094 - FOTD: Electric Purple Smokey Eyes

I am afraid I am running out of ideas for names of my looks, hm ... Anyway, I am not dead yet, even though the frequency of my posts might seem to say different. As expected my last month in Germany is absolutely full of events, including visiting towns and cities of Nordrhein-Westfalen (Düsseldorf is wonderful, reminds me of Prague + you can get Inglot and Laura Mercier there; but there is a MAC pro store in Köln), parties, just haning out with my new friends and so on. I have been so busy that I failed to take photos of my latest three manicures, which says a lot. So, here is a look I wore a couple of days (weeks?) ago (all pictures are clickable):

Daylight, no flash.

Face:
- Revlon ColorStay for Combination/Oily Skin in 110 Ivory (mixed with BarryM below)
- BarryM Foundation Creme in 1 White (mixed with Revlon above)
- Flormar Concealer in 01 Fair Ivory
- ELF Custom Face in Glow

Eyebrows:
- Wet n Wild Brow Essentials
- Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara

Lips:
- Catrice Ultimate Shine Lipstick in 040 Berry Me!

Eyes:
- Art Deco Eyeshadow Base
- Kiko Cream Waterproof Eyeliner in 04 Dark Purple (as a base all over the lid and for the flick)
- Makeup Academy (MUA) Eye Shadow in Shade 9 - Pearl
- Makeup Academy (MUA) Eye Shadow in Shade 20 - Matt
- S-he Stylezone Eye Shadow in 630/28
- S-he Stylezone Twin Kajal (the black half for the waterline)
- ELF Complexion Perfection (the bluey shade under my brows and as an under eye concealer)
- Essence Multi Action Smokey Eyes Mascara (2 coats on upper lashes, 1 coat on lower lashes)


Close-ups:

Daylight, no flash.

I have been really into smokey eyes lately, I even wore green (well, very dark green) smokey eyes today (FOTD post coming up soon-ish).

Here you can see a proper swatch of MUA Eyeshadow in Shade 9, I think. You can see just how magnificent and pretty this shade is. The fact that I used cream eyeliner as a base of course also helps. Still, this eyeshadow is great even without it. It has almost no fallout, it is very buildable and it lasts as long as you need it to. A total win for just one pound.

Kiko Cream Waterproof Eyeliner in 04 Dark Purple is a new acquisition (I got it 50 % off). I used it as an eyeliner a couple of times, but I prefer to use it as a coloured base. Why? Because it is too waxy to be used as an eyeliner, I find. I am not sure, it might even be that the one I bought is slightly dried out as well. It is just pretty hard to work with and almost impossible to use with a soft eyeliner brush. I used ELF Small Smudge Brush to do the flick here.

Flormar Concealer in 01 Fair Ivory is also quite new, but I can not make up my mind about it. I urgently needed a concealer, because my skin has been terrible lately. And of course I hardly ever buy high end make up, so I had some troubles finding a fair enough concealer. Flormar's concealer is really very ligt, but quite hard to work with. You know that feeling when you try to conceal a spot and the concealer seems to conceal everything around the spot, but not the post itself? Yeah. But I still need to try a couple of techniques, since I have only tried applying it with my fingers until now.

I apologize for not having any swatch pictures of Catrice Ultimate Shine Lipstick in 040 Berry Me!. I got it on sale for 1,95 € (I am not sure whether it was a part of a limited edition or if it is being discontinued) and I really like it. Another one for my "nude" lipsticks collection - meaning I can apply it without using a lip liner. It very moisturizing, feels really nice on the lips and it does not bleed. The only downside is that it does not last long, but I do not mind that so much, because it fades nicely.

If you have any questions/comments about this look, please let me know and I will answer/read them gladly :)

So, that is it from me for now. I really hope I will have more time for my blog in the next few days, but I do not want to promise anything. Whatever the case, I will be a "better blogger" in March. And I am really sorry I am not commenting on other people's blogs.

093 - FOTD: Matchy Make Up

The other day I needed to go outside only to shop for food. I feel uncomfortable leaving home without any make up, but I also did not feel like doing anything complicated, which is what I usually do with my daytime make up (at least by the casual standards). So I remembered a video tutorial by Lisa Eldridge ("Trend - Match Make-up") I saw months ago. I decided to do something slightly similar. I just made a much simpler version (all pictures are clickable):

Daylight, no flash.

Face:
- ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Ivory
- ELF HD Powder
- ELF Custom Face in Glow

Eyebrows:
- Wet n Wild Brow Essentials
- Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara

Lips:
- Collistar Supergloss Effetto Strass in 19 Onice (See swatches here and here.)

Eyes:
- Sleek Storm I-Divine Palette (upper row, second eyeshadow from the left)
- ELF Custom Face in Glow
- Essence Multi Action Smokey Eyes Mascara (2 coats, only on upper lashes)

Close-ups:

Daylight, no flash.

Probably the most natural make up I have posted here ... It was nice to try it out, but I do not feel very comfortable wearing such looks. It sounds cliché, but such looks are just not me. Too healthy/normal looking, I guess. The peachy colour does look nice on blue eyes, though. So funny - I have been using this blush almost everyday for over a year now and even though it is tiny (2 g), I still have about one half of it left. Which means that I obviously use 1 g of blusher a year. Which means that if I buy a standard blusher, which contains say 7 g, I would be using it for almost 7 years. No wonder I have used so few make up items in my life then.

If you have any questions/comments about this look, please let me know and I will answer/read them gladly :)

Here is a properly big funny cat related picture of the day:

092 - NOTD: Fairwind Silky Shine Nail Lacquer in 54 Midnight Grape

I bumped into Fairwind Cosmetics over a month ago in Schlecker and Ihr Platz. They seem to be a pretty new/unknown brand, since I have googled them and I did not find their webpage or any other helpful data on them. I found the nail polish on a stand with some other Fairwind nail polishes and eyeshadows. I fell in love with Midnight Grape the second I first saw it and for 1,29 € per bottle I hardly had anything to lose. Pictures (all pictures are clickable):

Base coat, Fairwind Nail Lacquer in 54 Midnight Grape (2 coats).

Base coat, Fairwind Nail Lacquer in 54 Midnight Grape (2 coats), top coat.

I would describe the colour as a very very dark purply red with red glitter. When I first wore it, I thought - this is just like a reddish version of Essence Vampire Love in True Love. It is a bit darker than the Essence nail polish, but the combination of creme nail polish and small glitter just made me think of it. As you can see in the pictures, the polish is so dark that it looks almost black in the shadow. Not that I am the kind of person who would be in any way bothered by a black nail polish, of course.

Application was very nice. You can easily reach full coverage with just two coats. The brush is a bit long for my taste, but fortunately it is still quite wide. The polish also dries really quickly.

The bottle says the polish has a silky shine. I would not know about that, the finish seemed like any other nail polish finish. Still, I in the first set of pictures you can see the nail polish without a top coat, just so you can judge about that silky shine for yourself.

All in all this nail polish is absolutely great. It is very cheap, it dries quickly and the colour is actually pretty special if you ask me. The only downside is that it only contains 7 ml.

If you have any questions/comments about this NOTD, please let me know and I will answer/read them gladly :)

Lolcat of the day:

091 - NOTD: Kiko Nail Lacquer in 301

Another very pretty shade from Kiko (all pictures are clickable; daylight, no flash):

Base coat, Kiko Nail Lacquer in 301 (3 coats), top coat.

Base coat, Kiko Nail Lacquer in 301 (3 coats), top coat.

As with so many other purple nail polishes I had to use Photoshop to prevent this polish from looking blue. Because it is not blue at all. It does contains two shades of tiny blue glitter, but the base is definitely dark purple. I also noticed a silver shimmer in the bottle, but it seems to be unnoticeable on the nails.

Application was ok, although the polish was a little bit goopy, which led to streakyness, which led to the need to apply three coats. I am sure more skillful people could get away with just two coats, though. Once again I have to say that I love Kiko's brushes - quite short and thick, perfect in my opinion.

The only downside (as with all Kiko nail polishes) is the drying time. Even with the excellent Essence top coat I use this nail polish needed about half an hour to be truly completely dry.

I got this shade for just 1,5 €, so I believe it is being discontinued. Kiko still produce a very similar shade, though. I do not know its number, but it is a tad lighter than this nail polish, but really just a tad.

If you have any questions/comments about this NOTD, please let me know and I will answer/read them gladly :)

Cat picture of the day:

090 - UK Make Up Haul

There are countless good things about being an exchange student. One of them is meeting new people who go home for holidays and can bring you things you can not buy where you live. I met this really nice and cosmetics/make up obsessed girl from Newcastle and I was pleasantly surprised when she came up with the idea that she would be glad to bring me stuff from Britain when she goes home for Christmas. So I ordered these goodies (all pictures are clickable):

<3

Le list:

- Urban Decay Primer Potion

- Makeup Academy (MUA) Eye Shadow in Shade 20 - Matt

- Makeup Academy (MUA) Eye Shadow in Shade 9 - Pearl

- Makeup Academy (MUA) Professional Trio Eyeshadow in Smoke Screen

- 17 BB Blemish Balm in Light

- Sleek I-Divine Palette in Storm

I have even made swatches of some of these items.

MUA Eye Shadow in Shade 20 (Matt) and Shade 9 (Pearl); right: no base; left: over ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Ivory; swatched using my fingers; 2 layers:

MUA Eye Shadow in Shade 20 (Matt) and Shade 9 (Pearl)

I used ELF Tinted Moisturizer as a base, because I think it does its job just fine when it comes to only swatching eyeshadows, where colour is pretty much the most important thing.

I expected the Shade 20 to be darker and blacker, because I read on many blogs that it is a really black matte eyeshadow. It is very dark and well pigmented, but I would still call it very very dark grey and not black. NYX Eyeshadow in ES01 Black, Flormar Matte Mono Eyeshadow in M11 and Noir from Sleek's plaettes are all much blacker and darker. They are all also pigmeted slightly better. Still, the pigmentation of this eyeshadow is very decent and the eyeshadow is well worth the one pound it costs. I know it looks a bit patchy over the base, but I did not find it to be patchy when I used it on my eyes.

This swatch does not do the Shade 9 justice at all. As you can see there is hardly any difference between the two swatches (base and no base). Sure, you have to layer this eyeshadow to get a very good colour payoff. But layering it is very very easy, there is no patchyness whatsoever and you end up with an absolutely stunning colour. The base is purple, bright purple, which tends to even look slightly magenta-ish. Then comes the most gorgeous thing about this eyeshadow - blue shimmer, which makes it look like some sort of holographic purple poison. I love it and I would be willing to pay more money for it any time.

Makeup Academy (MUA) Professional Trio Eyeshadow in Smoke Screen; right: no base; left: over ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Ivory; swatched using the applicator that comes with it; 2 layers:

Makeup Academy (MUA) Professional Trio Eyeshadow in Smoke Screen

As you can see, these are some pigmented eyeshadows. I love their texture, it is very silky and easy to layer. I just wish the middle shade was a bit lighter. In any case, this trio is a win, I recommend it very much. It is all you need to make a perfect eye make up, be it for the day or for the night.

I have done a swatch comparison of 17 BB Blemish Balm in Light, ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Ivory and Revlon ColorStay for Combination/Oily Skin in 110 Ivory:

Revlon ColorStay in 110 Ivory, ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Ivory, 17 Blemish Balm in Light

Revlon ColorStay in 110 Ivory, ELF Tinted Moisturizer in Ivory, 17 Blemish Balm in Light

As you can see the Blemish Balm is unfortunately a lot darker than the other two. I read some blog posts about it and they all stated that it is very very light. Sorry, but this is not very very light, not even very light. So ... I might use it in the summer, but I doubt that. I will probably give it to my sister. Too bad, I was really looking forward to finally using a BB cream.

I did not swatch Sleek Storm palette because you can find swatches of it all over the internet. I badly wanted to own another Sleek palette because everyone seems to have like at least four of them. Childish, I know. Anyway, I decided for Storm palette because it has two matte brown eyeshadows, which I can use for my eyebrows. It also has the famous matte black eyeshadow, a nice cranberry shadow, a dark silver eyeshadow and an eyeshadow I can use as a highlighter. Long story short - this is a palette with which I can do my whole face.

And last but most certainly not least - the legendary Urban Decay Primer Potion. I have wanted to get it ever since they finally came up with the new packaging and I am so so glad I finally have it. I have very oily and hooded eyelids, so a good primer is an absolute must. I already have Too Faced Shadow Insurance and I have used UDPP a couple of times by now and I can say it works very very well, but I can not say which one is better - UDPP or TFSI. They are both absolutely great and I am very very happy to finally have them both.

Looking at all these things now I am of course sorry I did not order more ... But I really must restrain myself, I buy way too much make up. I just find it so unfair that we do not have access to MUA, Sleek, 17 and Urban Decay in our drugstores.

If you have any questions/comments about this post, please let me know and I will answer/read them gladly :)

Lolcats of the day: