly and whether or not the actual product I might choose is cruelty-free depends on the company that makes it but I cannot work out if the actual slime is produced under cruel or painful conditions for the snail.   I’ve been trying to research about it but I can’t really find a straight answer. It seems to be basically cruelty-free, the snails aren’t killed or seriously hurt but I’ve heard they ‘agitate’ the snails which could hurt them a bit. Agitation isn't a very specific term, it could mean they are hurt or made uncomfortable but on the other hand it just might mean they are wiggled around a bit or something! If anyone knows more about it please, please let me know.

Google Reader thingamybob

So you may have seen that google has decided to get rid of it's 'google reader' service. I am a bad bad blogger and don't fully understand what this means so I direct you to these posts which explain it better than I ever could.

Something I am genuinely baffled by is that I honestly don't know if I use google reader! To read the blogs I follow I just log into blogger and then the blogs are all listed there. Is that google reader? 

Sorry I'm a moron.

Officially Number 2 at funny faces!

 I got an email yesterday from a reader in Spain to let me know that I am FAMOUS!

She was watching a TV program which shows youtube videos and other funny stuff from the internet and one section was a ranking of funny faces and who should appear at number 2 but yours truly!

  

Apparently  "This is the face you make when your mother tells you that you both share the same cyber-boyfriend" :P In real life I think I was pretending to be a monster.

I can't find it in myself to be annoyed that I've been on TV without giving permission, it's just too stupid and funny!

Thank you very much to Lua for the screencaps and telling me about this!

50 things about me

Hullo. I've seen this doing the rounds recently, I think it started with the wonderful Charlotte of Lipglossiping, and thought I'd join in because I love writing lists like this and can't find my camera lead so proper blog posts are delayed :P

I must say it was very hard to think of 50 facts but here we go!

1. I can't ride a bicycle.

2. I once won a karaoke competition while drunk singing This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us by Sparks.

3. I can stretch all my fingers backwards at a right angle from my palms. 

4. I couldn't blow bubblegum bubbles until I was 18. Now I love doing it.

5. My favourite colour is the pink of the pink snooker ball.

6. I've lived in London (specifically Merton) my whole life.

7. I have an odd voice. People from other countries usually get that I'm English but other English people often think I'm foreign or at least not a Londoner.

8. I have a fear of going underwater so am not a very strong swimmer.

9. I don't ever want children. I don't like them much and have a phobia of pregnancy. 

10. I absolutely love dancing. I'd like to take classes but I'm too shy.

11. I have a sort-of fear of rubbing flour and butter together.

12. I took German for GCSE instead of French. I can't really speak it at all anymore but I can sometimes translate it to English (I did this for Claire with Herr Lipp in the League of Gentlemen).

13. I collect Mickey Mouse ears and have about 30 pairs.

14. I have a lot of Monster High dolls and mini LaLaLoopsy's.

15. I really like watching bad bad films. Some favourites are Grease 2 (one of my favourite films!), Blood Feast 2, Absolute Beginners, Can't Stop the Music (the village people musical) and The Room.

16. The first gig I went to was part of Blur's Parklife tour when I was about 6.

17. I have a small heart shaped birthmark at the top of my left boob.

18. I have a yo-yo weight problem. I've been as small as a 14 on top 12 on bottom and as big as a 22/20 and everywhere in between.  

19. When I was a small child I wanted to be a lady Farmer like Sophie from the Dick King Smith books. 

20. I mush prefer drinking through a straw than the alternative.

21. I do practically all the cooking in my house.

22. I've been a vegetarian since I was about 8.

23. I'm attracted to skinny and slightly chubby men, I really don't like muscles. 

24. I spend a lot of time making up band names.

25. I have inexplicably managed to become friends with members of 2 of my favourite bands. Now I need to do the same with Ron and Russell Mael!

26. I'm in a band with one of them except we have only come up with our name.

27. When I was little I had a speech impediment that I just grew out of. I couldn't say 'k' sounds so 'duck and snake' became 'dut and snate' or 'l' sounds so 'Lillian' came out like 'Yeeyan'. And I had a lisp.

28. I really like computer games. Some of my favourites are Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy 9, The Sims, Just Dance, Skyrim, Arkham Asylum and various marios, sonics and Zeldas. 

29. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan.

30. My favourite artists include Peter Blake, Manet, Degas, Dr Seuss, Liselotte Eriksson and David Hockney. 

31. I can quote practically the whole of Labyrinth off by heart.

32. I have a small gap between my top front teeth. It used to be a lot bigger and I feel sad now it's so small.

33. My family basically never call me 'Lillian'. It's always 'Squill' or 'Squilly' or similar. 

34. I'm a very fussy eater. I mainly like Italian food and sweets.

35. I don't drink tea or coffee and rarely have fizzy drinks.

36. Possibly a result of this is that I'm a caffeine light weight. If I have a glass of Coke I won't be able to sleep for hours and hours.

37.  I can kick 5 feet in the air. I know this from practicing kicking the top of Claire's head.

38. I have severe social anxiety and depression and also general anxiety and agoraphobia.

39. I don't like being in the dark but find it much better if I close my eyes.

40. I am a huge cry-baby. Everything makes me cry. I even cry when I am really angry which makes arguments awful as people think I'm doing it on purpose.

41. I really like the idea of getting married and having a lovely wedding but I think I'd be too shy and anxious to walk and say my vows in front of people.

42. My Mum and Dad split up when I was a kid but never got divorced because they couldn't be bothered.

43. I have an extreme hatred for spirit mediums such as Colin Fry.

44. I have an obsession with David Bowie. I like doing an impression of him. At one point in my mind he was in the Bratz film.

45. I love Batman but wasn't keen on the Christopher Nolan films (Dark Knight was OK because Heath Ledger was amazing). I love the Tim Burton films, the animated series and The Brave and the Bold best and read the graphic novels but can't get into the actual comic books.

46. I am allergic to pineapple, Kiwi fruit and some sweet ingredient which is in Pear drops and green Jolly Ranchers. If I eat any of them I have breathing difficulties.

47.  As a child John Shuttleworth once threw me a chocolate bar as he feared I had missed my tea because I was watching his show.

48. I've never watched a James Bond film. I plan to see some soon though.

49. I met a Possum while on holiday in Florida and I'm sure he smiled at me.

50. I was dropped on my head just hours after I was born. Luckilly it was only onto a bed.

 

Where's my medieval knight?

Cosmetic Legislation in the UK

A couple of days ago I went on a day course to learn all about the legalities of selling cosmetics in the EU. I found it very interesting and thought, even if you have no intention of ever selling makeup or toiletries, other people might at least like to know the effort brands go to to sell their products.

There's so much information that this is not going to be comprehensive by any means  but it will give you the basic idea of what's required. 

After reading this I think it will make it clear why there are so few indie cosmetic companies operating in the EU! Firstly the costs are prohibitive and secondly there is a hell of a lot of paperwork involved! (and I'm not even going into trading standards or any of that irritating stuff as it's not specific for cosmetics).

OK so while you might think making cosmetics at home would have rules similar to making food products at home it isn't. With food the regulations mostly apply to you (needing to get certificates in hygiene and so on) with cosmetics it mainly applies to the safety of your products with less interest in you. You do however need to make a Good Manufacturing Policy (GMP) which contains information such as where you intend to make your products, how you will ensure proper cleanliness, how you will take efforts to keep supplier information (such as batch numbers of ingredients in case you come across a problem) and so on. This is an official document which you must sign as a promise to comply with what you've written. When Trading Standards check you out they will check out your work area and stuff but I think otherwise you're just trusted to be sanitary (it's in your best interests anyway, noone's going to want to buy from you if they find dirt/hair in your products!)

So as I said the main regulations are surrounding your products, and this is where it gets expensive! Every product you make needs to have the recipe assessed by a cosmetic chemist. Each go will be around £150 but that's an estimate. Now when I say every product I don't mean that if you have a line of moisturisers with the same recipe but different scents they will all have to be tested there's some leeway. You can get away with making moisturisers with different scents and slight changes in ingredients (such as different oils or butters used) as it will make little difference to the recipe anyway. But if you wanted to start a toiletry range then you'd need different assessments for your soaps, creams, scrubs, and so on. If your recipe is found to be unsafe (though it's unlikely if you've done your homework) then you will not get your money back and you will have to have it assessed again when you've made changes to the recipe.

Right so once you've have your formula safety assessed you might think you're good to go. Not so. If your chemist suggests it you'll have to supply samples of your product and send it for 'challenge testing'. This is likely to only be for products that contain water and so MUST  have a preservstive (some girls on the course were basically shuddering at the idea of using a preservative because they were so focussed on the idea of being 'all-natural' but I don't understand that mindset. To me it's better to use something, even parabens, that may be slightly frowned upon as a naughty chemical substance that have an unpreserved product that will harbour bacteria, grow mould and possibly harm your health). Challenge testing involves the technicians messing with your product, exposing it to nasty things and testing the bacteria levels to see if your preservative is strong enough. This will take about 6 weeks and costs around £200 a pop. And again if it doesn't pass then you have to go through it all again. Yay! 

That luckily is where the product testing ends but there's still a lot of rules to follow. Labeling is a huge thing with very strict rules to follow. You also need to keep a document called a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for EVERY ingredient you use. Luckily you can find the MSDS's for most things by googling or you ask your suppliers for them. With fragrance oils though you MUST get them from your supplier because they change dramatically. 

And finally for each batch of product you make you need to keep a manufacturing log including the weights, date of manufacturer, method of manufacturer, batch number and so on.

Phew! There's more to it then what I've described of course but that's the basics and you can see how rigid and difficult they sound. However I do actually think this is a better system then they have overseas because it really shows that you can trust the sellers and their products so we have far fewer Glittersniffer type horrors over here. 

I hope you found that interesting. If not then here's a picture by way of apology: 

Very Imperfect

On Thursday it was the Illamasqua blogger event for their S/S13 collection 'I'm Perfection' and I was invited. After a lot of stress and fear I managed to get over my nerves (with the help of a cheeky drink) and set off to it feeling very excited and proud of myself.

Unfortunately I am an idiot and trusted technology.

You see the venue for the event was at a gallery that I've never been to but instead of printing myself out a nice map I figured that I would just use the maps feature on my phone to guide me there. Then, while I was on the tube, my phone just stopped working. I don't know what the hell was wrong with it but it just would not turn on. It had a full battery when I left the house so it hadn't just run out of juice.  It's working again now.

Anyway I had no way to navigate my way to the venue so I had to just turn around and go home again .

To add insult to injury I was so flustered and upset by it I forgot I had to leave a station to touch out my oyster card, so when I got home TFL charged me about £15 for my failed journey :(

The new collection looks amazing and I am so so upset I didn't make it to the event.

Here's a few posts I've found that show off the collection beautifully so you can have a look if you haven't seen yet yourself. I am drooling over the Cadburys Mini Egg style nail polishes, that bright pink lipstick and the leaf green gloss! And once again the collection images are stunningly beautiful and the message behind the campaign is moving.

Stupid Lillian!

Anyway here I am in my gladrags before I left for the event. I looked awesome as well! Grumble grumble.

Wearing:

Face: Illamasqua Skin Base in 02, Avon powder, Sleek blush by 3 Lace in Chantilly , Illamasqua Gleam Cream in Aurora

Eyes: Illamasqua eyeshadow in , Sugarpill eyeshadows in Mochi and @#$%!, a colour from the MUA Heaven and Earth palette.

Lips: Illamasqua medium pencil in Debonair, a Conjurers Cosmetics lip gloss

 

 

I get bored when taking photos and end up posing and making stupid faces. Every time.

My outfit.

Hat: Asos
Necklace: Callooh and Callay

Top: Miss Selfridge

Skirt: Asos

Tights: Topshop

Garters: Present. Made by Claire

Shoes: Clarks. 

My amazing garters were a birthday present from Claire. They say 'Stop, you can go no further' in french and are awesome. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone!

At the moment I'm feeling ill so it seems like my New Years Eve will be spent watching Batman The Brave and the Bold...Not that that's a bad thing!

Anyway I hope everyone has a wonderful 2013. I generally don't make resolutions but this year I have a few.

1. Be a better blogger.

Seriously I am aware I have been pathetic this year. I'm not going to go into the reasons why because, while I think most of my excuses are pretty valid, they are still excuses and I'm not happy with how I've been doing. I've started already by re-starting my hosiery blog Funny Face Lovely Legs so if you like tights and things please check it out :)

2. Learn more about making makeup! This one is gonna be fun! While I've got some things pretty much nailed down (eyeshadows, lip balms, lipsticks and other easy-ish things) there's lots more to learn! When I can afford the ingredients I'm going to start making things like gel and liquid eyeliners, mascaras, cream eyeshadows and so on. I've also booked myself into some courses next month to learn about making soap and body products and finally about the legistration and selling of cosmetics in the UK.

3.  Try to stop worrying so much. This one is much easier said than done as I have severe problems with anxiety that I can't just get rid of instantly but I'm going to at least try and be easier on myself about things. For instance tonight I was meant to be going to a friends house to celebrate New Years but I'm feeling too sick. I feel really guilty about letting people down but it's something that can't be helped so I'm trying my best to just relax and not beat myself up.

I also want to lose weight but that's not a resolution as it's not something I think is important, I just want to fit into my lovely clothes again.

Anyway eat, drink and be merry tonight! Tell me what resolutions you're making, if any.

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:

My big mug

Thanks to everyone who commented so kindly on my last post. I WILL reply to all your comments, it's just taking me a ridiculously long time as I'm finding it difficult like blogging in general.

Blogger is acting weird for me at the moment, it might be because apperently my browser is no longer supported by blogger and it wants me to use Google Chrome. But that's not going to happen because I like Firefox! (other browsers are available)

Anyway I have some actually interesting posts for you coming up starting tomorrow (I promise!) like an event, swatches, reviews etc. But for now here's my big mug.

 

Wearing:

Face: Illamasqua Skin base in 02 (a tiny bit mixed with moisturiser), Nyx cream blush in Orange

Eyes: Illamasqua cane medium pencil smudged all over the lid and on the waterline, black mascara.

Lips: Mac Pro cream colour base in Pink Shock, Illamasqua sheer lipgloss in Divine

 

Because my hair is naturally very curly my fringe is a bit of a nightmare. I need to invest in some good straighteners. Or not be lazy and blow dry it properly.

 

My clothes are all from a few years ago so sorry if you like them!

Bunny top: Topshop (it's a size 10 or something, stupidly oversized!)

Shorts: Miss Selfridge

Tights: Topshop (you can't see them but they're nudeysheer with tiny, round, gold studs)

Shoes: Office

In other news I saw Scott Pilgrim the other day and hated it. It seems like the comic might be better. My room is still not tidy but better than the last photos I posted. And Eddie Argos is now officially my friend because he said so and can't take it back! MWA HA HA HA!

Also I am a moron.

Bombsite

 I apologise for being a terrible blogger lately. My depression has been quite bad lately and when it's bad I don't have the energy to do anything, even just typing up a post is too difficult. And now I'm feeling better but have to tidy my bedroom.

Tidying my bedroom is a hellish and dangerous job that comes up about once a year (because I am a complete slob). Everytime I've managed to tidy it I think 'I'll never let it get this bad again!' but I'm just lying to myself. I managed about 4 hours today (though I actually started tidying it about 2 months ago, did several days of work and then got fed up with it seeming to go nowhere and gave up) before I started worrying I might lose an arm and had to go have a big glass of water. I probably have another week of work to go but I will prevail!

You may think I'm exaggerating, allow me to prove you wrong! These photos were taken after about 3 hours of work:

Oh God the horror D:

But I will be blogging again soon and I will have the worlds biggest blog sale as I need to clear space!

Tender Loving Claire

Claire has started posting in her blog again. She has pretty outfits and makeup for you to see and also old old old photos of me back when I was (relatively) slim and so could wear more interesting clothes! Go follow her at her blog here

Or don't, I don't need her stealing followers from me :P

Happy Jubilee!

Hullo, hope everyone's having a nice jubilee day (if you're in the Commonwealth and care about it anyway). I ain't no royalist and have spent the majority if the day doing this:

In other news I have just about the worst spot ever. Possibly too much information coming up, stop reading if you are squeamish!

It's one of those evil ones that never comes to a head and feels like there's a lump under the skin. I tried squeezing it (I am a notorious spot squeezer) and it justcaused m get a huge scab. I thought that when the scab had healed the spot would be gone, or at least smaller. I was wrong! It fell off today and the evil spot is bigger than ever DX! It feels like a pea on my chin! Anyone got any idea of how to get rid of it?

This is from my phone again, this tine I'm attempting to navigate the Blogger app. Will it work? Let us see...

Post from the future!

Hi everyone!

You know how I said on the last post that I'd have something more interesting than pictures of me next time? Well that was a complete lie!

My computer is being really slow (well the internet is due to my ludicrous number of tabs) so writing posts is a bit arduous at the moment... But! I have finally got my first smart phone! I'm writing this on the train to Waterloo...No wait now I'm on a bus!...Now I'm lying in bed! Woo it's the future!

Anyway I'm having fun playing with it and thought I'd share some photos I'd taken with its (rather good) camera. If you're interested my phone is a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, it's got 2 cameras a proper one with 5 megapixels and a front facing one which has 3 (I think).

 

Perry (we did his haircut ourselves!)

 

Perry's Mummy

 

Digby

 

Digbys Mummy!

(I got a fringe again, it looks super weird in the photo as it's all curled and flipped up. I could not be bothered to straighten it)

This was using the fronmt facing camera. It's not terrible as you can see but the colours are very inaccurate. My eyeshadow looks peachy but it was actually a baby pink.

Also wearing:

Face: Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in 02 (It almost covered up my horrible scab on my chin!), Illamasqua powder  blusher in

Eyes: Illamasqua medium pencil in Cane (on waterline), Sleek Ultra Mattes brights palette (Floss and Pucker), black mascara, Sleek Ulta Mattes darks palette (Ink on eyebrows)

Lips: Topshop Lipstick pencil in Rosa

 

My dress is much brighter in real life, it's absolutely eye-searingly neon. It's from Topshop Tall.

 

I can also doodle on my face, which is fun! 

Woot! Tell me exciting apps and things Android phones can do! :P

Tag Tag Tag Tag

My Mum has fully recovered from her operation, the huge deluge of Birthdays in my family that hits the late march/early april is over and a very stressful meeting to do with my social anxiety has passed.  Ahhh I can relax! So I'm hopping back up on the blogging horse and hope to be posting more regularly from now on. I actually have a proper review coming up! (Hopefully tomorrow, I just need to take some swatch shots when the light is nice).

To ease me back in I thought I'd do a tag post because I find them really fun to write. I stole this from Jansara's amazing, fantastic blog. I ain't tagging anyone because I wasn't properly tagged myself, so just do this if you wanna! 

1. What Sparked your interest in Makeup and what made you decide to start blogging? 

I honestly can't remember what originally drew me to makeup, I just remember being about 8 or 9 and raiding my Mum's makeup stash for lipstick and eyeshadow. I have a vivid memory of jumping up and down on her bed listening to David Bowie, having just slathered my mouth in bright red lipstick and lots of black eyeliner. My guess is that my sister Lydia inspired me to play with it, she was 5 years older than me and had a sort of Britpop/indie/goth look going on (lots of eyeliner, burgundy lipstick, bindis etc) and I idolised and loved her. The first time I can remember going out in public in makeup was to a Christmas school disco. My friend Xenia and I bought some makeup together from Miss Selfridge (who used to have AWESOME makeup!) and wore matching faces with one eye in electric blue mascara and the other in bright green with bright orange lips (I still own that lipstick!). 

(Lydia and I circa 1998ish)

As for when I started blogging,  again I can't really remember. I started in 2009 just after I'd finished my art degree and think I was quite depressed. I didn't get the results I was hoping for and felt disappointed with myself and let down by my Tutor and I just didn't feel like painting much at that time. But I still needed an outlet for my creativity so wanted to start writing some sort of blog. Since starting to wear makeup I've always been creative with my looks (i.e. not particularly good at it) and loved buying and playing with it so thought it would be a good thing to concentrate on.

2. If you could only use one monochromatic set of colors of eyeshadow what would it be? I.e. only shades of blue.

Probably pink as it's my favourite colour and looks nice with my blue eyes. 

3. Do you prefer playing with eyeshadow, lipstick or nail polish?

Lipstick.  I just looove lipstick. 

4.  What do you want to be "when you grow up"? 

An artist or illustrator.  

(Painting by me)

5. Favorite band/musician?

Sparks they're just the greatest band ever. I could go on for hours about why I love them (drop me an email if you're interested in hearing my babble! :P) but basically this is why:

I also love David Devant and his Spirit Wife, ABC, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush, Pet Shop Boys,  Aqua, Abba, Adam and the Ants, the Smiths and Morrissey, Rammstein, The Beatles, Art Brut, Bruce Springsteen, The Divine Comedy, Pulp, Oingo Boingo and many many many more!

 6. Favorite guilty pleasure?

Watching bad bad bad tv (Toddlers and Tiaras, Eastenders, Neighbours, Judge Judy etc). Also chocolate.

7. How do you like to spend your days (you know after you've played with makeup xD)

I paint/draw/sculpt etc, look after the animals, tidy the house, cook,  listen to music, watch TV and at the moment I'm making my own makeup!

8. Do you have any pets? If so, names and pictures! 

The only pet in the house that is actually mine is Sir Digby Chicken Caesar, my miniature Daschund

but I also look after and love my Mum's dog Minnie, Claire's dog Perry, my sisters 3 ferrets Yetta, Rikku and Feargal, Mum's guinea pig Portia and the communal cats Mr Darcy and Weevil. You're not having photos of all of them because it would take too long!

9. Do you prefer indie companies or cooperate companies to buy your makeup from?

If you'd asked me this 6 months ago I definately would have said indie companies but since then I've been stung by a lot of them and tend to prefer big companies in general. There are of course exceptions and I still love the whole indie makeup thing! In my opinion a good company is a good company regardless of size.

10.  The most rewarding thing about blogging for you?

Just interacting with other people, sharing opinions, inspiring each other and just talking to people I wouldn't have met had it not been for the beauty blogging world.

11.  Who inspired you?

Mizzworthy, Phyrra and Pixiwoo were the main people I looked at when I started blogging. 

Fun fun fun!

Just popping in

To say that my Mum is fine and dandy. I'm keeping her entertained with DVDs and fully stocked with cups of tea. I'm still worried of course 'cause she's my Mummy but everything should be fine now :) 

Have another old photo, this time I'm about 9 and going to see Rocky Horror with my family and best friend of the time.

 

left to right:

My sister Lydia, my Mum, my sister Laura, Me, my friend Natasha.

Old Photo of the Day - Blackpool

Just a quick note to say I will probably be very sporadic in posting yet again. This month is FILLED with family and friends Birthdays and my Mum is having an operation on monday so I have to look after her and keep her supplied with cups of tea. 

To tide you over here's a couple of photos of me at age 14 (I think. Around then anyway) at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Yes it's true, I was once cool. And relatively slim.

Happy Mummy's Day!

 

That's me with Mummy Low (and also dogs sneaking into the photo). She'd hate me if she knew I'd posted this here, especially as she wasn't wearing makeup in the photo, but she doesn't read my blog so she'll never know! Mwa ha ha ha! (much evil laughter)

She is an amazing, wonderfully supportive, funny, clever woman and I love her so so much. She's always there to give me a cuddle and help dye my hair.

I've spent the day making her many cups of tea and a nice vegetarian roast dinner for us all.

Hope everyone's having a lovely day :)

Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism

I can't say much about this collection as I haven't actually seen any of it first hand (I was invited to the blogger event but couldn't come due to being too poorly at the moment and having a very stressful appointment the next day to add to the anxiety :( ) but just wanted to post this link to a tutorial on how to get this look:

 

Ahhh my favourite, it's so pretty!  

It's called 'Teal Marilyn' and I finally realised that the teal lips and white eyebrows and liner are the colours you would get if you inverted a picture of someone with black liner and brows and red lips. A bit like the old look I did here for the Illamasqua MizzWorthy contest a couple of years ago (only obviously much better). Clearly I was their inspiration :P

Anyway I'm dying to get my hands on that lippie (Apocalips) and the liner (Scribe) as Illamasqua's Precision Ink liners are my favourite. I also want the 2 nail polishes from the line and would be interested in trying the gold foundation. I can live without the eyeshadows though as I pretty much have every colour anyway Sadly I am too poor at the moment to be buying anything :( 

The new Illamasqua website is really cool, it has sections on reviews, how-tos, swatches and other things and you can email in your own, which I will probably do when I get up the nerve.  The shop part also has really stepped up with the product photos, there are tonnes of swatches and even videos showing the product in action!

Anyway I really just wanted to post that link. What do you think of the new collection? Being a big Illamasqua fangirl I really like it, I think the looks are really beautiful and cool and the ideas behind it really go with Illamasqua's non-conformist messages. However I would have liked to have seen some new products innovations or just a few less eyeshadows (eyeshadows are the makeup product I tend to be least interested in, I just have so many already and you can get fun, bright and good quality eyeshadows from tonnes of brands). I'm hoping to be rich enough to get some bits from the collection soon and will review them for you.

**Just a note, I wasn't contacted by anyone from Illamasqua to write this post and I didn't get any sort of compensation for it, I just fancied a chat**