Mermaid eye look 2.0

Mermaid eye look left: 2014, right: 2015

I was asked this morning on one of the makeup forums I'm on to make a tutorial of a look I did a year ago.  The original look was inspired by one of Vintage Or Tacky's videos and uses very mermaidy colours with the blue, green and duochrome sheen.  I think I only featured the look on my blog in a sort of round-up post.  I recreated the look this morning using all the same products as last year, which I'll list below.

I hope you like the look and maybe find the pictorial I made useful.  I'd also love to know whether you preferred the first or second version!

Details below.

My Duochrome Favourites

If you've read even a handful of my posts you'll probably know that I flipping love duochrome makeup.  It's my favourite finish every and if I find a new combination of colours then djashdwenfkn... I'm all over it!

If you're unfamiliar with the term duochrome it usually refers to a product that has a base colour and a different reflect colour; from one angle looking one colour but then changing when you move it.  Sometimes there are than two colours, but it's two more often than not.  Not to be confused with holographic which means it reflects rainbow (also looks amazing!)

Below are my favourite duochrome products for eyes, lips and nails.

Topshop Glow Domes - duochrome highlighters

Topshop Glow Domes

 I just want to reiterate my title: duochrome highlighters,  Let that sink in.  Yes, it's as good as it sounds.  Admittedly,  if your thing is the natural look you might want to pass these by, but if you like something a bit different or want a festival look, then these are the thing for you!

I just adore anything duochrome (post on my favourites coming soon) so as soon as I saw these on Fashionicide's blog I knew I had to make them mine.  They do no disappoint.  Topshop say that these are inspired by their Chameleon shadows, which I LOVE (blog post here) but these are cream as opposed to powder.

I have mainly used these to highlight by layering them under a blush, usually using a mixture of both colours.  They also work great as an inner corner highlight or just dabbed in the centre of the lid.

Read on for some close-ups.

Best of the brand - Essence

Best of the brand - Essence

Essence is amazing, just saying.  For years I saw this wonderfully cheap brand on blogs and wished I could get my hands on it.  Just under 2 years ago the brand hit British soil when it launched in 4 Wilkinsons stores.  None of these were near me so I waited, impatiently at first.  I actually sort of forgot to keep checking and then a few months ago I went to my local Wilko, and lo-and-behold, there was a huge Essence display.  Hurray!  Since then I've tried out quite a few of their products so thought I'd show you my favourites.

Dupes for MAC Blue Brown Pigment

Dupes for MAC Blue Brown pigment

I love duochrome shadows, LOVE them!  One of the first ones I had was Urban Decay Lounge which it now turns out it a dupe for the more famous Blue Brown pigment from MAC.  I recently realised I had quite a few similar shades in both pressed and loose form so thought I'd compare them all.  All of them are a fairly warm medium brown with a green/teal shift to them.

Duochrome shadows are a really easy way to take an average, every day look and make it stunning.

Read on for close-ups and swatches plus my verdict on which to buy.

Shiro Seven Kingdoms collection review

Shiro overload!  So a few months ago...actually probably less than 2 months ago, I ordered 4 of the Seven Kingdoms shadows from Shiro.  Once they arrived and I had a play around I pretty much ordered the rest of the collection immediately.  I'm a big A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones fan so these shadows are cool as each colour is inspired by one of the characters.  While you can get smaller size jars of the shades, full-size was the only conceivable option for me as the full-size feature drawings by Robert Hendrickson of the show's characters.

 I'm so obsessed with these shadows at the moment that I don't really want to use anything else right now and couldn't concentrate on other posts until this one was done.  The collection features mainly neutrals that wouldn't be out of place in the ASoIaF/GoT world but that doesn't mean they are boring.  Quite a few of them are duochromes and, as I've mentioned before, duochromes get me really excited!  

Shiro's shadows are loose ones, so if you aren't used to using them there can be a bit of a learning curve, especially when it comes bringing out the sparkle in them.  As well as doing a '5 Looks with the Seven Kingdoms collection' post soon, I also plan on writing a guide on using loose shadows so hopefully that will help anyone new to the world of loose shadows.

Read on for swatches of all 15 shades in the Seven Kingdoms collection!

3 Shiro Cosmetics High Scores

Moon Prism Powder, Yzma's Essence of Llama, Tardis

 You'll probably see a lot of Shiro Cosmetics over the next few weeks.  They're my most recently purchased items but also when you find a new brand you love it's similar to finding a new band that you click with straight away; stuck on repeat. 

Rather than bombard you with all of the loose eye shadows at once I thought I'd break them down into categories.  Today I'm showing you three from the High Scores collection.  Each month there is a Color of the Month and the High Scores are the most popular of these.

OCC Loose Colours swatches and look

OCC Loose Colours in Twirl, Obscure, Oberon and Wasabi

About two months ago I bought some OCC Loose Colours, mainly inspired by reviews by people who had bought some of them at IMATS this year.  I am completely obsessed with all things duo-chrome at the moment so three of my four picks have that quality.
I bought Twirl, Obscure, Oberon and Wasabi,  Read on to see close-ups,  swatches and a look using most of them.

Mermaid Eyes

This is a look I did a few weeks ago inspired by Cora of Vintage or Tacky. I'm really into pastels, duo-chrome and shimmeriness at the moment so this mermaid-y look totally fits into all of that.
Read on for product details and a quick how-to.

Topshop Chameleon Glow Eyeshadows: Review and Looks

Despite having a few very good make up items from Topshop, I always seem to forget about their range.  Every now and again I wander in and discover something new and amazing.  Like this week.  I am such a fan of finding things that are unlike anything else I have in my collection.  The Chameleon Glows are such a product.  Part of Topshop's Festival collection, they are powders than can be used anywhere to create a "multi-dimensional, iridescent finish".  Basically they are beautiful duo-chrome eyeshadows (I think they're a bit too chunky to be used anywhere else).  Of course I couldn't choose between them and got all three.