bad luck.

things have been quiet, i know... after three weeks of having a cold, a throat infection and on/off fevers, i finally jumped for joy when it appeared that i had fully healed (amoxycillin, you are my one and only). however, this did not last long. i injured my foot on monday and have been bed-bound ever since! oddly enough, the injury involved no fall, with the nerves in my foot deciding to go beserk on me within a second. i'd get shooting pains in my left foot and knees very rarely, but never has it been consistent like this. so ya know, i went to the doctor, he couldn't figure out what was wrong (had tests today), but told me that i have inflamed joints anyway. woohoo! so sxc~

however, i have (sort of) been enjoying time by myself doing essentially nothing whilst doing something (working from home, it never ends). i've played computer games, watched films, that sort of thing.

in other news, work is MANIC. insanely busy to say the least. i've enjoyed working there full-time for sure, and only have a week left because it's back to working from home and coming in whenever i can. for that reason, i'm so desperate to have everything for the next event sorted so that my only remaining worry is making sure that people attend. however, i also have to work with the FLAKIEST club promoter ever (who frankly, is a bit of a dickhead) and have no say in the matter - it's really starting to aggravate me.

i also register for my masters next week, and really look forward to having a set routine again. i can't wait to get better and get back on my treadmill, and to get back on zumba (i somehow converted everyone to it and then ended up ditching it myself). it's going to be a busy week ahead!

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).

subtle.

feeling grown-up. what a weekend of full on BORINGNESS. i have to choose my modules for my masters (being cheeky and doing modules with dissertations as i cannot do exams whatsoever) and i am trying to set up outlook so that my three emails all go through that. (i must admit, this is currently failing). i am also thinking about asking for a christmas present for the first time which totally ups my guilt but is slowly becoming unavoidable. i am in dire need of a new mp3 player as mine has been depleted of any free space and it is frustrates me having to delete music i do love in order to make room for new ones. all of these boring decisions has left me feeling relatively boring/safe with my make-up.

face: sephora illuminating primer, mac studio fix fluid (nc35), clinique airbrush concealer (03 light), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).

eyes: revlon 12 hour colourstay eyeshadow quad (in the buff), no 7 eyeshadow (truffle), maybelline gel liner, lancome hypnose l'extreme mascara.

cheeks: nars bronzer (laguna), no 7 illuminator (peach), tiny bit of topshop blush (high five).

lips: mac (see sheer).

taken with flash.

also haz sadz because my dad is going tomorrow morning and won't be back until christmas. lame. now mum is going to ban all junk food and make us go to bed early and scream until her lungs explode. 

blending 4 n00bz.

past few days have been SO rubbish. christ, my negativity this week is something to behold i know, but it's not unfounded. i'm ill, spotty, bloated and on my period even though i'm on the pill. i don't care if that is tmi but basically my body is b-r-o-k-e-n.

i digress. so. i rarely wear bright colours on my eyes. i don't feel as if i have the complexion for it, nor eyes that are pretty enough! seeing nicki minaj (who has darker skin) work amazing shades did give me a scrap of hope but then i remembered that she wears coloured contacts and that is why they look nice. the idea of putting in coloured contacts just to wear a bright eyeshadow seems like too much effort though. when i saw this however, i simply had to have it. rimmel's colour mousse in 'galaxy' is such an amazing shade of purple and easy to work with. with primer, it doesn't budge at all.

didn't feel like doing anything which involved blending either, so i went for solid panda eyes. bit of a 60s feel. couldn't possibly tell you what it's like once you smudge it up!

as it's metallic, it has this really cool (how sad do i sound, "its reeeeely kewl guize") effect on the eyelid, a bit like molten metal.

face: l'oreal studio secrets primer, illamasqua skin base foundation (10), collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer (02), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).
eyes: urban decay primer potion, urban decay 24/7 pencil (lust), rimmel colour mousse eyeshadow (galaxy), mac eyeshadow (boycrazy), maybelline gel liner, max factor false lash effect mascara, mac eyebrow pencil (stud).
cheeks: nars bronzer (laguna), nars blush (orgasm), no 7 illuminator (peach).
lips: vaseline.

bestival.

this isn't a post to do with make-up, just personal.

i came back from bestival over the weekend. i had so much fun, even if i did look a right state throughout (luckily i don't fancy anyone on my facebook friends or i would be mortified). i was ill and felt like death for the first two days, but then slowly began to feel better because i got my voice back temporarily. however, since i've come back i have gone back a few steps! and so i feel pretty rubbish as a result. also find it hilarious how i look bored/angry/miserable in 99.99% of the photos when i was laughing all the time. really was a sweet weekend.

also feeling up and down for several other reasons. one of which is work. i've been given an amazing project which is short-term and well-paid (the best combination!), but one of my colleagues has completely and utterly hated on me over it even though it's not my decision. how horrible is that?! totally ruined the good news (most of my projects are long-term). i don't even like her, and think she's incompetent, desperate and insane amongst other things. handling criticism is something i find harder to do when it's coming from someone much older than me because i assume that they are wiser. but that is not the case here. i refuse to give any validity to her complaints and i am going to blow anything she ever did out of the water. just dirt off my shoulder.

bad week.

over the past week i had dizzy spells on and off, but assumed that it might be because i had just returned from another country. then, over the weekend, my throat butchered itself and i assumed that i had a throat infection (which was confirmed on monday). last night, i woke up in a cold sweat and felt as if my head was going to explode. went back to the doctor again, and it turns out that i am shitty mcshit. i am seriously hoping that this is the worst of it and that the antibiotics make me feel better very quickly (as i am going to bestival). the initial plan was to go this thursday but i am just not well enough and so i've had to land my poor friend (and fellow tent-sharer) in it by leaving her with a bloody heavy tent. now, i am going on friday morning instead. one of my other friends has been an absolute lifesaver, sorting it out for me at the last minute. :3

but anyway, i feel awful about it, but i can't leave her tentless and expect spooning when i am like this. good timing is a rarity in the grand scheme of my life. BUT, no matter how ill i am, i am NOT calling off going. na uh. i am going to go and i will not give a shit if i cough up my own intestines. i am DETERMINED. in other news, my home internet has been down despite promises of fixing it (thanks virgin, you da man) and one of the pipe things in our house couldn't handle the amount of rain and broke. today i also burnt my hand. worst week ever.

in the meantime:

srs ill face. SO NON-COMFORMIST~*~*

hat - urban outfitters, jumper - vivienne westwood.

face: 17 primer, bourjois healthy mix foundation (52), collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer (02 light), nars highlighter (albatross), mac mineralize skinfinish (medium plus).

eyes: urban decay primer potion, urban decay eyeshadows (creep and gunmetal), l'oreal stylo eyeliner (grey obsession), maybelline gel liner, max factor false lash effect mascara, mac eyebrow pencil (stud).

lips: illamasqua (poison).

i really like illamasqua's lipsticks. slightly less hydrating than mac but the colour stays put which is all i could ask for. i also love their colour selection and would probably wear every single product with glee. 'poison' is an extremely deep purple which i think would be weirdly flattering on any skin tone, and perfect for autumn (let's face it, this is certainly no summer we're having in england!).

the hat stayed on for an hour and then i unleashed the beast underneath. boom.

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.