warm sparkly look.

here is how i wore my make-up on christmas day. unfortunately my beloved jimmy choo x h&m necklace has gone awol (and still is! i'm sending out a search party) and so i couldn't wear it as planned. :(

i went for a shimmery look on my eyes with bold lips and fresh skin - it was a festive occasion after all. sadly i didn't do anything glittery (i do love resembling a disco ball) or really 'out there' as my christmas was relatively low-key. that and i'm a wuss because i didn't want any make-up to irritate my eyes. i used bronzy browns, some gold, and a coppery red on the outer corners - although the finished result looks like something better suited to a summer holiday i feel, rather than a wintery christmas! don't be fooled by the pink lips either - i skipped red due to my anticipated non-stop eating and lightly dabbed on revlon's 'cherries in the snow' using my fingers. that's how it is when lightly dabbed! it looks like i've applied a lipstick fully...

face: sephora illuminating primer, bourjois healthy mix foundation (52), collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer (#2), clinique airbrush concealer (03 light), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).
eyes: urban decay primer potion, urban decay eyeshadows (smog, half baked), illamasqua pure pigment (berber), nars highlighter (albatross), maybelline gel liner, max factor false lash effect mascara, mac eyebrow pencil (stud).
cheeks: nars highlighter (albatross), nars multiple (portofino).
lips: revlon (cherries in the snow) with vaseline on top.

i also embraced the day of christmas with some tights adorned with crystals. forgot how much i love them!

in other news - well, i've seen so many pretty things i would love to own, but lack the money. asking my parents is an option, but i absolutely detest doing it (think i've asked once in the past two years, only because i had £3 in my bank account, o) and so i'm going to be on the hunt for some part-time work and selling a lot of stuff i don't need or use. i'm really loving costume jewellery but annoyingly enough, all the stuff i like costs an arm and a leg. i'm also back on my fitness binge, which i cruelly deserted for the past week and a half. when i say 'fitness binge', i mean FORCING myself to be sensible and doing exercise. it is horrible.

rimmel glam'eyes eyeshadow: spicy bronze.

(today sucks, my dad is going and i won't see him until november at the earliest. if he doesn't come in november, it will be until after christmas.)

i'm sure everyone has several things in life which they love but forget about constantly. in a make-up context, rimmel's glam'eyes eyeshadow in 'spicy bronze' is definitely my #1. i always go long periods without even looking at it but when i do, i'm confused as to why i don't wear it every day. considering that it's not even that expensive, the eyeshadow feels a lot more luxurious that you would assume and is highly pigmented and easy to blend. i find it really hard to explain its colour as it seems to photograph differently depending on light, but it is not strictly bronze at all - more of a mix between bronze and coffee, i'd say. it warms up my complexion without being too 'in your face', and so for olive skintones it's definitely a must. trust me when i say this - there is a very, very small range of eyeshadows which i actually believe suit and look nice on me, and this is one of them. excluuuusive~

i decided to add a lot of gold tones in my face today. i usually hardly do this around this time of year (it's more of a spring thing to me) but felt lazy and fancied effortless make-up. i'm also pretty sure that everything listed here adds some form of luminosity or has gold shimmer added to it. if that's your sort of thing then just buy anything i say. BUY NOW.

face: no 7 lift and luminate day cream, sephora illuminating primer, mac studio fix fluid (nc35), clinique airbrush concealer (03 light), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).
eyes: urban decay primer potion, rimmel glam'eyes eyeshadow (spicy bronze), maybelline gel liner, revlon grow luscious mascara, no 7 lash adapt mascara, body shop brow and lash gel.
cheeks: bourjois bronzing powder, sleek blush (rose gold).
lips: paula dorf (mermaid).

nails - bourjois (beige glamour).

food overhaul!

since my last post, i am officially a graduate. this september is going to be really manic as i am a) going to bestival, b) winding up working full-time, and c) beginning a new degree. gulp. i need to figure out what my new timetable will be and what my general weekly routines will be like, as i am also going to join a gym and need to figure out when i can fit that in, because having an office job has made me fat. they're pretty slow most of the time when it comes to paying me so i've been in agony as of late as there has been SO many things my heart has pined for (HELLO NEW ILLAMASQUA COLLECTION? THAT RUBBER NAIL POLISH? GIVE.TO.ME.)

i've been watching what i eat and begun a food overhaul since yesterday morning, although i still somehow think i eat too much. yesterday i had bran flakes (which tastes like cardboard), a handful of rice, chickpeas and watermelon. oh, and some pimms (i may/may not be hungover as i type this). so that's my general sort of routine going. start the day with cereal, have a vaguely carby lunch, and then spend the rest of the day snacking on watermelon, water, or green tea. for some reason i've been feeling dizzy and lethargic all week and so i haven't been exercising, but i think i will do an hour today. i shall report any signs of weight loss on here!

yesterday it was my friend's birthday. i am elusive but showed my face briefly. i haven't changed my make-up much recently but i'm really enjoying being silly with it and mixing blushers with lipsticks, using lipsticks on my cheeks and basically just putting things where they shouldn't be. could be the early markings of a breakdown really.

for some reason the lighting in my house is completely off - you'll just have to take my word for it, but there are a lot of gold tones on my face and my cheeks were a nice apricot colour. i'm not really liking my face much at the moment either.

face: no 7 lift and luminate day cream, sephora base sublimatrice, illamasqua skin base foundation (no 10), clinique airbrush concealer (03 light), no 7 illuminator (peach), nars highlighter (albatross), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).
eyes: urban decay primer potion, urban decay eyeshadows (virgin, naked, buck, hustle), rimmel exaggerate liquid liner, maybelline gel liner, max factor false lash effect mascara, mac eyebrow pencil (stud).
cheeks: nars bronzer (laguna), illamasqua blush (lover) and a touch of sleek blush on the cheekbone (rose gold).
lips: urban decay primer potion, sleek blush (rose gold), tiny bit of old no 7 gloss (smile).

brush out those curls and ta dah! a result channelling something between a marcel wave and a cavewoman.

black and gold.

today is my mother's birthday. yay birthday! here are her presents, containing a yves saint laurent 'arty' ring and a pair of chanel earrings.

as it's my first full weekend off since june (i have to edit some papers but let's forget that), i've spent today just taking care of myself. face mask (lush's 'love lettuce'), hair mask (aussie's 'three minute miracle') and painted nails (barry m's 'dusky mauve'). i haven't managed to do any of these things in about a week or so and people have been appalled and have asked me what's wrong. (that does tend to happen if i'm not wearing lipstick or nail polish, i must admit... no pressure...).

as i'm wearing black, i figured i'd go for something with gold tones and a more bronzey feel than my usual sort of look. something shimmery with browns and metallic shades. this is a sort of look i hardly wear, but figured i could do with - although admittedly, it could easily stray into becoming a disaster with my face resembling a disco ball. perhaps it does now. if so, forgive.

my newest plaything is a bit of a wild card. benefit's 'gilded' highlighter... in... wait for it... 'TANGERINE GOLD'. now, i don't know who does the marketing at benefit, but in the united kingdom, the word 'tangerine' in a beauty-related product within the industry has nothing but negative connotations for consumers. at least it sounds a little nicer in french ('enlumineur mandarine')! nevertheless, i like a challenge, and this more tangerine product was bought pretty cheap because no one else was showing it any love (see benefit, i know my shit). the only way i could do anything with it on a regular basis is to treat it like nars' multiples: on cheeks, lids, and lips.

as far as highlighter products go, it's pretty sweet. it's a middle ground between a liquid or powder highlighter/illuminator as it's more creamy, and it does last. it also photographs quite nicely, and is not orange. would i purchase again? perhaps. however, despite the little specks of glitter being miniscule in size, there is quite a fair bit of it and so if you are vaguely shimmer-phobic, i would get that pen from men in black, flash it in your own eyes, click, and forget all about it. for those who want something more subtle, then no 7's illuminator or becca's shimmering skin perfector provide better alternatives.

face: sephora smoothing primer, mac studio fix fluid (nc35), clinique airbrush concealer (03 light), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).
eyes: urban decay primer potion, no 7 amazing eyes pencil (10 brown), urban decay eyeshadows (smog all over, dark horse in crease, half baked in corner, creep in outer corner), nars highlighter (albatross), nars bronzer (laguna), maybelline gel liner, rimmer exaggerate eyeliner, revlon grow luscious mascara, eyelure girls aloud false eyelashes (nicola), mac eyebrow pencil (stud).
cheeks: benefit gilded highlighter (tangerine gold), nars bronzer (laguna), nars blusher (orgasm).
lips: soap & glory sexy motherpucker lipgloss (peach).


in other news: rest in peace, amy winehouse. what a tragic loss for someone who was a lovely girl before she met her demons; i hope it proves to people that drugs can easily escalate out of control and aren't as fun as they may seem.