Monday, November 29, 2010

Just a quick post to say I probably won't be blogging much between now and the end of December. I've gotten a Christmas job and they're giving me loads of hours so I don't have much free time at the moment. 

Also I've lost my camera charger so I can't even post any quick FOTD's! I'll be buying a new camera soon though and lots of makeup so once I have some time spare expect to see lots of shiny new things :D

I'll leave you with a bit of music from Robyn. 

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

MUA, Urban Decay, Barry M and Penney's GILT swatches

Today I swatched the makeup I got in Dublin along with some things I got from Barry M recently. It was starting to get dark as I was doing these, so they're not as good as I'd like, but most of them are quite true to life. 

Oh, also I got my hair cut last week. In these pictures it isn't styled or anything so it looks a bit crap, but maybe tomorrow I'll stick up some pictures of it when it's looking nice. I'm pretty happy with it, I think it suits me better than my long hair and it's much easier to deal with. I can even comb it now! I haven't been able to comb my hair (without losing half the teeth on the comb) in a long time. The left side needs a bit more shaping, and it's a little too long so once I figure out what I want done over there I'll go and get that fixed up. Best of all, my haircut only cost a tenner (!). I went to the Connacht School of Hairdressing in Galway.

First up are the Barry M swatches. I bought Lip Paint in Marshmallow (lp101) and Glitter Eye Crayon in Black (gc6) along with the Crackle Polish I've already blogged about. I got these on 3 for 2 in Boots. They were €6/€7 each. 


I've worn them both and I'm not too impressed to be honest. The eye crayon looks nice but it doesn't wear well, it goes very smudgy and the glitter really spreads around your face. However I've been wearing it as an eyeshadow base under glittery eyeshadows and it works really well like that.



The lipstick isn't really the right colour for me, but it could suit some people. It's very white and pink toned. The texture is ok, but it's a little drying. I'd recommend wearing it over a lipbalm or moisturising primer. It wears fairly well but you will need to reapply after eating or drinking as it fades out in the middle quite easily. 

I'd say I'll get a bit of wear out of this, sheered out a little it doesn't look so harsh. Also I think it would be nice under a coloured lipgloss. 



Next are the Urban Decay products I got in the discount cosmetics shop on O'Connell st and my new eyeliner from Debenhams. 


I wrote the other day about how I couldn't find an Urban Decay counter in Dublin and therefore couldn't buy a new Bourbon liner. (Btw, I'm impressed people actually managed to get through that whole ramble) My mum was in Dublin at the weekend and she was kind enough to pick one up for me. Bourbon is probably my favourite liner ever. Most days when I can't be bothered spending lots of time on my makeup but still want to look presentable I just smudge a little of this around my eyes, throw on a bit of foundation, blusher and mascara and I'm good to go. 
It's the perfect colour for my warm toned skin and sets off my eyes nicely. This liner is available from Debenhams and some Boots and it costs around €15. It's also available in mini form in some of the liner sets.


I had never used an Urban Decay mascara or lipstick before so I was excited to try these. The lipstick is a pinkish red sheen called Gravity. I haven't worn this out yet so I can't speak for the staying power but it applies nicely. In the pictures below it's applied straight from the tube, with no care taken so it does look nicer when applied with a lip brush and blotted. I would recommend a lip liner with this one, I noticed some feathering when I put it on for the swatch. 
The lipstick has a caramel scent which I really like but I'm sure some people will find it overpowering. I like the packaging, it's heavy and feels sturdy. This is on the UD website so I assume it's widely available.




 The mascara is Big Fatty Coloured Mascara in Black Cherry

-The tv's on in the background while I'm writing this, and the Coca Cola Christmas ad just came on! It's the first time I've seen it this year so EXCITEMENT! I'm taking that as a sign that I can now get into the Christmas spirit. Now back to what I was saying...-

Weirdly the mascara and the lipstick are nearly the exact same colour. I've always like the idea of coloured mascaras, but they've never lived up to my expectations. Either they're too pigmented and make me look like I have an eye infection (Barry M Shocking Pink coloured mascara, I'm talking to you) or they're barely pigmented enough to show on my dark lashes. This one hits are fairly good balance. I like it, it shows up as just a hint of a dark cherry colour on the lashes. Only problem with it is it's not a good mascara. Unless you have wonderlashes you will need to wear another mascara under this as it gives no curl or length and only a tiny bit of volume. 

I paid €10 for the two of these, or they're €6 each from the shop I mentioned. 


The M.U.A. products I bought in Superdrug. These are seriously cheap, I think I paid €1.05 per item. I haven't actually used most of these yet so this will be quick. I've also thrown in the GILT eyeshadow I got in Penney's.


I bought three eyeshadows; Shade 18 which is a Matt pink-white, Shade 10 which is a purple Pearl and Shade 12 which is a green-brown Pearl. 



Shade 18 I bought in the hopes it could replace MAC Orb as my eyeshadow for blending out. I use Orb as it's a similar colour to my skin but I've hit the pan on it and would like to find a cheaper alternative. This seems like it will do the job, you can't actually see it in the swatch pictures because it's so similar to the colour of my skin. It's more pink than Orb and I don't know yet how it applied seeing as I haven't worn it yet. The texture seems nice and smooth though. 



Shade 12 is a dark shimmery bluish purple. It's nice, and doesn't seem similar to any other colours I have.


Shade 12 is green with a brown base. This would be a good dupe for MAC Club I think.

Top half of the swatch is over UDPP, bottom half is over Pixie Epoxy.
L-R: Shade 18, 10, 12. You can't see shade 18 due to it being so close to my skincolour



The Penneys GILT Liquid Gold Metallic Cream is the first of the Penneys cosmetics I've tried. I wore it a few days ago and I didn't like it very much. It doesn't show up well on the skin and it doesn't last very long. As an eyeshadow base it works ok but it's not going to become my preferred gold eyeshadow base. It smells plasticy and cheap. It's a pity because I like the packaging and was hoping I'd like the product too. 




I bought the MUA blusher in Shade 3. I haven't worn this yet but it's a good coral colour and the colour payoff seems good. It has a little bit of shimmer so this might have to be a nighttime blusher, I don't like being too much of a glitterbomb in the daylight!


Lastly I got the MUA Liquid Liner in Shade 4, a metallic grey. I love the brush on this, as you can see in the picture it's very thin at the end so it can make a very precise line. I've worn this once and it seems good, it applies smoothly and the colour is nice against my green eyes. It flakes a little if you rub at it.


Ignore the brown line under the liquid liner, it's just the UD liner that I couldn't wipe off


Wait, I lied, that wasn't the last thing. I bought one more product from MUA, the clear mascara. I didn't own clear mascara prior to this so I thought I'd try it since it was so cheap. I've been using it to keep my brows in shape and it's working a treat. Wouldn't advise using it as actual mascara though, it doesn't appear to do anything when I apply it to my lashes.



I think that's everything, I hope this was helpful to someone. Let me know if any of you have tried to products featured here, what did you think of them? Is there any other MUA products I should try? 

Friday, November 12, 2010

Shopping Trip

I think Google Reader enjoys messing with my head. 

Logged on today and there wer 989(!) unread items in there. I clicked on one, read it, and now there's only 787 unread items. The hell, google?

I've been trying to watch The Runaways for 4 days now. That movie hates me too. Got 45 minutes in 4 days ago and the sound went. Streamed it the next night and when I brought my laptop to bed to watch it, it turned out to be in black and white. Last night I got to the final 20 minutes and my battery died. Grr. Actually does anyone know if it's out on DVD yet in Ireland? I always like to buy DVDs when I like the movie, rather than watching them online.

In other news I went to Dublin for a shopping trip yesterday. It was fun, I got some nice new clothes and had a yummy dinner. 

So I got to Dublin on the early (7:05, it was horrible) train. I had read online that Superdrug in Tallaght had Sleek so I got the Luas out there to try and get my hands on the new palettes.
Because I was still half asleep, I wandered around for 10 minutes looking for the shopping centre. Of course it turned out to be literally right across the road from the Luas stop. Typical. 

So I finally found the Superdrug and went in all excited. Had a look around and saw no Sleek stand. Assuming my lack of sleep was making me stupid I found a sales assistant. "Hi, I'm wondering where you keep the Sleek cosmetics" "That what?" "The Sleek, you know... the cosmetics brand" She turns to another SA, "Hey, do you know anything about this... Sleek?"
It turns out she did, and what she knew was that they don't stock it in that Superdrug. Feeling so not impressed, I had a bit of a look around and managed to come across some M.U.A. things I liked, which were super cheap (€1.05 each I think). I'll swatch them and do a review once I've worn them, but I picked up a silver liquid liner, a blush, a clear mascara, the MAC Club dupe, a pale nude colour, which I'm thinking could be a dupe for my beloved MAC Orb and a purple. 
At least it wasn't a complete waste of a trip. 

I got the Luas back into town and rather annoyingly I finished my book halfway through the journey. I was reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and it was supposed to last me for the journey home too. I quite enjoyed it though. 
So I got off at Jervis st and went into the Jervis Centre. Annoyingly, Forever 21 is opening there on Saturday, so I missed it. I was starving by the time I got there so I popped into Boots for a sandwich. Why doesn't Boots in Galway do food?? Seriously, it was the best value lunch ever. For €3.99 I got a mexican bean wrap, a chocolate brownie (it was nom) and an Innocent strawberry and banana smoothie. Since the smoothies alone are usually the best part of €3 I thought that was super cheap for all three. 
I had a look in the new New Look and was seriously underwhelmed. Sure, it's big. Yay. It doesn't really have much more in it that New Look here though, everything is just far more spaced out. I had to leave because the OMGBRIGHT lights and super shiny things everywhere were hurting my head. I went upstairs and bought a mustard yellow vest top in Stradivarius and a t-shirt in Bershka. Then I grabbed a coffee from Costa (mega expensive, but so frothy it was worth it) and off I hopped. 

Check shirt- H&M, t-shirt-Bershka, mustard vest- Stradivarius

I went on a bit of a wander while I was drinking my coffee and I came across a Penney's. I didn't get much of a chance to look around, but I did notice some nice brogue-ish shoes. They looked cute in the small sizes on display, I'm sure on my size 8 feet they'd just look like I'd stolen a man's shoes. I picked up a few things from the Catrice stand in there, including a yellow glitter nailpolish, and I got a Penney's GILT gold gel liner which looks very promising. I've never tried Penney's cosmetics before, I often see nice looking bits reviewed on blogs, but the store in Galway doesn't seem to get the good things in.

The Ilac centre is one of those kind of forgotten shopping centres, isn't it. It's the one that misses out on all the cool shops. That being said, they do have the best H&M. I picked up a check shirt in H&M. I know for a lot of people these have become a staple, but I've never worn one before so I bought this one. I wasn't too impressed by what H&M had to offer to be honest, I usually like their jewellery and accessories but I didn't see anything that caught my eye. 
My sister had told me about a shop on O'Connell st, beside Kylemore, that was selling cheap Urban Decay. I picked up a lipstick and the cherry big fatty mascara in there. A lot of the stuff they had in the shop I already own, but I tried to buy a surreal skin foundation, only to be told at the till it was twice the price I thought it was (apparently it was on the €8 shelf and should have been on the €16 one). I left it because there was no tester and while I don't mind spending €8 on a foundation that isn't a great match, €16 is too much to waste.


After getting my Urban Decay I headed over towards Temple Bar and had a bit of a look in Urban Outfitters. I was disappointed with UO, I usually want to take the whole shop home with me, but this time the only thing that grabbed me was a brown satchel, which I didn't end up buying. I really like it though, so maybe if they still have it next time I'm there. 
Pic from UrbanOutfitters.co.uk

American Apparel was up next and I had printed an email for 20% off in there so I bought some green high-waisted jeans and a blue hoodie. It's so hard to find high-waisted jeans so whenever I do, I have to buy them. The jeans I got can be found here, although they don't have the colour I got on the website. I bought this hoody in Mermaid Green. It's the most comfortable hoody ever.


I have a question- Where exactly sells Urban Decay in Dublin? I was told that all the big boots stores sold it, and I checked every single one I saw but found no Urban Decay. It's really annoying because I need a new Bourbon eyeliner, all of mine are so small they can't be sharpened. Actually, has anyone else noticed that the silver bit on the end of 24/7 liners twists? So when the pencil begins to get small it becomes a total pain to sharpen and you have to abandon the last inch or two. Sneaky...

I took a bit of a wander around Grafton St without being amazed by anything and by then I was starving so I decided to head on over to Yamamori for a late lunch/early dinner. I had the lunch bento box (€9.95) and a Mojito (€5.50). It was lovely, and so filling I couldn't finish it all. In the bento I got 2 pieces of tempura fish, a brown rice ball, miso soup, salmon nigiri, prawn nigiri and a lamb and potato curry. The tempura fish was amazing, I think it had some pickled ginger in it and the batter was perfect. I didn't think I'd like the curry much when it arrived, it didn't look like the kind of thing I'd enjoy. Luckily I was proven wrong, it was great. I was a bit let down by the sushi, but maybe it's just what I got as I often hear people rave about their sushi. My prawn nigiri was ok, fairly tasteless but not awful and the salmon was clammy and seemed like it could have been fresher. 


Oh, I forgot about my charity shop finds. In Enable Ireland I found these two great dresses. The gold and black one is from Warehouse originally and was €9 and the polka dot one was €15. I've always wanted a poofy polka dot dress, and now I have one! 


After my dinner I went for a bit of a wander around. I was looking to find a second hand bookshop to get something to read on the bus but I couldn't see one anywhere and none of the charity shops I checked had anything decent. In the end I bought the new issue of Elle and, realising I'd just missed a bus, I popped into a cocktail bar to wait for the next one. I think it was called Morgans, it was around Temple Bar anyway. I had an amazing Raspberry Mojito, made with Bacardi Oro, mint, lime, fresh raspberries and raspberry liqueur. 

It was niiice.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Crackle.

Last week I bought the Barry M crackle polish. I love it. Expect to see a whole load of crackly NOTD's over the next few weeks. 

This is my first go with it. I'm wearing the crackle polish over Models Own Neon Pink. 
It's a little chipped, but I kind of think that looks ok with the crackle polish, I feel like the whole point of it is to look messy. 

I think I'll try it over silver tomorrow. 

With the nailpolish I also picked up an eyeliner and a lipstick from Barry M, which I'll probably review once I've seen what the wear is like on them. I also did a little shopping today, I picked up a satchel-type bag from Penney's for €13. 


and some new flats which were on sale for €3. I'm super picky about flats, the only ones I've ever liked (Rocket Dog Positive Tattoo and the ones with the bird on the branch) are no longer available and all my pairs have holes. The new ones are covered in baked goods and look bloody ridiculous. (If anyone out there happens to have a spare pair of Positive Tattoo's in a UK 8, I will buy them from you). So whenever I see a pair of cheap flats that aren't too hateful I tend to buy them, just for the odd time I want to wear a pretty dress. 


I thought these were ok, and they fold a little so I can throw them in my bag if I'm wearing heels. 

I also picked up some books from Charlie Byrne's. I got The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick). 
I seriously don't know how I managed to go so long with out reading Hitch Hiker's Guide, I seriously read it in 2 hours and I just couldn't put it down. I think I must have seen the movie at some point without realising it because it all seemed very familiar. 
I'll get onto Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep tomorrow, hopefully I'll like it, the blurb on the back sounds promising. In the meantime I have The Runaways to watch and half of the Sin City graphic novel to read, which I borrowed from the library today. 


Is anyone else smitten with the crackle? Read any good books lately? Harbour a love of the old Rocket Dogs? Let me know.



Monday, November 8, 2010

Classic cream and a total glitterbomb

I love MAC Liquidlast liners, they seriously don't budge. I like to use Classic Cream to do a really simple eye look when I'm in a hurry and need my makeup to last all day. 



Face: 
Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation
17 Translucent Loose Powder
MAC Hipness Blush
Prestige Natural Baked Mineral Blush 
Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer
 MAC Fix +


Eyes: 
UDPP
MAC Classic Cream Liquidlast liner
Essence Multi Action Mascara
MAC Spiced Chocolate (brows) 


This was a super glittery look I wore out a few nights ago. With Pixie Epoxy as a base I can wear all those great Urban Decay glitterbomb eyeshadows like Uzi, Midnight Cowboy and MCRA. I also used my new Barry M glitter liner, which I will review soon. It was dark when I took these pictures so they're not great.


Face: 
Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation
17 Translucent Loose Powder
MAC Hipness Blush
MAC MSFN Medium
Prestige Natural Baked Mineral Blush 
Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer
 MAC Fix +


Eyes:
UDPP
Barry M Black Glitter Eye Crayon (lid)
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy  
UD Uzi e/s (inner 1/2 of lid)
MAC Silver Ring e/s (lid)
UD Oil Slick e/s (crease and outer V)
UD Spandex Heavy Metal Glitter Liner (upper lashline)
MAC Orb and Shore Leave (browbone highlight)
GOSH Purple Stain Velvet Touch Liner (lower lashline)
UD Flash e/s (over liner)
UD Yeyo 24/7 liner (inner eye)
MAC Nanogold e/s (over Yeyo)
Essence Multi Action Mascara
MAC Spiced Chocolate e/s (brows)


Lips: 
Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker

I have an outfit post and a review lined up so hopefully I'll get time to post them tonight.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Essence Multi Action Mascara Quick Review


I'm not sure if I have weird lashes or bad luck with mascara but I've never found one that's wowed me. I've tried all the ones people rave about; Diorshow, Bad Gal, Masterpiece Max, The Colossal... the list goes on. The best one I've used yet is Bourjois Volume Glamour but it's very messy to apply. The worst I've used is probably Bourjois 1001 lashes. 

This Essence mascara promised a false lash effect, which it does not deliver. Ok for €3 I wasn't expecting too much, but I've seen so many people rave about it on blogs.


It's an ok mascara. It has a regular, tapered brush and it makes me lashes look slighly longer and thicker. Like most cheap mascaras it smells awful. It's a very dry mascara which is good in that it won't make a mess, but bad in that it doesn't hold a curl. 

One very strange thing I found about this mascara is that it disappears. Have you ever fallen asleep in your mascara? Or forgotten you were wearing it and rubbed your eye? You know how it smudges all over the place and looks like crap? That doesn't happen with this. One night I fell asleep with it on and when I woke up the next morning I had none of those tell tale smudges. Thinking it maybe just had very good staying power I broke out the eye makeup remover and cleaned my lashes, but there was no mascara on them. It was very weird. 

Here's a before and after picture (excuse the smudges under my eyes, I didn't take my eyeliner off properly. 


You can see that it makes my lashes look a little longer and thicker, but it's not working any miracles. I would rebuy this for a festival or something where I wanted a cheap and cheerful mascara that I wouldn't care about losing but otherwise I won't be repurchasing. 

This costs €2.99 from Essence. 

Any suggestions of mascaras for me to try next?

Kryolan Aquacolour Review and Swatches



You might have noticed in my Halloween post I used Kryolan Aquacolours. I bought this palette last week after eyeing it up for a while. I figured I couldn't let Halloween go past without buying it and I needed most of the colours in it anyway so I decided to go for it instead of buying individual facepaints. 

I'm really impressed by it. The colours are mega pigmented, smooth and creamy and just glide on. It was a little tricky at the start getting the water to facepaint ratio right but once I got the hang of it it was easy. 


The paints all come in individual pots with covers. The covers are nice because they stop accidental colour mixing. Also the pots detach from the palette so I assume you could swap them around with other palettes if you like.
The colour selection is great. By mixing colours you could make nearly any colour you want from this. Here's some swatches. 
















The black isn't really glittery, I must have gotten some gold mixed in.

I think the gold is my favourite, it's so metallic and shiny. 

Pros:
Good colour selection
Versatile. They can be used as facepaints, eyeshadow bases, blush, lipstick... anywhere really. 
Great colour payoff
They come in a sturdy metal box. None of that cardboard rubbish that disintigrates. 
Can be applied sheer or very opaque depending on how much water you use.
There's plenty of choice, you can get 6, 12 or 24 colour palettes or buy the colours individually. 
Very good value, this palette was only €25 for 12 colours, which is just over €2 per colour. 
They smell amazing! A little like baby powder. 
They don't budge. I wore these to work on Saturday night for an 8 hour shift in a hot sweaty pub and I had no creasing, no smudging or fading. 


Cons:
The pink and blue stained my eyes slightly. That being said my eyemakeup remover is fairly rubbish, so I'm sure a decent one would remove them entirely. 
If you dislike dramatic makeup these are probably not for you. 
Kryolan products can be difficult to find. I stumbled upon these at a local chemist, they were in a Special Effects makeup section. 


 Overall I really reccomend Aquacolours. I can see mine getting loads of use, especially as eyeshadow bases. Looking at the different palettes I think this one might be the best to begin with, as it has all the basic colours. I'd go with the palettes over the individual colours as you get a nice selection and they're all kept together so if you tend to lose things like I do you'll be less likely to misplace them. 

I bought my palette from O'Beirns Pharmacy in Galway for €24.99. If you'd like to buy them online check out Shrinkle's Ebay shop