Bonfire Night Eye Look - plus Fall/Autumn tag

Forget Halloween, I'm all about Bonfire Night.  It's always been my favourite night of the whole year.  It's always truly cold by then and is often the first outing of the scarf and gloves...and long socks and extra t-shirts and sometimes even a hat.  Growing up we had some really great public firework shows.  Childhood fireworks often seem so much bigger and better but the display I've been to for the last few years has actually rivalled those memories!

For those who don't know, Bonfire Night (or Guy Fawkes night) is the 5th November.  It's remembering the foiled attempt of Guy Fawkes and co. to blow up the houses of parliament in 1605.
It's always struck me as a pretty weird thing to celebrate (especially 400 years later) but I love it regardless.  It's a great excuse to have lots of fireworks and the occasional bonfire (it's been yearrrrs since I had a bonfire).  In my teens I used to host a house party every Bonfire Night after the local show.  Many fond memories.

I love to wear really sparkly, glittery makeup because I think it looks particularly good at night, especially with the fireworks glinting off it.  My local firework display is early this year, on Halloween actually, so I've started thinking about what I'll wear earlier than usual (yes, I ocassionally plan makeup looks well in advance).

Read on to see what I used and to read my tag answers.

Glitter YouTube Tutorial with Makeup Geek Shadows

This post is accompanying the video down below.  It's a glittery look, mixing a blue and a yellow glitter.  All the shadows are Makeup Geek ones.  I'd love to know your thoughts on it!

Read on for some close-ups and a run down of the products I used.

Giveaway!

I'm very excited to announce I now have a giveaway running.  I thought it was about about time I share some of my favourites with you as a thank you for your support.  Everything I'm giving away are products I have used and loved, many of which have been mentioned on my blog already.

The giveaway is open internationally.

Read on to enter the giveaway.

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.

A palette a day - week 3

A Palette A Day

The weeks go by so fast!  Week 3 of my Palette A Day challenge was definitely more of a neutral one, but largely is down to the palettes that got picked out.  It's all completely at random, they're written on pieces of paper and I pick one with my eyes closes.

If you want, you can look at Week 1 and Week 2's looks.

Read on to see what makeup mishaps I got up to last week.

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.

Look of the day - Purple Galore

Purple galore makeup

Sooooo I just watched a video where the lady recommended not wearing everything purple on your face.  Well, I did it and I'm probably going to do it again.  Purple is one of my favourite makeup colours so earlier this week I wanted to do a monochrome look with it.  I really liked the outcome and am considering doing a monochrome series with a whole host of colours but I'm not sure...would anyone actually want to see a whole look centred around yellow or green etc?

As I was using mainly cool-toned purples I thought I'd warm my face up with some fake freckles, not sure if you can tell above?  There'll be a close-up below.  I do naturally have some faint freckles but they never come out very dark anymore as I don't get much sun exposure ever.  I'm not sure how natural these ones look but I like them, despite my husband telling me it looks like a tub of cocoa powder exploded on me.

Read on for a product run-down and more photos.

Lit Glitter

Lit Glitters

 It's no secret, I'm a makeup magpie; I love anything shimmery and glittery.  I have quite a good collection of glitters and some of my favourite are from Lit Cosmetics.  They are a Canadian company with a massive choice of glitters...wait for it...over 200 glitters!  Not only do they have a huge selection of different colours but you can also get them in different sizes.  There are four sizes to choose from.  Size #1 is the smallest size of glitter, it would give a really dense concentration of the glitter colour but would only sparkle a little bit.  #4 is the large cut and would give the most glittery effect from a distance but you might feel the pieces on you more.  It really depends what effect you are going for.  I tend to favour a chunkier glitter as I want all of the sparkle!  Lit's glitters also come in different 'textures'; Solids are just one colour, Shimmers are transparent with a rainbow holographic reflect and Holographics are solid colour that reflects all primary colours.

Read on to see the Lit glitters that I have.

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.

Shopping my stash

I'm going to London IMATS again this summer for the third time.  It's April so the saving has begun. I'm on a no-spend this month which is always fun :-[ not!  To make the month more interesting for myself makeup-wise I am once again 'shopping my stash'.  It basically means that I went through all my drawers looking for makeup that I haven't used for ages.  I'll endeavour to use these items as much as possible in the coming month.

Read on to see what I've picked out.

Sparkly lip glosses

Top to bottom: MUFE D18, Illamasqua Opulent, Revlon Crystal Water, MAC Rags to Riches and Funtabulous, OCC Dune

In general I hate glittery, sparkly, girlie things; I always think they're tacky.  But when it comes to make up I'm a total magpie.  Give me more!  I love glitter; glittery lips, glittery eye shadows, highlighter and plain ole' glitter.  Just see my face today here for more proof.

I thought I'd show you my favourite sparkly lip glosses as they are definitely one of the easiest, and least messy, ways to incorporate glitter into your look.

My favourite green makeup

My previous post on the greens in the new MAC Toledo collection got me thinking about other greens I have and love.  Most of them are quite bright as you can see.  Green is a more difficult colour for me to use and I don't feel it suits me that much.  I tend to use a smidgen of green in a look rather than green all over as I find that a bit easier.

Outside of make up it isn't a colour I like at all, no green clothes, accessories, stationary and furniture.  Oh no.  But then again, there isn't really a colour of makeup I dislike.

Let me show you my favourites.

5 Looks with the Limecrime Venus Palette

Lime Crime Venus palette

I feel a bit naughty for posting about Lime Crime's Venus palette now as it is currently sold out everywhere.  However it is already difficult to limit this post to 5 looks, and that is just going to get more difficult the more I wear it. 

Lime Crime describe it as the grunge palette, inspired by the early 90s and Botticelli.  A very warm palette with a great amount of matte shades and a few beautiful shimmers.

Read on for swatches and my looks.

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.

Everyday ELF

Just a short one today on my must-haves from ELF.  I have combination/oily skin so these Shine Eraser blotting sheets are invaluable to me.  After about 5 hours with most foundations I use one or two of these and then touch up with MAC's Studio Fix powder. £1.95 for 50 sheets.  I love glitter but I do not like washing glitter out of my brushes. Welcome Glitter Eyeshadow Applicator! Loose glitter sticks to the silicone tip like a dream and then I just press it on (usually over Fyrinae's Pixie Epoxy). It has made glittery looks so much easier for me, with less to clean up on my face and on my desk! They cost £3.95.
Two top brushes I use all the time, both £3.95  Their Blush Brush is soft and not too big.  I like it paired with a bright blush as I can control exactly where it goes. The Small Smudge Brush is great for precision pops of colour on the eyes but I also like it for applying lipstick. Last but not least is their Makeup Lock & Seal.  This can be used for turning powder eyeshadows into eyeliner but what I really like this for is for mixing with metallic shadows to boost their shininess, especially dabbed just in the middle of the lid to catch the light with every blink.  It works wonders on slightly powdery, glittery shadows like Urban Decay's Dust and Trick in the Naked 3 palette.

ELF is a great brand to turn to for basics such as these.  Their brushes can be a bit hit or miss but, when most of them cost less than £4, the hits really are worth it! I highly suggest checking them out, especially if you live in Cardiff. In the Royal Arcade is Europe's first ELF store.  So many things to swatch there and great customer service.

Rachel

Good Friday Urban Decay Masterclass

Yesterday I went to Urban Decay's latest masterclass to show off the Electric palette, which I was already head over heels in love with. It was my first time at an event like this so I wasn't really sure what to expect but was very pleasantly surprised. Organised by the ladies at the counter in Cardiff Debenhams, it was in a room within the local Tiger Tiger club which led to a really relaxed atmosphere.  When I got there I was given a really great mocktail and in each place there was a really good sized sample of their original Primer Potion, a fragrance sample and photocopies of facecharts showing the 3 looks that would be demonstrated. There were a few minutes to chat with the other girls before it started.

Back in the Day with Urban Decay

For my first proper post I wanted to do something a bit special and close to my heart.
Urban Decay were the cause of my love affair with makeup.  Until I met their products I only ever wore black eyeliner and black eyeshadow that I applied with a foam applicator.  10 years ago all of that changed when I saw their colourful display in Boots.  Ahhhh I fondly remember there frequently being a 3 for 2 offer on their counter.  Those really were the days.
Seeing as their new Electric palette (officially due out tomorrow although I may already have it) is harking back to their vibrant roots I thought it would be fun to look at some of the first items I bought from the brand.