Grey EOTD

Really simple quick FOTD I wore to work last week. The eyeshadows are Vex (centre of lid) with Quarry, Copperplate and Charcoal Brown in the crease and Blanc Type to blend. I am trying to perfect a non-winged eye, but to be honest I think it looks a bit weird on me (I'm too used to flicky-eyeliner!)

I am falling in love with Vex! Also Select Cover-Up concealer, as it turns out, is much better over a foundation. I had steered well clear of this concealer since first buying it when I was 15 (and had some spots to cover). Yeah... doesn't work on it's own. Glad I rediscovered it! It's great on my eye bags...

Ruth x

Photodump part 100,000! (now with added cat goodness)

These photos are from a few weeks back because I'm once again behind on explaining myself! I wish I could post smaller daily updates. I apologise it's coming to you all at once, once more... it's that or i'll be playing catch-up forever, which in turn makes me procrastinate (possibly the longest sentence in this blog ever?)

The above is the second time I wore Max Factor Fantasy Fire, this time two layers over one coat of Illamasqua Propaganda (dark blue jelly-like cream). This really brought out the duochrome, certainly better than when I layered it over a purple cream. It almost looks like it does in the bottle over this one! I added a Konad stamp to my ring finger, just because.

I have once again cut my nails down to nothing because they're still peeling pretty badly, no matter how much OPI Avoplex I apply. :( No more Nail Of The Days for a while.

The above is a Chen Man Love and Water collection inspired look I designed (based on a facechart from the official collection release). I forgot to put the dots under the eye for my photos! D'oh. Had to fix it when I got into work. I did a facechart and everyone wore it at the counter for a day. It was pretty sweet! I was ill-prepared and I still SUCK at facecharts and need to give myself a few days to just focus on practicing that. As an aside, I actually wrecked the first one I made by putting it in a puddle of water and drying it under a hand dryer. FACEPALM. It was all wrinkled and smudged when I got to work because I'm daft. I made a new one that was slightly better, got a bit of practice in that way. When life gives you lemons and all that... make orange juice?!

I used the Call me Bubble quad from Shop/Cook MAC collection and  Naval Blue pigment from Chen Man, with Plumage to darken the crease.

PHOTODUMP - Looks From Last Week (Part II)

I don't really know what to say at the minute. Not really into the make-up I've been wearing; when it's dramatic it's not big enough. Yeah, I think that sums it up. Lacklustre. If you follow me on twitter you know I have been having horrible wisdom tooth problems in my lovely week off as well. Ack. Not an excuse, but a fact.

I'm a bit behind on posting, these are some miscellaneous looks I wore in the last couple of weeks...

Quick Sizzle lipstick, with Industrial Pearlglide eyeliner and Reflect's Blue pressed on top. Florida cremeblend blush.

Blue Overload EOTD

I continued my use of Atlantic Blue and Electric Eel from my brows right down all over my eyes the other day. This was the day before my lastest shopping extravaganza, posts of looks I'm doing with my new stuff will be here soon. Busy-busy until Wednesday, so we'll see if I manage to post before then... maybe not.

Thanks for sticking around,

Ruth x

Two work looks + Carmine Box babble.

 Using MAC Bright Fuscia pigment (with big dangly earrings from Accessorize).

A few looks from my third week at MAC

I finally have my camera battery charger sorted and a bit more confidence to wear exciting looks to work so here goes. Three looks under the cut.

Two EOTDs and thoughts on The Balm Frat Boy blush.

On the eyes I used UDPP and UD 24/7 liner in Electric as a base with Sugarpill Afterparty on the lid, the blue half of NARS Rated R in the crease, Urban Decay Blackout (matte black) in the outer v and Ace (also from UD 15th Anniversary palette under lower lashes). My blush was The Balm Frat Boy with a pop of MAC Bite of an Apple on the apples of my cheeks.

For more thoughts, click through!

An EOTD that until now I did not know matched my hair and scarf! Ha!

I got some new MAC goodies from the CCO on Friday. It was sweet. They had superslick liquid liners (all except black), coloured zoom lashes (I didn't like the black version of this when I had it years ago - too wet for me, so I didn't buy), all the big bounce eyeshadows (eewww... they are even gross at reduced prices - in my opinion), a few interesting pigments (mostly smaller jars now though... boo!) and the aforementioned nail polishes. They also had lots of the Tartan Tale sets and I was torn between a pigment set and a couple of full sizers. I picked the full size... the colours were brighter and I think you all know how I feel about bright colours., yes?

This look used Shimmermoss eyeshadow, Full Force Violet pigment and my first ever CCO purchase MAC Dame's Desire eyeshadow trio. More info under the cut.

'Blue Bus' EOTD

The last ever (or so I heard) Urban Decay Book of Shadows (number IV) is actually my first. It was an impulse purchase while I was buying Morange from MAC on Debenhams.com (because there was 10% off). The liner, mascara and primer swung it for me, as well as the focus of this look - Blue Bus. I am now poor for the rest of the month, as there were three family birthdays to buy for and my hours are down at work. Was it worth it?

Onto the products, more photos, and a mini-review.

EOTD and NOTD of last week! (finally!)

Hi blog people! I have not been busy at all and therefore have no excuse for not posting regularly... does not feeling like it count? I usually love Autumn but this year I'm not so keen. I've clearly completely lost track of time reading books, listening to old CD's and working only super-duper part-time. I've let lots of things get ahead of me (like tidying, washing clothes/make-up brushes... not that I'm ever organised but yunno... it's worse right now than normally). What was that about no excuses? *sigh*

Anyhow, I'm posting this eyeshadow and nail combination as it's the most exciting thing I've worn in the past week.

I know some thing's up with me as I have no idea what eyeshadows these are. It may have involved Fyrinnae and Urban Decay. Hmm.
My brows were MAC brow pencil in Stud and E.L.F brow treat and tame in Ash, although it doesn't seem to photograph well and I struggle to apply the brow set as I guess my eyebrows are a bit sparse and so it just gets on my face, I still like this combination.

I've found myself doing a strong (full/natural) brow with light foundation (my new favourite Illamasqua Skin Base) and blusher with no mascara/eye make-up (and usually some kind of lip product involved) as my go-to for a week or so. I am finally feeling comfortable with a strong lip, I just need to improve my application technique.
 I liked the boyish look that Lisa Eldridge did in this video and seemingly I've started to wish I always looked like that. Time to attempt a brow grow-back I think. Seems to me I've overplucked so long this may be an impossible task. Time will tell, wish me luck!?

The nails... I used Nails Inc Barnbury Street (matte light brown), Illamasqua Fabricate (chocolate brown) and Essie Liquorice with Essie Good to Go fast-drying topcoat. This feels more subtle that my neon and pastel leopard nails of the last two weeks. Where does the time go? I STILL don't have any Konad stuff.

My plan for the week involves tracking down the Boots 17 Magnetic polishes and buying a couple of family birthday presents, too. How about you?

Ruth xx

Two EOTDs using MAC water based mixing medium.

This green look and also a purple smokey look are my first times using MAC mixing medium. I really like it - it seems a bit more 'goopy' than Illamasqua Sealing Gel (which works best for me as a liquid liner medium) and really helps me pack the colour on and blend the edges of eyeshadow evenly. I had no problems with it creasing, even over Soft Ochre paint pot (which sometimes does for me). More photos and look two if you click.

Adventure Time Inspired Series - Princess Bonibelle Bubblegum

Princess Bubblegum is the ruler of the Candy Kingdom. Pictured above she is 13, as one of her experiments  went awry. Usually she is 18. Peebles is a scientist and I like that, she's got a brain. Finn has a crush on her and Lumpy Space Princess is her best friend. She has a strained/difficult relationship with Marceline, it is suggested perhaps they used to be close. Aww. Sad times.

I created this look on Monday and only just got around to posting it. I have no idea why, as I have had a lot of free time. Eeep! Anyway, I went with a pink and purple cut-crease. Click fo' mo'

Four work EOTD's and an apology

This was my favourite work look of the past week, for which I asked my dad for a colour combination and went from there. I think he's got great taste! I used mostly Sugarpill products (Dollipop, Flamepoint, Tipsy and Absinthe), Illamsqua Trollop (matte peach) and my new Skinbase foundation. When I started out wearing lots of eye make-up I wouldn't have ever thought foundation could get me excited. Not in a million years. I didn't know how natural it could look, Skinbase has not disappointed me. Yeah... now I'm hooked, I would like to try Estee Lauder Doublewear, MAC Face and Body and Chanel Vitalumiere at some point. (Oooh. Fancy!)

This is just a post of a few work looks and a little apology for being slow on posting at the minute. I am of course grateful to every person who follows my blog, especially to those who comment quite regularly, I feel like this should go without saying. My excuse is that I had a couple of weeks of action packed adventures and I always seem to feel a bit down when things go back to routine. Also, I've not been too proud of any one look hence this big dump-bin style post. (4 for the price of 1?)

I'm not posting all products used, but I'll add a little caption for each look.

Two Cyan and Purple EOTDs (one high-end, one low-end) and NOTD

Above is what I am terming the high-end cyan look I did last Saturday. I used NYX jumbo pencil in Milk and MAC pigment in Hi-Def Cyan patted on top. The browns were from the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary palette and I added dramatic liner just because! There ended up being a Sikh wedding at work on the day, so the liner felt kind of appropriate. A little bit Bollywood? (ps did you know Sikhs drink alcohol... a lot? Judging by this wedding anyhow. You live and learn!)

Today I ended up doing another light blue/cyan look using the Sleek Curacao eyeshadow palette - Blue Lagoon, Blue Hawaiian, Singapore Sling and Purple Haze (again using the NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk as a white base to help it pop). I also used the Wet n Wild I'm Feeling Retro palette (the white as inner-corner highlight and the pink for blending). Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Asphyxia was a base for the crease and also Perversion (blackest black pencil liner) was a softer version of my usual black liner. 

More pictures and a NOTD under the cut.

Pastel and Grey Cut-Crease EOTD

 I wore this look for work and was surprised it turned out so well as it took me only 20 minutes in the morning. (Usually I take longer, but I didn't use foundation or liquid liner, I guess... More under the cut.)

Yesterday my nails were the best bit EOTD

I used Illamasqua Blow (baby yellow cream) and Barry M Raspberry (dark raspberry red) nail polishes for this freehanded half moon manicure. It's particularly tricky for me as I have no natural half moons to base it on. As much as I'd love to make it pristine and perfect, using those ring binder, circle-around-the-holepunch, stickers just seems too slooooowww to me. This manicure took me half an hour including filing and removing the previous chipped polish. I used a coat of quick dry topcoat between the cream and red and ontop of the red, making my nails super thickened and claw like. This is a photo from five minutes ago, I have worn this for two days working a busy museum till (I took nearly £4000 in cash and card payments) and as you can see, no visible wear. Bonus.

Eyes under the cut.

Attempt at a darker EOTD

I love colourful make-up but I feel like I neglect darker looks. For this reason, I have been using Blackout from the Urban Decay 15th Anniversary palette quite a lot. Yesterday I wore this to work. I used Pixie Epoxy for a pop of shimmer in the centre of the lid and patted MAC Mutiny Pigment on top. I used Blackout and Evidence for the smokey edges and Vanilla as a brow highlight. NYX jumbo pencil in Milk was my sticky base for Sugarpill chromalust in Tiara (silver) as my inner corner highlight.

Adventure Time Inspired Series - LSP (Lumpy Space Princess)

The first time I saw Adventure Time I quite liked it. It wasn't until my brother showed me Lumpy Space Princess that I was hooked. He said he thought she'd be my favourite character. He was not wrong. She doesn't look like my favourite (as I'm sure anyone can see from my photos, I don't wear pink much, or purple - even though I quite like purple) but it is her attitude that shines through. I especially love her in the episode Trouble In Lumpy Space. The way she acts towards her parents is pretty much me. "Shucks, I lumping hate them!" Also, I won't be the first to say her voice is like Kelly's.

When I conceived of an Adventure Time inspired series, I searched youtube and google incase it was a completely unoriginal idea. I found this tutorial which is amazing, and worth a look. Mine is pinker and I added a yellow star for good measure.

Products and more photos after the cut.

Adventure Time Inspired Series - Engagement Ring Princess

That's right. Adventure Time. I haven't watched much Disney recently but my younger brother got me hooked on this show via youtube (as it shows on Cartoon Network which I've never had... I have never lived in a house with SkyTV or whatever else :\ ) This look is inspired by the Engagement Ring Princess. She's a background character in a few episodes. I thought her colours were pretty and also she has a ring on her head which is neat. She is the first but she won't be the last!

More photos and products used after the cut.

Barney EOTD