Think I've mastered how to do mermaid curls with no heat! Wooohooo

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Stratfield MAC Haul

Ever since locating the 'hidden' MAC store in Westfield, Stratford, I have been making regular trips swatching, gawking and in some cases buying.

Now I would like to think I have been a fairly good girl lately as I have not had a big haul since the IMATS in early february and let's face it . . . in the Blogosphere that could be considered practically angelic!!! With spring and summer approaching, I have decided to opt for softer shades so this MAC haul is really going to represent that. As I am an eyeshadow chica rather than a lipstick lover, I grabbed myself Sushi Flower, Folie, Stars 'n' Rockets, Bisque and Wedge and for my lipstick, I FINALLY managed to grab Jubilee *Woohoo - Fanfare*

 Bisque, Folie and Wedge are all wearable neutral browns with Folie being the darker of the trio, which I can already predict will be used primarily as a crease or contour shade; as I have been looking softer alternative to MAC's Handwritten. Bisque and Wedge will probably find themselves taking up a residence in the highlight section of my MAC palette.

Stars 'n' Rocket is a shade of purple I've had my eyes on for a while but haven't bought because my brain always tricked me into believing that I already owned it, when I did a mental check of the colours in my palette but I finally have it now *evil laugh*.

Last but not least, Sushi Flower. Sushi Flower was just such a pretty shade of pink and I just felt I had to have it. To be honest, I really do not know what is going on with me and the colour pink these day, maybe I have finally been Barbie-fied . . . (-__-) . . . Ok that's not likely but still me likey me some pink.

Jubilee . . . The way I have searched high and low for this shade of lipstick. I finally own another MAC nude lipstick and I love this sooo much more than Fresh Brew. I can;t wait to do a review on this, I really have found the perfect nude for me

So that's what the Stratfield MAC store held for me. What do you think of my whole softer colours inititative???

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How Kinky!!! Look what I got in the post today! Truly British Knickers!!!

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Nude it Down, featuring Make Up Academy Cosmetics

I don't ever really do any nude or neutral looks on my blog, because I honestly find them a bit difficult to do . . . . well difficult in comparison to working with colours.

Colour matching darker skin tones is a bit difficult as there is all those brown, red and yellow undertones just hiding under the skin and frankly I just can not be bothered to neutral looks because I never think it comes out right. Nevertheless, I'm going to be  . . . "attempting" . . . to be doing a nude brown smokey eye using a few of the Makeup Academy (MUA) Pearl and Matte Single Eyeshadows.

Makeup Academy is a good quality, low priced cosmetics brand currently based online or in Superdrug stores Nationwide. With their core collection only costing £1 and their pro collection never going over £15, MUA cosmetics is definetly a brand to stock up on, as you will not be breaking the bank. For this look, I am really trying to keep it simple but I just couldn't resist adding a sly pop of colour.

Eyebrows

MUA Eyeshadow Pencil in Brunette

Eyes

Browbone and Eyelid - MUA Eyeshadow in Shade 17, Matt

Crease - MUA Eyeshadow in Shade 11, Pearl

Vee - MUA Eyeshadow in Shade 19, Matt
Eyeliner - MUA Eyeliner in Black

Lips

MUA Lipstick in Shade 1

Who says a pretty face has to cost an arm and a leg????

continue reading "Nude it Down, featuring Make Up Academy Cosmetics"

Recreation of BeautybyJJ's "Eyes like Candy"

Everyone knows Jennie.

Apart from being an absolute sweetheart, she's one of the few dark skinned British makeup Youtube Guru's posting beauty and makeup reviews on the world wide web . . . and she's a stunner. One of her most recent makeup looks 'Eyes like Candy', is a super pretty pink, wine and gold-bronze look that is quite soft yet very captivating.

Now while I am recreating her look, it will NOT be exactly the same as hers because 1,  we have COMPLETELY different eye shapes; Jennie's eyes are almond shaped while mine are very round, and 2, I won't be using the same products as Jennie used Inglot eyeshadows and I have used a mixture of MAC, Illamasqua and whatever else I managed to dig out.

 Eyebrows

MAC Stud

HD Brow Palette in Vamp

Eyes

Eyelid - Urban Decay Half Baked (Urban Decay Palette)

Crease - MAC Cranberry

Inner VEE - Mixture of Illamasqua Eyeshadow in Savage and MAC Stars 'n' Rockets

Outer VEE - MAC Beauty Marked

Eyeliner - MUA Eyeliner in Black

Liquid Eyeliner - L'oreal Super Liner in Carbon Gloss

Eyelashes - Miss Adoro in #600

Mascara - Rimmel Scandal Eyes Volume Eyes

Cheeks

Illamasqua Cream Blush in Betray

Sleek Contour Kit in Dark

Lips

Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner in Epic

MAC Jubilee

Revlon Colorburst Lipgoss in Rosegold

I did this look almost exactly the same way she did hers (taking considerations for our different eye shapes) but I made my cheeks and lips a bit warmer than how she wore hers. I hope you like it and if you do leave me a comment

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Rae of Sunshine: Just a pop of Yellow

This week's looks are all based around a request from Pelumi-Rae, owner, creator and writer for Care For Your Hair.

Care For You Hair is a great Hair blog all about embracing and caring for natural hair, so if any of you are thinking about going natural, already rocking natural hair or just want a few pointers on organic hair products and concoctions, then Pelumi-Rae is a girl you want to schmooze up to.

Now Pelumi-Rae asked me to do a Yellow eye inspired look and I really did have to rack my brains on what to do as I don't actually ever wear yellow *flashback of wearing yellow and chased by bees . . . shudders*. So to hopefully encompass everything about this bright, bubbly colour, I am going to posting three different looks this week.  All yellow yet all slightly different from each other. This is the last look for this inspiration but please do check out the looks for Monday and Wednesday.

For this last and final look, I thought I should do something a little different and play with spicing up a nude eye with just a pop of colour. I think think this is a great way to add just a little bit of oclour to your look without it being overwhelming.

The ground work for this look is just about adding to your everyday neutral eye look. This can be done with neutral eyeshadow on or without. It is your prerogative. I placed Illamasqua's Cream Eyeshadow in Linger all over my eyelid. Keeping it simple, I then added MAC's Bisque to my eyelid and my brow highlight. MAC's Texture went on my browbone and crease with MAC's handwritten lightly blended over my outer vee. Applying a thin strip of fixing gel to my eyes winging out the gel in the corners of my eyes, I then placed Illamasqua's Pigment in Marvel over the fixing gel and Voila!!! An easy pop of colour to a neutral look.

Eyes

Base - Illamasqua Cream Eyeshadow in Linger

Browbone Highlight - MAC Bisque

Browbone - Texture

Crease - MAC Handwritten

Eyelid - MAC Bisque

Eyeliner - Illamasqua Pigment in Marvel

Fixing Gel - Helen E Fixing Gel

Eyelashes - Miss Adoro #600

This is the last look of the Rae of Sunshine and I hope you guys loved the yellow inspiration. I think I actually have a new respect for the shade yellow . . . I'm not saying it is my new favourite colour but I think I've warmed up to it. So tell me, how has this weeks looks been for you?

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Rae of Sunshine: Mellow Yellow

This week's looks are all based around a request from Pelumi-Rae, owner, creator and writer for Care For Your Hair.

Care For You Hair is a great Hair blog all about embracing and caring for natural hair, so if any of you are thinking about going natural, already rocking natural hair or just want a few pointers on organic hair products and concoctions, then Pelumi-Rae is a girl you want to schmooze up to.

Now Pelumi-Rae asked me to do a Yellow eye inspired look and I really did have to rack my brains on what to do as I don't actually ever wear yellow *flashback of wearing yellow and chased by bees . . . shudders*. So to hopefully encompass everything about this bright, bubbly colour, I am going to posting three different looks this week. All yellow yet all slightly different from each other. I posted the first look on Monday, but make sure to check back on Friday for the last look.


After the bright colours in Monday's Rae of Sunshine: Sunset Look, I thought I should tone it down just a tad and do something that can be worn everyday. This look is really, really easy and mixes yellow and brown to make a really flattering, sunny look.

 I started off with Illamasqua's Cream Eyeshadow in Linger as my base covering my eye from lid to browbone and NYX Jumbo Pencil in Yellow was popped onto my lid. With this look I'm starting from the browbone and worked my way downwards. Using MUA's Eyeshadow in 17 Matte Pearl as my brow-highlight, I blended this downwards and then using the same brush, applied MAC's texture in between the browbone and crease to act as a transition. Placing  MAC's Chromeyellow all over my eyelid,  I went into my crease and Vee with MAC's handwritten taking care to make sure that I blended this dark brown into my yellow eyeshadow as well as my Texture eyeshadow transition. MAC's fluidline is Blacktrack and a pair of eyelashes finished off this look.

 

Eyes

Base - Illamasqua Cream Eyeshadow in Linger
Eyelid Base - NYX Jumbo Pencil in Yellow
Eyelid - MAC Chromeyellow

Crease - MAC Handwritten

Transition - MAC Texture

Browbone - Make Up Academy Eyeshadow in 17 Matte Pearl

Eyeliner - MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

Now if this look isn't yellow enough I really do not know what is! I think this might have been what Pelumi-Rae had in mind when she asked me to do yellow, Is this yellow enough for you?

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There's now a big ol' hole in my MAC palette. I'm heartbroken 

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The Three Lipsticks of Westfield: MAC and Kiko

 There is something about this post title that makes want to me start belting out 'We, thre Kings of Orient, are' but unfortunately it's wrong season to be singing Christmas carols or to make Christmas punned blog titles (which is unfortunate, as this would have been a really good one).

This is going to a Haul Post *yaaaaay* It feels like ages since I've done one of these and seeing as I keep finding myself in Westfield, Stratford aka Stratfield more and more these days, I actually do have quite a bit to show you (just not in this post). Lately I've been on a lipstick hunt and I have really been wanting to add a few nude lipsticks to my collection but just my luck I couldn't seem to find the MAC store in Stratfield. While hunting around for it, I chanced upon the Kiko store and thought *meh - shoulder shrug* 'Might as well'. The Makeup gods must have been soying on me that day, as the store was having a sale on their lipsticks  . . . . £3 PEOPLE!!!!

So taking a leap of faith *on the assumption that it the brand can afford to set up a branch store in Westfield then they should have at least a decent lippie* I choose Kiko's creamy lipstick in two shades, 395 and 393. Kiko's creamy lipstick in 393 is a very cool beige brown, which I thought would look great on me when I swatched it in the shop but when I actually wore it when I got home, it just seemed a bit too cool for me.

Kiko's creamy lipstick in 395 is more of the nude shade I was looking for, it warm, pinkish brown nude colour that looks perfect on me.

I actually felt very content with my purchases and will review them in depth later on; as I'm curious about their wear time . . . but I still wanted to know where the MAC store was. Now this is where I thank Baby Jesus for social media; sending a 140 character twitter plea to my followers,  I was told where the MAC store is and no wonder I couldn't find it. First, it is so DINKY *that means tiny in Annie language* and it is hiding in the most random of locations.

Now wouldn't you believe it, after all that stress of finding the MAC store, they didn't have the lipstick I wanted it stock which is super annoying. Having hyped myself and spent about an hour looking for the store I decided to just choose something else and MAC Speak Louder lipstick just seemed to cream out at me. I don't normally like pink or bright shades but I actually love this colour. I think it is very wearable and not blinding at all.

Overall I love my 3 wise lipsticks *couldn't resist making the pun* and if anyone needs a guide of Stratfield, I think I now know that shopping centre like the back of my hand.

Has anyone tried any other Kiko Products? Never heard of them before today, what do you think about their quality?

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Rae of Sunshine: Sunset

This week's looks are all based around a request from Pelumi-Rae, owner, creator and writer for Care For Your Hair.

Care For You Hair is a great Hair blog all about embracing and caring for natural hair, so if any of you are thinking about going natural, already rocking natural hair or just want a few pointers on organic hair products and concoctions, then Pelumi-Rae is a girl you want to schmooze up to.

Now Pelumi-Rae asked me to do a Yellow eye inspired look and I really did have to rack my brains on what to do as I don't actually ever wear yellow *flashback of wearing yellow and chased by bees . . . shudders*. So to hopefully encompass everything about this bright, bubbly colour, I am going to posting three different looks this week. All yellow yet all slightly different from each other; so make sure to check back on Wednesday and Friday to see what I've come up with.


Today's look is all about that Big Yellow Ball in the sky. I decided to focus more on a sunset inspired looks because I think Yellow always looks great when placed with it's sister colours; Red and Orange.

After doing the brows. I applied Illamasqua's cream eyeshadow in Linger all over my eyelid to act as a base, then taking NYX Jumbo Pencil in Yellow, I applied this only to my eye lids taking care not to blend it too high into my crease. I took Barry M's pigment in Cherry Red 84 on a blending brush and swept this onto my crease and inner vee, applying and reapplying, just trying to build up and intense colour. I swept Barry M's pigment in Orange 77 into my browbone taking care to blend it into the red eyeshadow pigment, so there is a slight gradient. Next is the easy part! Taking a fat brush I applied MAC's Chromeyellow then applied Barry's M pigment in Yellow Gold 106 with a fluffy brush over this to make the colour a bit richer. Now all I did next was blend in MAC's Carbon into my outer vee to give my eyes a bit more of definition, lined my eyes with MAC's Fluidline in Blacktrack and popped on some lashes.

Eyebrows

MAC Eyebrow pencil in Stud

HD Brow Kit in Vamp (Rich Brown shade)

Eyes

Eye Base - Illamasqua Cream Eyshadow in Linger

Eyelid Base - NYX Jumbo Pencil in Yellow

Lid - Mixture of MAC Chromeyellow Eyeshadow and Barry M Pigment in Yellow Gold 106

Crease and Inner Vee - Barry M Pigment in Cherry Red 84

Outer Vee - MAC Eyeshadow in Carbon

Browbone - Barry M Pigment in Orange 77

Eyeliner - MAC Fliudline in Blacktrack

Eyelashes - Ebay

Lips

L'oreal Pairs Color Riche Lipstick in Cassis Passion 376

Make Up Academy Plumping Lipgloss in Nude

I think I cheated a little with this first look because . . . well . . . it's not that yellow. The red and orange make this look a bit like a fireball, but what do you think? Is it yellow enough or should I focus more on yellow for the next two looks?

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continue reading "Rae of Sunshine: Sunset"

Happy St Patrick's Day

While I do feel the urge to put on a leprechaun hat and belt out 'Luck of the Irish' in my best Irish accent (which is honestly VERY bad). I am going to politely refrain and post this makeup look instead

I really wanted to go with a really strong green eyeshadow and eyebrow look to represent good ol' Mr. Patrick himself but I couldn't resist putting some gold on my lower lash, because what's Ireland with leprechauns and gold??

Eyebrows

Bourjois Intense Eyeshadow in Green

Eyes

Base - Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Yellow

Eyelid - Illamasqua Powder Eyeshadow in Dare

Inner Corner Pigment - Helen E Green and Gold flecked Pigment

Eyelid Transition Colour - MAC Humid

Outer Vee and Crease - Bourjois Intense Eyeshadow in Green

Highlight - MUA Eyeshadow in Matte 17

Lips

L'Oreal Paris Coral 830

Revlon Colourbust Lipgloss in Rosegold

Honestly, my favourite thing about this look is my eyebrows. I actually love the green eyebrows on me . . . .  I think I might just go around like this today . . .Any excuse to be green, right????

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Shh . . . Can you keep a secret??

It's perfectly all right if you can't because I'm still going to tell you anyway. . . . Introducing Pamper Secrets, the latest box of choice. 

Pamper Secrets by Amitee UK, is the UK’s first ever monthly subscription beauty box aimed AT but not exclusively for women of colour living within UK. As someone of dark skinned living in the UK, I can give testimonials upon testimonials about how frustrating it can be trying to find makeup that actually work with my skin tone. It is flipping annoying and can be very discouraging. What Pamper Secrets does is to select top quality brands and products that suits your skin-tone, and/ or hair care type and then send them for you so that you can test them out before committing to buying the full size; this way you have a month to play with it and KNOW it actually works for you.

For this month only, memberships will be open to everyone, and a subscription made during this time will automatically qualify a customer to become a Pamper Secrets member, thereafter sign-ups will be closed and based on a first come, first served basis. Everyone will then have wait to be invited by an existing member to qualify for a Pamper Secrets Box, however you could still stand a chance to get one each month as they plan to do Flash Giveaways and Competitions . .so don't lose hope!!!Boxes are sent out the last week of march so you still have approximately 2 weeks to go.

One thing I really love about this company is their logo (Is it weird to like a logo???). Apart from being my favourite colour, it has a really pretty purple and lilac gradient that I think is super attractive and appealing, and so being the weird, recluse that I am, I decided to reproduce it . . . on skin . . . as an inspired makeup look.

This look is all about the gradient so no harsh lines allowed! Blending is your new best friend. After doing my brows *all hail the brows* I applied a white base from my  lid to my browbone. Mixing MAC's Hepcat and  Parfait Amour together, I applied this shade mixture in the middle section of my lid, then taking MAC'S Indian Ink, I applied this on my inner vee and my crease making sure to blend it into my Hepcat and Parfait Amour Colour so I don't get a harsh line. Next I took MAC's Beauty Marked to my outer vee, adding a bit of flair to my eyes. Using a flat shader brush, I applied Barry M's Pigment in Silver iridescent to my inner lid and inner corners. I found that after I did this I need a transitional colour as the pigment and the rest of the eye didn't seem to work very well so MUA Academy Eyeshadow in Pearl came to my rescue and acted as a beautiful light lilac, tying everything together. MAC'S Bisque was then added to m,y browbone with MAC's Texture used to blend it to the rest of the eye. Mac;s BlackTrack Fluidline framed my eyes and my Ebay eyelashes gave this look wings.

Eyes

Base - Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Milk

Inner Corner - Barry M Pigment in 

Transition Colour - MUA Academy Eyeshadow in Pearl (Shade 4)

Lid Colour - MAC Hepcat and MAC Parfait Amour

Crease and Inner Vee - MAC Pro Indian Ink

Outer Vee - MAC Beauty Marked

Crease Transition Colour - MAC Texture

Browbone - MAC Bisque

Eyeliner - MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

Eyelashes - Ebay

 Lips

Lipliner - Sleek Lip Pencil in Deep Cherry

Lipgloss - Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Mina

Hope you like my look and get to subscribing before the boxes run out . . .shoooo!!!

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Let's Blue It All Again

Ever since I came across the Illamasqua I-Sophie Cut Crease Tutorial, I've been trying and trying to figure out how to do a cut crease. I couldn't seem to figure out where to start cutting my crease and it was driving me absolutely LOCO. 


Not willing to let a makeup technique get the better of me *and publicly admit failure* I left it for a while and then yesterday, on a whim I decided to try again and I finally got it!!!!!!!! HUZZAH!!!

To Start off I used NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk all over my lids, blending it upwards. Choosing MAC's Submarine, I blended this shade of blue above my crease and close to my eyebrows, then took a stiff eyeliner brush and made a crease outline with Helen E's eyeshadow in dark blue and blended upwards back into Submaribe .Finally I popped MAC's Blue Calm all over my lids and on my inner tear duct. 

Eyes

Base - NYX Jumbo Pencil in White

Lid - MAC Blue Calm 

Crease - Helen E Eyeshadow in Dark Blue

Midway Colour - MAC Submarine

Highlight - MAC Texture

Cream Eyeliner - MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack

Pencil Eyeliner - MUA Cosmetics Eyeliner in Black

Eyelashes - Ebay

Brows

Pencil - MAC Brow Pencil in Stud

Powder - HD Brows Powder  Palette in Vamp (Dark Brown)

What do you think of my first cut crease look??? Did I Nail it . . or do I need a bit more practise??

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Let's make Joseph Kony more Famous that the Simpsons!!!!

I am not an Activist.


But honestly, you don't need to be an activist to hear about something and know in your gut that it's wrong and want to bring awareness to the cause to bring about Change.

Picture Source: Invisible Children Facebook Page

Kony is conducting crimes against humanity for no other purpose than to increase his own power. He is tearing apart families, communities and a country apart for his own selfish and conceited reasons. The thought that him and his Lord's Resistance Army would kidnap little kids, give them a gun and force them to kill or mutilate their own families is just . . . . I honestly just can't seem to understand the twisted mechanics behind this.

When watching this video, I was beyond words and had to keep starting and stopping the video because I felt it was just too overwhelming. I can't express how angry and disgusted I am that he has been allowed to do this practically unchallenged for so long!! 30 YEARS! 30,000 Children! What the Hell!!!! 


The depth of the psychological damage that these children, adults and country have had to suffer, and will continue to suffer for many years to come as a result of this CRIMINAL'S immoral actions is just difficult to comprehend.


I am not going to drag this post on for too long, all I can say is spread the awareness and support.


Join the Invisible Children Facebook Page, Sign their Pledge, Make a Donation, Post a status, make a tweet, even make a Blog post or a Youtube video . . Just do something!! Joseph Kony must be stopped and 2012 is the year to do it.

continue reading "Let's make Joseph Kony more Famous that the Simpsons!!!!"