Tutorial #1: Stormy Day

My first tutorial eep! This look is quite OTT. It's based around the idea of a 'Stormy Day'. Thinks clifftops, dark clouds, rain, dark grass, but little spots of sun shining through. Here is the finished look:

Stormy.

 You will need:

• 1 x shimmer dark grey eyeshadow
• 1 x shimmer dark blue eyeshadow
• 1 x shimmer dark green eyeshadow
• 1 x shimmer copper eyeshadow
• 1 x shimmer gold eyeshadow
• 1 x shimmer bright sky blue eyeshadow
• 1 x black liquid liner
• 1 x black mascara
• 1 x purple lipgloss or balm
• 1 x eyeshadow brush

I personally used the Sleek Original Palette and Storm Palette for my eyeshadows, as well as Urban Decay's Half Baked Shadow. I also used Revlon Colourstay Black Liquid Liner, Collection 2000 Collagen Curl mascara and No. 7 Liplicious Moisturising Balm in Purple Liquorice. Please substitute similar shades or products wherever you need to.

To start, have your foundation on and eyes and lips clear:

Step 1- Using a brush, brush the grey eyeshadow from mid eyelid up to your brow. Fill in the side towards your inner eye. Also paint it around your inner eye corner and a little of the way under your eye. You should end up with this:

 

Step 2- Using an object with a straight side, make a line from your lid to a little beyond the end of your eyebrow, like so:

Here I'm pressing a Blu-Tack packet into use. Oh the glamour.

Draw a line using this with the dark blue eyeshadow and fill in the gap up to the grey, like so:

 

Smudge the blue and grey line where they meet with your finger (or a brush if you're fancy).

Step 3- Using the gold shadow, line the rest of your under eye. Then extend it out in two streaks, one from your outer eye and one from mid eye. Think an Egyptian 'Horus' type eye:

Step 4- Put a dab of bronze where the gold and grey meet under your eye:

 

Step 5- Dab the bright sky blue with your fingers all over the grey and blue on your lid. The idea is to create a cloudy mix of colours:

Step 6- Line your eyelid with black liner (I did just a small line, close to the waterline, but you can go bigger) and get loads of mascara on your lashes:

And that's your eyes done!

Step 7- Pat grey eyeshadow all over your lips:

 

Step 8- Apply a purple lipgloss or balm over the top:

Step 9- Pat green eyeshadow over the top with your fingers. The idea is to go for a camouflage patch like effect, rather than all over:

And you're done!

It's actually slightly Black Swan as well now I look... Obviously this is a big OTT look, but you can scale it down to suit for a more sophisticated event. This is my first try at this, so I hope you like it, sorry for being so pic heavy!

Love Luxie xxx

Fragrance Review: DarlingClandestine fragrances, for those who love unusual.

A while ago I purchased 6 samples of perfume from an etsy shop called darlingclandestine. I’ve been looking for unusual perfumes for a while, because I hate wearing the same thing as everyone else, so I thought I would try these as they were so beautifully described (seriously, her descriptions are like poetry, go read them!) and sounded so interesting. Darlingclandestine was lovely and sent me them quickly with an extra 2 to try (big smiles from me!) so I thought I’d give them a little review on here. Bear in mind they are a little hard to describe, so bear with me!

My favourite scent is Serpentina. It’s described as a ‘Ethereal, fresh green tea with a little opium bite‘ scent, and I would mostly agree with that. The herbal green tea note really comes through, but there is also a sweet citrus air to it that makes it almost good enough to eat. This one is one that makes me smell my wrists every 5 minutes when I’m wearing it because it smells so lovely.

Another love is Pyrotechnik. I didn’t know what to expect with this one, and it took me a while to actually work out how to describe it. It smells like Lush’s Snow Fairy shower gel (quite candyfloss-y) with a big melon top note. Also if you put a mix of all the new Skittles Crazy Cores sweets in your mouth, that’s exactly what it smells like… weird. Anyway, it’s sweet and fruity, without being sickly (I hate sickly scents) and is also yummy enough to eat. If you love melon, this scent is totally for you!

A surprise love was Tapadero. This is very close to its description of ‘Bold and bright sage and roses, dusky sweet smoke and leather‘. It has a beautiful rose note, but with a leather and smoky base that stops it from being sickly, and somehow makes it feminine and yet not. This is definitely an unusual evening scent for me. It’s a very Wild West dame scent.

I also tried Tilt-A-Whirl, Ballyhoo, Inked, Falchion and Step Right Up, but they weren’t quite right for me. If anyone wants to know my thoughts on those, please ask and I’ll happily supply details.

In short, I’m so pleased I ordered these! The samples and postage were very cheap, and when I have money I’m definitely going to be ordering some bigger sizes of my favourite 3. If you’re in the market for some unusual fragrances, I’d definitely give these a go :)

Love L xxx

FOTD #7- Spring in Summer

Yesterday's FOTD was inspired by the dress I was wearing (you can see bits in the photos). We were going to visit my cousin and her baby, so the whole outfit was a 'Springtime' look, with lots of green and pink (possibly to represent new life, possibly I just wanted to try out my new eyeshadow. Possibly a bit of both.)

Face: Etude House Precious Mineral BB Cream in Sheer Silky Skin #1, elf Complexion Perfection powder.

Eyes: Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, Urban Decay Matte Eyeshadow in Chronic (on eyelid and below eye), Clarins Wonder Length Mascara in 04 Plum.

Lips: Benefit Benetint

The baby was gorgeous by the way!

Love L xxx

NOTD- Orly Mani Mini Polish in Wandering Vine (probably)

I say probably because the name has rubbed off, so I'm guessing from the Orly website!

It's a tricky shade to photograph this because it just tend to looks off-black, but it's actually a beautiful deep forest green in the flesh.

I adore the application of this polish- this was 2-3 coats, but you actually could have got away with 1 on most of the nails! It's a small brush, but I like that because I can get into all the corners with it. It applies very smooth and dries reasonably quickly. All in all a lovely polish!

A thought on the concept- the idea is £5 for a small bottle of high quality polish. Although I don't think £5 is really that cheap (17 do fantastic polishes for £2-3), but I never use up much polish from bigger bottles anyway and the quality is definitely higher end, so I'm happy to look and buy more from the range.

Orly Mani Minis are available in larger Boots stores, or bigger sizes online at Beauty Bay.

Love L xxx

Beauty LAT: Etude House Precious Mineral BB Cream SPF 30 Review

A while ago I jumped on the BB Cream bandwagon, starting with the Etude House Precious Mineral BB Cream in the shade Sheer Silky Skin #1. I wanted a product that would be a concealer, primer and SPF to save me some time in the mornings!

The design of this... I can't decide. I do think it's very cute, hygienic and mess-free, but there are definitely going to be problems when it starts to run out because you can't open it, I'm going to have to break it open!

This comes in 3 shades, all called the 'Sheer ... Skin' and numbered 1 to 3. This shade, shade #1, is the lightest. On opening it, my immediate thought was 'This is going to be waaaaaaay too dark!". You can kind of see what I mean:

There is a definite beige-y ness to it, which is something I usually dislike in a product.

However on blending it in... suddenly it becomes much more like my skin tone. My only real explanation is that the 'whitening' effect must lighten it up once blended in. I do have to be careful, especially around the jawline to make sure it's blended in well, but it really isn't bad, I've had foundations that were much worse!

Coverage wise, this definitely isn't 'sheer' like it claims on the box! It's more like a heavy concealer, or even a foundation really- this really covers up a lot (although not everything). It's not the lightest cream ever, but it isn't heavy like Revlon Colourstay or Estee Lauder's Doublewear, it still feels wearable and reasonably light. Performance wise it's very good- while it isn't completely weather or heat proof, it really isn't far off. I once got caught in very very heavy rain in this, and the damage was nothing like what I'd expected. However because of the high coverage and strong colour, you can't use this with a liquid foundation on top unless you want a big mess. It does make a gorgeous powder foundation base though!

I bought this off eBay for £10.15 for a 60g tube, from this seller. I do think it's absolutely worth the money, particularly on busy days where I want to have everything (primer, SPF, foundation) on but in half the time it would take to do it all individually. My only slight gripe is the colour- it isn't quite right for me, and it obviously needs to be applied all over for the SPF protection. If you're a N15 in MAC or a few shades darker I'd definitely recommend this range, but for me I think I'm going to try to find a BB Cream that's closer to my skintone. It's such a shame or I'd adore this product!

Rating: 9/10

Love L xxx

Beauty LAT: Good Things Stay Clear Face Wash review

It's been ages since I did one of these... how rubbish am I! Anyway, today's review is on the Good Things Stay Clear Purifying Face Wash, with Mango & Blueberry Extracts.

First thing to note is the smell... this smells gorgeous. It's like a smoothie or a juice- so fruity and yummy, but not in a sickly synthetic way! I approve endlessly.

This is a clear gel which lathers up well and removes light make-up very well, although if you have heavy or eye make-up on I would suggest using a separate remover before. It cleans my sensitive combination skin very well and doesn't irritate it. I do think it's more for oily combination though (my skin does need moisturising afterwards), so if you have fairly dry skin I'd look at other products in the range. I think it has kept my spots reasonably in check, although it doesn't completely prevent them.

The big appeal of this range is it's 'Free From' stance, saying it is free from parabens, SLS, animal ingredients and mineral oils so it's suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Honestly... I don't care that much. For me it's a nice extra rather than a necessity for a product to be free from baddies, but if that's something that is a big deal for you, then this product and range is a good one to look at.

I really love this product. It smells gorgeous, works well, has the bonus of being free from nasty ingredients and is very reasonably priced at £5.10 for 150ml at Boots. This is definitely a repurchase product for me!

8.5/10

Love L xxx

Lights of my Life #2

Things I'm loving this week...

1. My dog

I've mentioned him before, but my dog Charlie is the cutest thing ever. And now I get to see him every day yay!

2. This fake rat

Acquired during our slightly disappointing trip to Dickens World, I just think he's awesome. I want to leave him in places to scare people *evil laughter*.

3. Cabin Pressure

Cabin Pressure is an amazing radio comedy series, and it makes me so happy! It's currently on Series 3, and it's kind of like Fawlty Towers, but with pilots and an aeroplane. And it has Benedict Cumberbatch in, which is always a boon. This week's big debate was centred around how many otters can you imagine, which might give you an idea of the craziness within. Basically it's awesome. 11.30am, Fridays, BBC Radio 4. Get on it.

4. This bag

It's a make-up/skincare bag... with Marvel comics on. Thereby catering for my geekiness and beauty lover in one fell swoop. This is genius. 

5. Fizzy drinks

Terribly bad for you... so addicted to the fizz. Fail.

Love L xxx

Picture credits: 
http://affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/2006/02/a_tiff_about_ta.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lmcxj