An Autumn FOTD (Face Of The Day)

  Hi Everyone,

Although we seem to be experiencing an Indian Summer in the UK at the moment, it’s officially Autumn. Taking full advantage of the lovely weather, I decided to snap a quick outdoor picture of my makeup on my iPod Touch (the Instagram app is proving highly addictive!) – Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera on hand.

The products I used are as follows:

Face

Revlon Colorstay Foundation (For Normal/Dry Skin) in the shade 110 Ivory, applied with the ELF Studio Line Powder Brush

Revlon PhotoReady Concealer in Light

Topshop Neon Rose Cream Blush

Accessorize Baked Bronzer in California

Benefit High Beam

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil – Milk

Boots No17 Solo Eye Shadow – Ivory Coast (applied to the lid and blended above the crease)

Shimmery white eyeshadow from the Milani Domino Quad (inner corner of eye)

Rimmel Glam’Eyes Professional Liquid Liner (for my winged cat liner)

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil – Bourbon (blended into the lower lash line)

Urban Decay Twice Baked and YDK eyeshadows (Blended over the Bourbon liner on the lower lash line for added dimension and depth)

Boots No7 Extreme Length Mascara – Black

MAC Eyeshadows - Copperplate mixed with a little Brun (to fill in brows, using an angled brush)

Lips

Barry M Lip Liner – Red (#3)

MAC Lipstick – Russian Red (Matte)

On a more random note, if anyone is also interested in anything cute and panda shaped, I picked up this adorable makeup bag for just £2.50 from Primark this week:

I also found a photograph of a makeup look I did earlier this year, but never posted. It’s based on My Chemical Romance’s Killjoy looks (Gerard’s specifically, but with a slight change to colour and shape) from the Na Na Na music video. If anyone’s interested I’m thinking about re-doing this look as a Halloween makeup post. It was my first attempt at covering my brows and creating a makeup mask. 

 

And now everyone is sick of Instagram images, that's it!

Thanks,

Rachel

xx

MAC Wonder Woman Collection Purchases

Hi Everyone, 

I finally recieved my MAC Wonder Woman order from Selfridges today, I missed my delivery on Monday but luckily had it re-delivered today when I had the morning off. I was really excited when I saw the information about his collection, so much so I skipped the Peacocky collection entirely. Personally, I'm fan of Wonder Woman, particularly the 70s TV show starring Lynda Carter, my DVD box sets have been well and truly watched! I actually have a framed photo of Lynda in full Wonder Woman attire hanging on my bedroom wall that was my dad's.

Apologies for the slight blur on the photos I took, I didn't realise my camera batteries were about to die!

I ended up purchasing 3 things from the collection; Pink Power Mineralize Skinfinish, Blush Duo in Mighty Aphrodite and Russian Red lipstick.

For me the star of the collection is Pink Power Mineralize Skinfinish, I honestly didn't think I'd love it as much as I do. The pigmentation of all 3 shades is really nice, I also like that it's large enough to use each shade separately which is how I intend on using it.

Swatches of Pink Power Mineralize Skinfinish

Mighty Aphrodite Blush Duo looks exactly how I expected it to, I personally love the lighter peach shade alone as a blush but it looks nice mixed with the deeper pink also. When swatching the deeper pink lower half of the blush I found the shade to be a lot sheerer and had to be built up a lot. That's no issue for me however as I wouldn't use that shade alone, I'd mix it with the lighter peach shade.

Swatches of Mighty Aphrodite Blush Duo

(left to right: both shades mixed, top peach half of blush, lower deep pink half of blush)

My final purchase was Russian Red lipstick which has a matte finish. This is an item I definitely bought for the packaging as I'd been planning on purchasing it from the permanent range. I didn't swatch this as I'm sure most people are familiar with it, I will be featuring it in a look soon however :)

Overall, I didn't end up purchasing as much from the collection as I thought I would, but I'm really happy with what I did get. There are some pretty polarised views about the packaging, I personally love it. I've heard a few people mention the MSF packaging looks a little cheap, I disagree with this, the MSF packaging is actually my favourite!

Even though the blush duos come with a mirror, to me they look a little cheaper than the rest of the products.I think that's beause the lid is just the solid red plastic, the gold band isn't visible until you open the compact which stands out from the other products. The raised section of the lid also seems to have a visible seam if you look at it closely, I personally would have loved a domed lid like the MSFs - but that's just my opinion!  

-LadyDanger

xxx

Nicki Minaj - Moment 4 Life Inspired Look

 Hi Everyone,

 I really liked the third makeup look Nicki Minaj wore in her music video for Moment 4 Life. In the video I couldn't really see if her crease was defined or how far her liner extended so I added my own twist.

 (click image to enlarge)

 The makeup Nicki is wearing in the music video.

Products Used:

Face:

Revlon Colorstay and L'Oreal True Match foundations mixed

Accessorize With Love California Baked Bronzer

Mixed light pink eyeshadows from 120 palette as blush.

Eyes:

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk

Eyeko Grafitti Liner - Black

Urban Decay 24/7 Liner - Zero (waterline)

120 Palette - matte white eyeshadow

MAC Copperplate shadow (mixed with No7 matte bronzer in crease, brows)
Urban Decay - Jinx (lower lash line)

Lips:

MAC Saint Germain mixed with a bit of Impassioned.

I'm also wearing quite large false lashes but they're not visible in the photo with the angle my eyes are closed, oops!

- Rachel

x

Jessie J - Brit Awards Launch Inspired Look

Hi Everyone,

I took a bit of a break from blogging, I felt like I had lost my mojo a bit and was leaving a long time between each blog post. I do think this break did me some good though, I'm feeling a lot more inspired and already have a few blog posts lined up, so hopefully the gap between each one will be reduced. 

(click to enlarge image - it's big!)

I actually did this look tonight, I was really excited to finally find some high quality images of Jessie J's makeup from the Brit Awards launch party. I've been wanting to do this ever since I saw her performance, so I didn't hesitate to give it a try. She wore black lipstick for the performance, but I cannot pull a black lip off at all so went for the bright matte red lip she sported on the red carpet. I also bronzed up my cheeks unlike Jessie who had a light contour, this was just personal preference as I'm already really pale I like a bit of colour in my cheeks :)

Jessie J at the Brit Awards launch party

I realised her dotted liner was actually rhinestones in the close up images and interviews from the night, they really looked nice as they reflected the light. I used leftover black swarovski crystals from 'blinging' my phone a while ago... hehe.

 Close-up of the makeup she wore on the night.

Products Used

Face:

Revlon Colorstay and L'Oreal True Match foundations mixed together. 

Accessorize With Love California Baked Bronzer

Eyes:

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils - Milk and Black Bean

Urban Decay 24/7 liner - Zero

120 Palette  - matte white (brow bone, inner corner and inner part of lid)

120 Palette - matte black

No7 Contour Powder (to blend out shadow, from limited edition christmas compact)

MAC Penultimate Liner - Rapidblack

False lashes - no brand name, very natural looking. 

Rimmel Sexy Curves mascara - lots of it.

MAC Copperplate Shadow - Brows

Lips:

Barry M Lip Liner - Red

Superdrug MUA Lipstick - Shade 13 (AMAZING red lipstick for £1)

120 Palette - matte red eyeshadow (applied on top to mattify lip)

-Rachel 

xxx

New Years Nails; Color Club - Revvvolution + Holographic Glitter Gradient

Hi Guys,

It's been more than a while since my last post, but my college coursework is all done now so I have a lot more free time to update regularly. I really hope everyone is having great time over the holiday period :) 

I've had this idea in my head for a few days now and finally got around to doing it. Revvvolution is a holographic deep charcoal polish that's extremely opaque, when my nails are shorter I can use just 1 coat however I like to use 2 when my nails are longer. I thought it was quite suitable for New Years - I tend to associate any celebration with glitter! My birthday is also on New Year's day so I tend to go all out :)

 After applying 2 coats of Color Club Revvvolution, whilst it was still wet I applied Stargazer holographic glitter using an ELF concealer brush which is extremely small. I concentrated the glitter at the tips, then feathered it down the nail to give a bit of a gradient effect.  I topped it off with Barry M's 3 in 1 nail paint as a top coat.

 Close-up of the glitter.

 - LadyDanger

xxx

NOTD: Eyeko - Indigo Polish

Hi Everyone,

Last month I purchased Eyeko's cult classics nail polish set which doesn't seem to be on the Eyeko website anymore. The set was £14 and included Nude Polish, Vintage Polish, Lilac Polish, Cosmic Polish and Indigo Polish. I also recieved a free Vampira Polish which was the gift of the month for Halloween.

 Close-up of shimmer.

Indigo Polish is a deep navy with a light blue shimmer running through it. Compared to my favourite navy polish, Barry M's Navy (292), they both look very similar in the bottle and the shimmer seems identical. However, upon swatching Indigo Polish is a deeper blue with a more prominent sparkly shimmer, whereas Navy has more of a royal blue tone and the shimmer is more finely milled giving the polish more of a frosted look. 

The polish was even with 2 coats, however I did go back and do a third coat on my ring finger as it looked a little uneven.Topcoat is the usual Barry M 3 in 1 nail paint. 

Comparison of Barry M Navy and Eyeko Indigo polishes, 2 coats of each, no topcoat. It's clear just how shimmery Eyeko's is!

The rapidly expanding Eyeko family!

-LadyDanger

xxx

Sugababes Fragrances : Tempt Review

Hi Everyone,

The PR for the new Sugababes fragrances kindly contacted me and asked if I would like to try one of their new fragrances. I accepted as in all honesty, I really like the Sugababes, I have most of their albums I've collected over the years in my CD collection!

Their new range consists of 3 fragrances – Tempt, Tease and Touch, I decided to try Tempt which described as being ' a fragrance in tune with the Sugababes vibe'. Tempt has top notes of iced tea and blackcurrant, heart notes of purple orchid, sweet rose and berries, with base notes of musk and vanilla. The packaging is a sleek black, and comes packaged in a matching black box with a reflective sihlouette of the 3 girls. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrance when it first arrived, it's not your typical overly sweet floral fragrance, it has a bit of a mature edge to it. I think this makes the fragrance versatile, I've worn this for both day and night wear.

I really get the heady floral sweetness first from the fragrance, but it has depth from the musk, vanilla and iced tea that takes the sweetness down slightly, making it more of a complex scent which I really enjoy. As it begins to dry down the sweetness subsides slightly and really gives way to the musk and vanilla base notes which is why I'd wear this fragrance at night too.

The fragrances, released exclusively to The Perfume Shop are priced at £19.99 for 100ml which is what really won me over, I already have my eye on Touch which I will be picking up in the near future! Touch has heart notes of intense violet and damascus rose which sounds like a match made in heaven – I have a serious love of violet and rose scents. 

Along with the number of Sugababes fragrance giveaways taking place, if you'd like to be in with another chance of winning one of the new fragrances be sure to check out their current facebook competition HERE  All you have to do is enter a Touching, Tempting or Teasing photo relating to the weeks theme to be in with a chance!

Thanks for reading everyone :)

-Rachel

xxx

*Disclaimer: Tempt fragrance was sent to me for review purposes by Sugababes fragrance PR. All opinions however are my own - I would not be comfortable featuring a product on my blog I myself am not interested in or genuinely like.*

Rihanna - Who's That Chick (Day Version) Inspired Makeup

Hi guys!

I generally don't go for really bright colours, but after seeing both versions of Rihanna's video for Who's That Chick I really fell in love with the bright look she's wearing in the day version of the video. I definitely wouldn't go around wearing this - the blush is a bit too crazy for my liking! But it was still fun to re-create. 

I actually did this look yesterday, but was wearing the black wig from my Elphaba look - I'm not sure what posessed me but I really didn't like how the photos turned out - though I did like the eye makeup better so I'll include a photo of that. 

I used an iridescent green shadow for the highlight as in some angles of the music video you can see a definite green cast on the brow bone and slightly above the brow.

Products Used:

Face -

Maybelline - Dream Satin Liquid Foundation  (really been liking this foundation lately)

Boujoir Healthy Mix Concealer

Revlon Skinlights (discontinued - liquid hilighter/bronzer depending on shade) bronze shade applied lightly

Super pink blush - mixed bright pink shades from 120 palette,contoured with a deeper pink mixed with a deep purple.

**I did forget to powder hence the slightly overly-dewy skin

Eyes -

Cut crease - MAC Brun and Copperplate

Lid - matte bright yellow from 120 palette

Lower lashline - lined with black shadow, neon green shadow from 120 palette. 

Benefit Bad Gal Liner - lower lashline 

Eyeko Grafitti Liner - Black

Milani Loose Eyeshadow Powder - 07 Mint Green
2 sets of eBay lashes (sorry no name on them!)
MAC Zoomlash mascara

Lips - 

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick - Indulgence

Illamasqua Intense Lip Gloss - Indulge

Barry M Lip Liner - #12 Fuchsia

Eye makeup from yesterday's version.

Hope you liked it!

-LadyDanger

xxx

MAC Venomous Villains Haul

Hello again everyone!

I don't usually post twice in one day but I'll make an exception for Venomous Villains ;)

I was really unsure of what I was going to get from the collection, so seeing it in person definitely helped. I didn't pick up as much as I had initally planned but I'm happy with everything I got.

The first thing I decided on purchasing was My Dark Magic Mineralize Eye Shadow from Maleficent's part of the collection, it certainly lived up to the promotional images. The sales assistant was wearing this foiled along with She Who Dares and it looked amazing.

The second item I got was Revenge Is Sweet Lipglass, again from Maleficent's part of the collection. I really like the sheer jelly consistensy of this - not too sheer that it doesn't have any colour payoff at all. It looks a bit of an intimidating deeper shimmery purple in the tube but it's a really nice sheer magenta shade. Perfect for layering over lipstick. I'm really considering going back for Violetta lipstick to wear under this.

And finally Strange Potion Lipglass from The Evil Queen's part of the collection. It's a shimmery milky pale peach with some pink tones to it. The colour payoff is quite opaque however I'd love to try layering this over Costa Chic lipstick, or even Barry M's Peachy Pink lipstick (which I have a slight obsession with).

I don't think the swatches give justice to the products in person, however here they are;

(Left to right, indoor lighting with flash , natural lighting with no flash)

My Dark Magic, applied foiled, left and right side swatched separately - you can definitely see the difference in the colours more in the second image. Strange Potion lipglass is above Revenge Is Sweet Lipglass.

Apologies for the shoddy swatches!

And that's everyhing! I recieved all of the characters postcards with my purchase along with some Viva Glam stickers which I was rather excited about hehe. I went to MAC around 3pm and already everything I was purchasing was nearly sold out despite it only being released today!

-LadyDanger

xxx

NOTD - China Glaze - Ruby Pumps layered over Rimmel - Black Out

Hi Everyone,

I've been lemming over various red glitter polishes in a black jellly base (Like China Glaze's Lubu Heels or Eyeko's Vampira) for a while now, but never got round to purchasing. Last night whilst looking through my polish stash for a new colour the idea of layering China Glaze's Ruby Pumps over black popped into my head. I wasn't too sure how it would turn out but I'm glad I gave it a go -  I think this could be my new favourite nail polish combination!

I applied 2 coats of Rimmel 60 Seconds - Black Out, 1 coat of China Glaze - Ruby Pumps and 1 coat of Barry M 3 in 1 Nail Paint as a topcoat. As Ruby Pumps is densely packed full of glitter 1 coat works great for this. I've never been able to get a good photo of Ruby Pumps as my camera hates glitter but I think these photos do it justice for once :)

Hope you like it! Definitely got me in the mood for Halloween :)

-LadyDanger

xxx

Illamasqua Powdered Metal - Ether

Hi Everyone,

 

Illamasqua's Powdered Metal in Ether was the second item from the new Art Of Darkness collection that Alex kindly sent to me. The powder is a pale gold shade and extremely finely milled, it applies to the skin like butter. It's quite versatile and easily built up, a quick sweep across the skin adds a subtle glow, whereas when built up you can achieve a full-on metallic sheen (I like that it's not glittery, it's really unique that it provides a metallic effect). As the gold is so pale it seems a little cool toned to me, which doesn't look as stark against my pale complexion. This would look beautiful on darker skin tones too. I've actually worn this as an eyeshadow a few times also, it looks great on the lid paired with just winged liner. I have yet to try mixing a little with my foundation for a glowing effect but I will definitely be giving it a go! I love anything that brightens the skin.

The container is quite large, holding 15g of product and has a sifter which I like with finely milled powders as they tend to get everywhere. The powder also comes with an Illamasqua powder puff which I thought was a nice touch. I however have been using both the Illamasqua Body Kabuki or a small blush brush for application. As you get so much product it's ideal for application on larger areas of the body too.

(Indoors with flash, natural lighting)

The packaging again comes with the decorative slip cover unique to this collection, however this time it was blue as opposed to the red that came with the nail polish in Viridian.

-LadyDanger

xxx

Halloween Makeup: Elphaba (from the musical Wicked)

Let all Oz be agreed, I'm WICKED through and through!

Hi Everyone,

I was going to wait until the beginning of October to start posting Halloween looks but I could wait no longer! I thought I'd start out with Elphaba as I've been listening to the Wicked soundtrack all day (what can I say, I have a serious love of all things Idina Menzel). I think this has to be my favourite look I've ever done!

I thought I'd go for the makeup that's seen more in the second act where she has more of a heavy contoured look. Watching lots of backstage broadway videos on youtube helped a lot! One thing I did change was the lip, it's a green lip on stage however I added a twist with the red lip which is seen on all of the promotional images for the show;

(only image taken with flash - the green makes my eyes look really light!)

How I greenified myself:

For the green skin I mixed Barry M Dazzle Dust in Emerald with 6 pumps of foundation (as I knew I would be covering my neck, chest and tops of shoulders and arms). Though the pigment was sparkly when mixed with the foundation it became matte, a little iridescence was apparent on the skin.

I then set the foundation using mixed matte green shadows from my ebay 120 palette to alter the colour a little (it ran a little blue toned, I wanted more of a warmer deeper green). To add dimension I heavily contoured my cheekbones, nose, jawline and collar bones with black shadow.

For highlighted areas of the face (cheekbones, nose, forhead and chin I applied a bright chartreuse green shadow (120 palette). After all this was done I powdered my face using Milani translucent powder to remove any shimmer.

Products Used for rest of look:

Eyes:

Milani Domino Quad - slightly frosted white shadow for browbone, lid and inner corner.

Ebay 120 palette - matte black for crease and under eye, also used applied wet for brows.

MAC Penultimate Liner - Rapidblack - for winged liner

Benefit Eye Bright - Waterline

Lips:

Barry M Liner in Red

No7 Lipstick in Cherry

MAC Lady Danger lipstick

Black shadow applied with angled brush and blended around edges of mouth.

And that's it! I highly suggest everyone turns themselves green at least one time in their life, it's so strange looking at yourself! ;)

-LadyDanger

xxx

NOTD: Illamasqua - Viridian

Hi Everyone, 

It's been a while since my last nail polish post, mainly due to snapping a few of my nails which led to cutting them all of and painstakingly waiting for them to grow back- which they have now :)

A while ago I was invited to the Illamasqua Art Of Darkness event, but sadly couldn't make it which I was very disappointed about! Alex from Illamasqua offered to send me some information post event, but much to my surprise a few days after the event an unexpected package arrived on my doorstep! 

One of the products kindly sent to me by Illamasqua was one of the new nail polishes, Viridian. It's a beautiful multidimensional emerald green. It looks different depending on how the light hits it, a brighter emerald shimmer is illuminated within the deep forest green base. I'm not usually one for green toned polishes however I found the shade worked quite well with my skin tone - so I think Illamasqua may have converted me into a green lover. The photos of these run a bit darker and more blue based than it looks in daylight, it's definitely more of a true emerald colour.

The polish took 2 coats for me, I don't think I'd reccomend 1 coat for this polish as the layering of the colour really gives a more dazzling effect. It does dry a little matte compared to how it looked wet so I applied a glossy top coat to bring out the reflective effects of the polish.

I love the green beetle (I'm wanting to say it's a scarab beetle) featured on all of the packaging, the 2 items I recieved featured a decorative slip cover unique to the collection over the traditional black Illamasqua packaging - I'm really liking the attention to detail Illamasqua have put into the whole collection.

I did pull off the larger square cap when applying, as it reveals the smaller cap underneath which is much easier to hold. The brush for the polish is quite thin in comparison to most polishes in my collection, but I found it very easy to control. As I've only just applied it today I can't say how well it wears, I'll update through the week!

*Update* The nail polish lasted 4 days without chipping, I didn't use a base coat (naughty!) and the topcoat was my usual Barry M 3 in 1 nail paint. It definitely lasted a lot longer than I can normally get away with! I had a little tip wear today on the 5th day and 1 small chip on my index finger, very impressed!

-LadyDanger

xxx