Well, if you want to be pedantic it's actually a little over a year since I last posted about my Z Palette, but it looks rather a lot different now I think!
I've got much more back into eyeshadow lately, which is great really because I was starting to feel that I had far too many to be justified. But now I'm actually using eyeshadow on a daily basis again... ;)
I have come to the conclusion that I never, EVER use my single eyeshadows. EVER. I should probably make an effort to depot the nice ones (and perhaps get another Z Palette to accomodate them!), and I still only ever use a few of my palettes - this one, the Urban Decay Naked, the Wet N Wild Comfort Zone and the Kat Von D True Love palettes. Out of all the lovely palettes I own, though... my Z Palette will always be my favourite. I guess because it's personalised, I hand selected everything that's in there, you know?
The square side; a variety of Inglot shadows
The round side; MAC, a few Sleek, a couple of Yaby and a Yaby brow powder that I never use, come to think of it..
There's still some adjustments I want to make to my bespoke eyeshadow collection though before it's all just perfect. I'm thinking of filling up the rest of this one with more Inglot - I've come to the conclusion that Inglot's eyeshadows are my favourite - and then starting a whole new palette for MAC and other round pans.
Do you have a personalised palette, or are you one of those enviable people that can actually be bothered to use single eyeshadows?
P.S... If anyone can correctly guess the names of the 7 MAC eyeshadows in my Z Palette, I'll send you a lipstick ;)
So, I decided that my nails were getting a bit too long. I always hate doing it, and I always hate my nails for a little while after the fact, but I cut a good three quarters of a centimetre off them and tried to regain the squoval shape. And again, the pattern remains the same as always: I hated them for a few hours and thought they were all short and stubby, but then I loved them and remembered how much nicer and neater they look at this length!
I often think that dark vampy shades look their best on my nails when they're shorter, so I decided on Zoya Isla, one of my favourites (it even makes the grade for a Polishgasm). The weather is finally taking a turn towards the warmer - touch wood - and the days are getting longer, so this might well be my final vampy shimmer of the season before I start moving into pastel cremes and brights for Spring!
Last time I featured Isla in a post was in December and my pictures did it no justice, but the sun was shining like it meant it when I was at the train station the day after painting them, so I couldn't help but get out my camera and snap Isla in all it's beautiful red glory. :)
What's your favourite length to keep your nails?
You're either a bath person or a shower person, and I am definitely a shower person. I've probably only had about 5 baths in the last 5 years, they just don't appeal to me that much. 2007 was probably the year that I took the most baths in my life since I was working at Lush and it would have been rude not to take advantage of the 50% staff discount!
But whether you're a shower person or a bath person, I Love... Cosmetics can definitely cater for you. Their huge 500ml bottles of combined bubble bath and shower gel retail at just £2.05, an absolute bargain I think you'll agree, along with body butters at the same price, gorgeous 99p lip balms and all sorts of other bath and body goodies - with a decidedly Philosophy-like packaging design. Some weeks ago I was sent their Coconut & Cream bath and shower creme, Blueberry & Smoothie glossy lip balm, and their new limited edition Juiced Up Blackcurrant bath and shower gel - and I must say, I was impressed!
I Love... Coconut & Cream bath and shower creme
Coconut is one of my most favourite scents of all time - I still mourn sometimes for the long-discontinued I Should Coco soap by Lush, probably one of the most authentic coconut scented products I've ever used. This is absolutely lovely, though! It gives a really creamy lather that actually does a half decent job of moisturising your body even though this isn't one of its claims. The scent is just wonderful, really coconutty (!) and the 'cream' part manifests itself as a subtly sugary scent that works amazingly with the coconut.
I Love... Juiced Up Blackcurrant bath and shower gel
I wasn't 100% sure about this one when I got it - I'm not really a fan of blackcurrants. But when these arrived, I was at the lowest point of a nasty cold so I thought the vitamin C aspect might perk me up a bit. Boy did it! The scent of this is strong, and really authentic. I was afraid it would have a nasty synthetic blackcurrant smell, but it genuinely smells like someone's just squished a load of fresh blackcurrants into a bottle. It was a great way to welcome back my sense of smell! The shimmery purple colour of it is a real treat, too, although this one didn't lather as nicely as the Coconut & Cream.
I Love... Blueberry & Smoothie glossy lip balm
Lip balms in pots aren't always my favourite - less because of the hygiene aspect that people talk about (seriously, what's the big deal?), but more because of my long nails. I've taken to scooping a smidgen of lip balms in pots out with the back of my nail to prevent getting any stuck underneath them! The first time I did that with this, I felt slightly apprehensive - it just felt like it was going to be really slippery and not moisturising in the slightest, that it was just going to be a lip gloss. I was wrong, though, this does actually feel nice on although it takes a while to sink into the lips. I've taken to slathering it on before bed to wake up with nice soft lips. Colin loves using this too! Also, because it's blue - although not very pigmented which is good - it works really nicely over pink lipsticks to add a slightly blue-toned milky-ness.
Overall I'm really impressed with what I've tried of the I Love... range, and would definitely like to try out some more of their products! Have you tried anything from I Love... before?
You can find I Love... in selected Superdrug, Co-Op and Morrisons stores. There's a store finder on the website :)
Over the last two and a half years, I've built up quite a nice collection of Illamasqua products. I have a ton of their nail polishes, a couple of their foundations and primers, a nice handful of blushes, lipsticks and eyeliners.. but I never realised how many of their Liquid Metals, Cream Pigments and Pure Pigments I had amassed! I thought I'd showcase them all across a couple of posts, because they are truly lovely products that I don't wear enough so I might motivate myself to use them more through this! Today I'll show the Cream Pigments and Liquid Metals that I have, and I'll do Pure Pigments separately another time.
Liquid Metal: Solstice - This was part of my first ever Illamasqua purchase, along with Furore pure pigment and Absorb intense lipgloss on my 18th birthday. So it holds a special place in my heart! It's also the only one that you can't get any more! I noticed whilst at IMATS that one of the products they had there was a gold liquid metal called Electrum. I'd not seen or heard of it before, sort of an antique gold colour, so I asked about it and it was created to replace Solstice. Apparently the pigment used to create the amazing true gold colour of Solstice is no longer available! Solstice makes a beautiful base for gold eyeshadow looks, but my favourite way to wear it is as an eyeliner. Gorrrgeous.
Liquid Metal: Phemomena - A long time ago, I used to have a wishlist in the sidebar of my blog and Phenomena was on there. Colin came to visit me one weekend and had bought me this! I have to say though, this is probably my least favourite. Not sure if I just got a dud one, but it just doesn't have the same luxe creamy texture and intense pigmentation that the others have. The texture of this one is much wetter and more oily, and always creases no matter how thin a layer I use or how well I set it.
Liquid Metal: Surge* - After my disappointment with Phenomena, I was apprehensive of Surge when I was sent it to review. But this was much more like it - the same texture and colour payoff that came with Solstice. And it's almost silver - although more of a dirty, pewter type shade. I actually really like the colour of this one, it makes a lovely base for warm toned taupe eyeshadows if you want to make them appear cooler toned.
Liquid Metal: Resolute* - At the launch for the A/W 2010 Art of Darkness collection, which included three new Liquid Metals, I noticed that the formula had been changed quite significantly - it's slightly drier than it used to be, which is actually a really good thing because it makes them less prone to creasing. This hasn't come at the cost of pigmentation, though, they're still as luxe and rich as ever. I was glad to see Illamasqua move into more colours with these, too, branching out from the traditional metallic colours of the earlier ones. Although I'm still holding out hope for a Cadbury purple shade! Resolute is a bloody stunning red shade in the pot, but leans rather more brown and rusty on the skin. I really like it though, it's different and you should know by now that I love red shades on my eyes. It makes the perfect base for Berber pure pigment.
Cream Pigment: Emerge* - The S/S 2011 Toxic Nature collection saw Illamasqua dip their toe into the world of pastel shades (with an alter-ego twist of course), and with it came the brand new Cream Pigments. These are such great products! Much more robust and long-lasting than their original cream eyeshadows, and also great for a multitude of uses other than on the eyes. Emerge, whilst I love it as a base for a peach toned eye look, is also a great product to mix with your concealer to colour-correct any blue shadows. I've also mixed it with cream blushers before to give them a peachier tone, and with lipsticks (and I've craftily used the lid to cover up the corner where I dig little bits out to do this!).
Cream Pigment: Dab* - If you have any sallow yellow tones to your undereye shadows, Dab is the perfect shade to counteract that by mixing with concealear. I also love this as an eyeliner, it's a really interesting shade for that purpose. And again, it's great to mix with cream blushes and lipsticks to create custom shades. Naturally you can by all means use them neat on your cheeks or lips if you want to!
With both the Liquid Metals and Cream Pigments, there's definitely some rules of thumb that I follow for them. As you can see from my swatches, once you start to blend them they do become decidedly less intense but you really can't get away with wearing a thick layer of either product. Naturally because of their nature as cream products, they WILL crease unless you use a thin layer. Also setting them with complimenting eyeshadows will greatly prolong their wear. They apply nicely with synthetic brushes - don't even think about trying to get a decent result with a natural hair brush - but they apply and blend just as nicely with a fingertip if you want to go au naturel!
Do you have any Illamasqua Liquid Metals or Cream Pigments? What do you think of them? I really want to try Hollow Cream Pigment as a contour shade when my Rumour blush runs out!
Liquid Metals cost £17.50 each and Cream Pigments come in at £17.00, available from Illamasqua.com or your nearest counter.
*Denotes products that were sent to me or given to me at launch events - although you know by now that this doesn't affect my opinions.
I bought Kiko's Sparkle Touch 270 topcoat when it was on sale for £1.50 in the Westfield Stratford store weeks and weeks ago. I'd picked up the bottle in the store several times, not sure why it took me so long to buy it but I can't turn my nose up at eventually getting it for a measly £1.50. It took me a few weeks to use it because I don't have that many polishes here with me at the moment - for those who don't know, I moved in with Colin a while ago and most of my stash is still at home! - and I just couldn't decide on a polish to layer it over.
I got Illamasqua Propaganda at IMATS at the beginning of the month - I liked the colour of it, but never bought it before because I'm not the biggest fan of jelly polishes. At £5 though, I wasn't going to say no again. I also thought it would be a nice colour to go with that Kiko 270!
It's painfully obvious that I painted these in rubbish artificial lighting. If I'd have done it in daylight, I would have realised that Propaganda could have done with a third coat because the flash reveals some transparency after the two coats I used, particularly on the middle nail.
I do quite like this Sparkle Touch thing though, it's fun! I do like a nice chunky glitter. And it was completely smooth after one coat of topcoat, unlike a lot of chunky glitters which was nice.
What do you reckon?
Okay, no laughing please. You may remember if you read my IMATS haul post that I bought a ProChart with a view to trying my hand at designing face charts. I still don't have any serious desire to become a makeup artist - although my interest in makeup artistry is constantly growing and evolving - I just wanted to try it out as a hobby more than anything else.
The ProChart, created by makeup artist Victoria Hooker, is absolutely lovely. It's one of the nices faces I've seen on any face chart (I really don't like the MAC one at all, it has a real tranny look about it doesn't it?!), printed on nice densely textured paper for maximum adhesion of products. There's several features that I think make ProChart a really good choice for beginners to designing face charts - it includes faint half-brows to make it easier to create your desired brow shape, and faint eyelashes so designing those should theoretically be much easier. Most face charts don't include brows or eyelashes at all, which is a plus point in some ways for the more advanced makeup artist, but as I said I think these features are perfect for someone like me who has no experience in this.
I also really like that the eyes are quite large and there's plenty of lid space so you've got ample room to experiment with blending and different shapes or colour combinations. Oh, and another thing - it features plenty of space beneath the face for you to record the products you used, so you can go back and recreate the same look again and again.
Anyway! Before I got stuck in designing my own face charts, I sought out some insider tips and tricks so I didn't feel I was going in without a clue what I was doing. I reached out to Victoria and the ProChart team to find out what advice they could offer me and you on designing face charts. I got a phenomenal response from the team with far more information than I expected, so I'm delighted to be able to share these with you all!
:: "My two tips are using MAC Luna cream colour base all over the eyes, it helps the shadows to blend easier and you get a truer colour pay off. I also use MAC cleanse off oil (the tiniest tiniest amount) to blend lip liner as it emulsifies the make up and stops it from looking drawn on"
:: "Always draw eyebrows in very faintly with a lead pencil to give the desired shape and style of the brow, then fill with a soft angle brush and eyeshadow, this way it's really easy to rub out if you struggle to make them symmetrical! Perfect for big strong brow looks"
:: "My other tip is don't leave out filling the colour of the pupil in this really makes your facecharts look alive! Do this with a small amount of coloured eye pencil and blend in with a cotton bud"
:: "Make sure that you use soft skin tone colours to shape from the eyebrows, down through the nose to make the face look more 3D and realistic."
:: "A white rubber comes in very handy if you make any mistakes but don't use a coloured one as the colour sticks to the paper!"
:: "I use a darker coloured lip pencil than the lipstick to outline & shade which creates a more 3D lip."
:: "I love using a MAC 212 brush to create the most defined socket, gives a very sharp look. Also I love using a darker eyeshadow in the middle of the lips to create an open mouth effect!"
:: "I always start with the brows, using a MAC 266 brush and a shadow to suit, shadow looks more neutral than drawing on with a pencil. It sets the scene for the overall look."
:: "Have a set of brushes that you use for face charts and stick with them as they do become "worn" from use on paper"
:: "Do take advantage of the lined section at the bottom and write the products you've used down, so if you want to recreate the look you have all the products listed."
:: "Set your face charts with hairspray when you're done to hold all powder products in place, for lips use clear, glittery or matt nail varnish top coats to keep your lipstick in place and stop it from smearing"
:: "Just don't use any creams, stick with powders or it makes a mess (with the exception of lipstick of course)"
:: "Collect small lip brush testers and hack at them with scissors to get finer bristles. Then use with MAC Boot Black liquid liner to create beautiful wispy lashes. Also, if you struggle with lashes, try turning the face chart upside down as this angle will give you more control!"
:: "Use a MAC 190 brush and a fix powder for the skin- I tend to work around the outside of the face and pull product in. This technique will create a 3D, structural face rather than a flat canvas!"
Armed with all these excellent tips - but sadly not all the products or brushes mentioned! - I set about ham-fistedly creating my first face chart. I figured it would be easier to try something I'm already familiar with so I attempted to recreate my go-to everyday look. Again - don't laugh!
Well... it could be worse I guess. The eyeshadow was the most fun part for me! I also quite enjoyed doing the brows which surprised me because I was dreading those. I struggled a little with the contouring - it just looks muddy - but the single hardest part was the lashes! All I had to hand to do it with was an Illamasqua precision ink liner - I must make a visit to a makeup counter as soon as possible to theif some tester lip brushes! Haha.
Despite my epic tantrum when I fucked up the lashes, I don't feel too deterred and look forward to practising more and eventually creating more impressive face charts. A massive thank you to Victoria and the ProChart team for all their invaluable tips!
Do you do face charts? Any more tips gratefully received!
What nail design could possibly be more apt than leopard print to showcase the awesome colours of the OPI Nicki Minaj collection?!
Someone in the office misspelt Minaj as 'Minage' a couple of weeks ago.. and since then we've been calling Nicki something else!
I'm sure you're all familiar enough with the collection now to recognise which colours I've used where - this collection has been all over the blogosphere and frankly I'm quite late to the party with this post. Just in case, though - I used Did It On 'Em (amazing colour) as the base colour on most nails, with Pink Friday for a few accent nails - the thumb and ring fingers on my left hand, and index and pinky fingers on my right. The dots were made with the opposite colours, and I did the outlines with Fly and just a dotting tool.
I kept this manicure on for possibly the longest I've EVER kept one on. A week and four days! I KNOW! In all that time, I experienced no chips and only minor tipwear. These photos were taken on the 9th day of wear, believe it or not. Impressive, right? Although I put this down to no longer doing waitressing, I think, as opposed to the polishes.
Did you pick up any colours from the Nicki Minge Minaj collection? Which ones are you loving or loathing? I've also got Metallic 4 Life and Save Me which I'm yet to try out!
I really rue the fact that I didn't haul more Wet N Wild products when I was in America last year - I only picked up a mascara and a couple of nail polishes. I WISH I'd paid more attention to their other offerings - particularly their epic eyeshadow palettes. Amanda sent me this as a surprise in our swap last December, and it's given me some serious lemmings in the rest of the WnW range - I really want the Petal Pusher palette from this same range!
Comfort Zone is set up like two quads - with the left and right side containing shadows embossed with the words Browbone, Eyelid, Crease and Definer. On the back (which I stupidly didn't take a picture of) it has some pretty decent instructions for looks you can create with the palette, so the whole thing is really noob-proof (sorry, I mean suitable for beginners!). Although in my opinion, the Browbone shades aren't really suitable for the browbone at all because they're all a bit on the frosty side - I prefer a matte browbone colour or satin at a push. Let's take a look at some swatches - naturally swatched in the some layout as the palette.
These are some REALLY lovely colours. All colours that I will wear and get use out of, too, barring the green one (nothing wrong with it, green eyeshadow just doesn't look good on me!). My favourites, though, are the mushroom-y taupe on the top right and the beaaautiful brown-blue duochrome on the bottom right. This one really reminds me of Club eyeshadow by MAC - I don't own it, I'm only judging from swatches here - a slightly red toned brown with a strong blue shift. It's amazing!
Whilst the colours are beautifully pigmented and long lasting, and the price is amazing (somewhere around the $5 mark), the palette isn't without faults. The shadows are almost too soft and quite loosely packed - be prepared for a trip to Fallout City if you apply these after your foundation. I dread to think what would happen if I dropped it, too - frankly I'm amazed it got here in one piece! This isn't helped by the slightly flimsy packaging, either. But really these are small prices to pay for such lovely colours for such little money.
For the first look I did with the palette, I used the left Browbone shade all over the lid and then a bit of the right Browbone shade on the outer part of the lid, with the right Crease shade followed by a mix of both Definer shades in the crease. My actual browbone shade was Urban Decay's Virgin, and I also fancied a bit of colour on the lower lashline which I used Urban Decay's Flipside for.
You know.. whenever I look at my FOTD photos I always feel such crippling regret for ever getting a piercing in my face. Idiot.
On the skin I'm wearing BeneFit's Boi-Ing concealer and Illamasqua Skin Base foundation, along with Illamasqua Rumour blush and FashionistA Butterscotch blush on the cheeks (not that these have shown up in the photos!). I also used Illamasqua Havoc precision ink liner, Bourjois black kohl liner, CoverGirl All in One mascara, Sleek MakeUp Brow Kit, and a tiny bit of Topshop Pillow Talk lipstick dabbed on with a fingertip.
Have you tried any of Wet N Wild's eyeshadow palettes before? American bloggers, help me out - which ones do I NEED in my life?
It's been a horribly long time since I last did an Easy Peasy Nail Design for you, I'm sorry! I hope I can make up for it with this second installment to the Tips with a Twist mini-series I began but never continued! My nails are quite a nice length at the moment, so what better time than now to do a tips-focused design? Although this will definitely work on short nails too, by all means.
Pick your colours out before you start. I used a grey for the base, I think a dark grey works well here because it offers enough of a contrast against the bright tip colours, but I didn't want to use black because I knew I'd be outlining the tips in black. Choose two holographic or glittery polishes for the tip design - or indeed holographic glitter! You may also want two opaque creme polishes of the same shade family to use underneath your holographic/glitter ones to make them stand out even more. I've done this, but you can certainly choose not to if your holo/glitters are opaque enough to stand up on their own.
After applying a clear base coat, paint your base colour. I used two coats of London's Weather Forecast by Catrice. I have a handful of different grey polishes but this one really stands out thanks to the almost-hidden silver shimmer in it. It just adds something a little bit different to what would otherwise be a plain grey creme.
Once your base coat is dry, take your first colour - the base for your holo/glitter, or skip this step if you're using the holo/glitter straight away. My first colour is blue, and as my base blue I used Orly's Sweet Peacock. Paint one corner of the each nail diagonally with this colour - vary the side of the nail, size of the area and the angles as much as you like - I prefer it to look mismatched.
Now, top that colour with your first corresponding holo/glitter. This is Milani 3D Holographic in Cyberspace.
Once the first colour is dry, repeat the process of base colour and holo/glitter on the other sides of each nail. My second colour was purple, and my purple base colour was Illamasqua Jo'Mina...
...and my second holo was Milani 3D Holographic in Hi-Res.
Once the second colour is dry, outline the corners in black using your preferred method. I use a black nail art striper pen, but feel free to use liquid eyeliner in a pinch!
Once the lines are more or less dry, apply a quick drying topcoat to seal your design. Try to resist the temptation of applying topcoat whilst the black lines are still wet as they can be prone to smudging and ruining your design. Clean up any polish on your fingers using your preferred method (a cotton bud dipped in polish remover works just fine), et voila!
Really hope you enjoyed this criminally simple Easy Peasy/Tips with a Twist hybrid nail tutorial. Do let me know if you try it out, I'd love to see! :) x
Last IMATS London 2012 post, I promise. But the haul is the funnest part, right?
First of all, apologies for the fact that all of these photos were taken with flash. I was FAR too eager to get these photos done on Sunday night so I could start using all my new stuff! As flash photos go, I don't think they're too hideous and they're pretty colour accurate.
I'm really, really pleased with everything I got. I didn't make any rash decisions on purchases - I think it helped on Saturday that I knew I'd be going back the following day, so if there was anything I was undecided about I had a whole day to mull it over. I bought a nice mix of practical and fun things, so all in all I think it was a pretty successful (if rather large) spend!
Naturally, I had to grab the most recent issue of Makeup International magazine from Charles Fox - I love this semi-annual magazine, it's always packed full of inspiring images and tutorials. I also got four back issues of Makeup Artist magazine, and a book called Style Eyes by Taylor Chang-Babaian. I'd not heard of the book before but a quick flick through it told me that it was everything I wanted Eye Candy by Linda Mason to be, so I had to get it.
One of the first things I picked up on Saturday was a Pro Chart, as I meant to get one last year and totally forgot. Later on, I learned that MUD had their own face charts, with 15 more pages and heavier, more textured paper for less than a third of the price - sigh! That'll teach me. I picked up the MUD one too, just because. I've never done a face chart before, but it's something I can't wait to start practising now I have both of these!
OMG BRUSHEZZZ!!1!1. Colin just doesn't understand the necessity for so many brushes.. anyone else's other half the same, or do they understand? Haha. Pictured on the left is the gorgeous set I mentioned in my last post that was gifted to me by Royal & Langnickel - I haven't taken any closer photos of this as I plan to talk about it separately another time. In the middle is the Real Techniques core collection - yay! I've already used the Buffing Brush, and OH MY GOD it is actually amazing. Best brush for foundation EVER. I could do with about 50 backups of this. Lastly, I got 5 individual brushes from Crown Brush - well actually I bought 10 or 11 but the rest were for my sister so there's no point in showing those.
Real Techniques Contour Brush, Pointed Foundation Brush, Detailer Brush and the sen-frigging-sational Buffing Brush
Crown Brushes: C209 Chisel Pointed Fluff Brush, Small Angled Flat-Topped Brush (no name or number on this one!), C150 Angle Fluff Brush, C250-2 Liner Brush, and C404 Small Duo Face Brush
From Inglot, I got 3 matte eyeshadows to add to my Z palette in exceptionally practical colours - I've come to the conclusion that I don't own nearly enough matte eyeshadows. I also got the nail polish in 017 - I've not swatched it for this post but it'll undoubtedly be featured sometime soon. I grabbed it because it really reminded me of Illamasqua Prism, but with a pink shimmer instead of blue. The sponges were £1.65 from Charles Fox so I picked them up for use with foundation or for nail art - it's nice to have a store of things like that! Also from Charles Fox I got the Glamour Sparks glitter in Copper - which I stupidly just realised I haven't swatched. I'm sure I'll post about it soon though. I also got 3 pairs of false lashes and some dark lash glue from Miss Adora; I'm not a wearer of falsies because I am rubbish at applying them, but these were only £2 each so I thought I'd give it another go.
Inglot Matte Eyeshadows in 353, 341 and 326
I decided quite some time ago that I prefer Sleek MakeUP's Pout Paints to OCC Lip Tars - OCC might have a much vaster colour range but Sleek's ones are softer, less drying, less prone to bleeding and don't separate in the tube over time. So, I picked up three more of these in lieu of Lip Tars. I also got a few lip bits from NYX - two lipliners and an 'Xtreme Lip Cream' which is reminiscent of the Collection 2000 Creme Puffs, but nicer. I also grabbed the cream blush in Glow, after hearing the lovely Jennie praising it so many times.
Sleek MakeUP Pout Paints: Minx, Milkshake and Rosette
NYX Lip Liner Pencils in Tangerine and Nude Pink, Xtreme Lip Cream in Nude Peach Fuzz and Cream Blush in Glow
Oooh, Illamasqua! I actually picked up a few more bits than this, but those are a secret for now because I'm keeping them back for a giveaway! I've wanted to give their Light Liquid Foundation a go for a while, so what better time than when they're offering it for £7.50? I took a chance on shade 120 and it's just right. By the way, this, applied with the Real Techniques Buffing Brush = my foundation HEAVEN. Everything else was a fiver, or 3 for £10 for the stuff I got on Sunday - except for the pencils, which were a criminal £2 each! The nail polish, Propaganda, isn't swatched here but you know it'll be on here sometime soon.
Illamasqua Light Liquid Foundation 120, Pure Pigments in Chasm and Breathe, Medium Pencils in Coax and Exert
Cream Eyeshadow in Crumble, Powder Eyeshadow in Angst, Cream Blusher in Sob
Ahh, these are probably my star purchases. Make Up For Ever! I knew I wanted to try a couple more Aqua Creams after falling in love with shade 5 months and months ago, so I grabbed a couple of those. I also swatched a load of the Aqua Eyes pencil liners and Aqua Liner liquid liners - there are some BEAUTIFUL colours, seriously. Also, a testament to their lasting power - the swatches were practically untouched after several hand washes and a shower. Amazing stuff! I ended up with two each of these. I also bought a Star Powder - wasn't a planned purchase at all but I spotted this colour out of the corner of my eye and it was frigging stunning, a real red-leaning brown with a STRONG teal duochrome. So so so pretty! The swatch below hasn't done it nearly enough justice.
Aqua Eyes pencil liners in 23L and 4L, Aqua Liner liquid liners in 1 and 8, Aqua Creams in 02 and 16, Star Powder in 90955
So that's it! Pretty good haul, don't you think?
