UPDATE ON THE GIVEAWAY

Dear all,

I need to change the giveaway date to March 13. I talked to the surgeon on Friday and it might be that I need to spend a couple of days in the hospital and after that the physical therapy will be gruelling. I need to concentrate on getting better, I hope you all understand this. I hate to do this but I don't think I have another option, unfortunately.

Leave your entries on the original giveaway post. You know have until March 13.

Love,

Saila

Giveaway! ***updated***

You know how there only can be one winner?

Not true. Not this time.

I'm arranging a giveaway that's open for all my followers regardless of their country and there will be two (2) winners selected at random.

The two lucky winners will be chosen on MARCH 13 at noon (my time). You have to be a follower and you'll have to leave a comment on this post stating your e-mail address and that you're following me. And what you would do with your prize.

("And the prize is..?" I hear you ask.)

Both of the winners will receive a $21 gift certificate to Fyrinnae (so you'll get free shipping for your goodies).

I was going to do this on Valentine's Day but unfortunately I'm recovering from a surgery then so I'm probably in too much pain and medication to do anything. So bear with me if I'm not able to send your gift certificate on February 16th. I will do the drawing on that day for sure.

Good luck to you all!

Saila

FOTD: Slay the Princess, Save the Dragon

First of all, this look is dedicated to Ana from Lipsticks and Lightsabers. I've been drooling over her dramatic eye looks and was sure I should never attempt anything similar but then I eavesdropped her and Robyn (from Purely Cosmetics) talking about creating smoky looks and I decided to give it a go. So basically what I did was I went over her tutorials, making mental notes on how she blends and smudges and then I decided to follow her footsteps.

So Ana, if you're reading this, consider this a fangirl tribute to you. Maybe next time I'll be able to do it a bit better...

FOTD: Slay the Princess, Save the Dragon

Face:

Purely Cosmetics Skin Smoothing foundation (one layer plus as a concealer on blemishes)
Aromaleigh You're a Doll! finishing powder in Parfait
Fyrinnae Glow Blush in Captivate
Sassy Minerals blush in Plus One (over Captivate)
Meow Cosmetics LE Lost Rainforest glow powder in Chameleon (on cheekbones as a highlighter)

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy (over TFSS and on lower lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in We're All Mad Down Here (2/3 of inner lid)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Dragonskin (outer lid, lower lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Jade Ghost (over We're All Mad Down Here, up to the brows)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Dokkálfar (crease and outer vee, outer corner of lower lashline)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (upper lashline)
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara in Rich Black

Lips:

Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Soul
Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Flavor of the Day (dabbed over Soul)






This look required A LOT of blending. But when I first put on the shadows over Pixie Epoxy, I just patted them on (like you always should when using Fyrinnae shadows). Also, if you see a smudge on the corner of your eye when you are putting darker shadows on, don't try to rub it of with your finger without washing your hands first. I had many Dragonskin coloured streaks all over my face.

The things you don't see in these pics (unfortunately) is how Jade Ghost totally makes We're All Mad Down Here morph when the light hits it. WAMDH itself is a bright lime sort of colour with lots of sparkle but when I put Jade Ghost over it, the colour changed to almost metallic lime green that has turquoise type of glisten.








Again, here WAMDH looks moss green but it isn't. I'm just a crappy photographer.





And the new hair. I have had inverted bob for some years now and I decided to cut it one-lenght. Sorry. But I wanted a blunt fringe because I feel that it shows off my eyes a bit better.

Oh yes, the brows. Something needs to be done...

How do you like this look? And the hair?

Have a nice weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by! :)

Happy 101

Picture taken at a party by Jari Aittokallio


Painted Moogle tagged me on her Happy 101 (thank you!) and the idea seemed just so lovely that I wanted to do it, too.

10 things that make me happy:

1. My boyfriend

This year marks our 10th year anniversary. I love him to bits. He's the one person who makes me feel special even when I feel/act like the biggest jerk in the universe. People ask us why we haven't married yet. One part of the answer is that we feel that marriage is just a paper. Our relationship is what is is without marriage. The other part of the answer is that we just don't feel like we have to hurry. There's all the time in the world. And I'm going to spend that time with him.

2. Animals (especially cats)

You know the kind of annoying person who thinks I Can Has Cheezburger is awesome and who squeals every time s/he sees an animal looking cute and/doing something funny? I'm that kind of person. Almost any type of animal doing whatever makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. My greatest animal-related experiences have happened on safaris. My boyfriend thinks I should be a biologist. I'm not sure he's wrong.

3. Being silly

I'm not afraid to be silly. I'm incredibly silly. Me and my boyfriend have our private jokes and impressions that make us laugh even after 10 years.

4. Purple

Well, it's my favourite colour!

5. Mämmi

Non-Finnish people won't probably know what this is. It's this stuff: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mämmi . Yeah, it looks like crap. Really. But I love it. I only pour a little cream on it and then wolf it down. Its a Easter dessert but I buy it as soon as they start selling it on grocery stores. I've already eaten two packages of it this year. By myself.

6. Green tea

I love green tea. My favourite is organic genmaicha tea. I have lots of different green tea blends. I'm a bit of a tea snob, really. I don't buy supermarket stuff, I buy mine in a specialty shop that sells the good stuff. I have two different blends with me at the office. We have Lipton and Twinings at work for free for our coffee/tea breaks but I don't touch that stuff.

7. Sushi

I was allergic to fish when I was little and I spent a good 15 or so getting used to eating fish. I now love fishfood and a couple of years ago I tried sushi for the first time. How something can be light and filling at the same time? Om nom nom nom.

8. Messages

I love it when I get a text message or someone comments on my blog post. I recently joined Twitter and I received my first tweet came from one of the guys at Fyrinnae. I spent half an hour buzzing. This sounds really pathetic but most of the time I feel invisible. I'm not outrageous or even socially adept. So when you leave me a comment or send me a tweet, you should now that I'm over the moon for it!

9. Ice cream

I LOVE ice cream. I can eat it in the summer or in the winter, it doesn't matter. Ice cream is to me what chocolate is to most girls. Don't get me wrong, but I prefer ice cream. The texture of a good ice cream is velvety... I love frozen yoghurt and creamy ice creams. We have ice cream vendors in parks in the summer. Sometimes when I go out for a walk in the summer, I can stop at 3 different vendors on a single walk :P

10. Travelling

I love to see new places. I try to go on at least one trip per year. I spend a good amount of time digging up information about my destination of choice before the trip and on the trip I love to see what the place is about. I hate prepackaged travels, they're not for me. I love to do everything by myself. I only take guided tours if the place I wish to visit isn't open to independent visitors.

If you read all of this, you're welcome to make a list of your own! Just leave a link to comments so I can see what you came up with!

FOTD: Hot Pink Mess

Hi everyone!

I'm sticking with the plan to do more colourful looks since there have been so many nautral/everyday looks in this blog in the last few months. Pink is the colour of today. I just decided so.

For this look I mostly used Fyrinnae products. Chaotic Evil is a hot pink with silver sparkle. I need to try this with Pixie Epoxy. Darling Misfit is a magenta pink with aqua highlights and if you don't have this pink you should get at least a sample of it! I love the aqua in it. It's a gorgeous colour. Kitten in Heels is a bright fuchsia with violet and blue shimmer. I haven't used this much and now I'm wondering why. Sakura is one of my favourite highlighter colours when I'm doing purple or pink looks. It's lavender-based white.

FOTD: Hot Pink Mess

Face:

Purely Cosmetics Skin Smoothing foundation (as a foundation and as a concealer)
Aromaleigh You're a Doll! finishing powder in Parfait
Fyrinnae blush in Enrapture
Fyrinnae blush in Bewitching (over Enrapture)

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Chaotic Evil (2/3 of inner upper lid)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Darling Misfit (1/2 of outer lid, overlapping Chaotic Evil)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Kitten in Heels (crease)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Sakura (below brow as a highlighter)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Wicked (over Blacktrack)
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara in Rich Black

Lips:

Fyrinnae lip lustre in Shangri-La






Oh, this is why I love pinks. At their best, they are vibrant and exciting. And forget about the crap that redheads can't wear pink eyeshadow! I've seen Rimmel ads with Lily Cole rocking screamingly fuchsia eyeshadow. In this pic you can also see the cool effect of Wicked over black liner. It looks like the feathers of a magpie, glistening with petrol-like sheen. It makes the liner look more exciting than just plain black.
I'm a bit disappointed that I couldn't capture the aqua shimmer of Darling Misfit on camera. It's still too little sunlight, I'm afraid.





Yes, the hair. I was supposed to go to fix it on friday but unfortunately my hairdresser had woken up and realized that her roof was leaking. But I'm getting this mess sorted out tomorrow.

I love the two blushed together. Actually, what happened was that Enrapture looked too warm by itself and I picked much cooler Bewitched to tone it down.

I love Shangri-La. It's such a refreshing pink-purple.

What do you think? Like pinks?

FOTD: Waiting for the butterflies

Hi there!

It's a very sunny day in Helsinki although the thermometer says that it's -14 centigrade outside (and about 40 centimetres of snow!). I got a haul from Aromaleigh. Their Les Papillons collection was on sale and I decided to buy 4 full sized products without sampling (yes, again). I chose Glowing Luna, Zephyr's Breeze, Butterfly Kisses and Fragile Charms based on several swatches around the blogosphere. The result? Only Zephyr's Breeze didn't raise any squeals from me. It's a pretty colour and I will no doubt use it but.. well, the others were just so much more amazing!

So no butterflies flying around for now but I wanted to do a more colourful look so that the spring might arrive a bit earlier. Glowing Luna is pale spring green with copper and pink sparkles (this is a very lovely colour, be sure to get this one if it becomes permanent!), Butterfly Kisses is "the sweetest cool silvery frosted pink with lavender tones, golden highlights and brilliant sparks of aqua" (this looks so shiny on lids, a true mirror-like effect) and Fragile Charms is "a muted mauved purple with fuschia and burgundy undertones, slight blue highlight, silvery metallic smoothness and brilliant diamond glints" (I don't think I have a purple like this which is really something).

FOTD: Waiting for the butterflies

Face:

Meow Equilibrium primer
Purely Cosmetics Skin Smoothing foundation (1 layer and on blemishes)
Meow Lost Rainforest LE glow powder in Queen Alexandria (as a highlighter below brows and on cheeks)
Sassy Minerals blush in Hopeless Romantic

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Aromaleigh Les Papillons eyeshadow in Glowing Luna (inner 1/3 of the upper and lower lids)
Aromaleigh Les Papillons eyeshadow in Butterfly Kisses (2/3 of the lids)
Aromaleigh Les Papillons eyeshadow in Fragile Charms (outer vee and crease)
MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (upper lashline)
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara in Rich Black

Lips:

Lumene Natural Code Smile Booster lipgloss in Sheer Nougat





I love the shimmer in Glowing Luna! I think it brightens up my eyes a lot. I like the shimmer in these colours. It's there but it's not gritty or overpowering. These are true spring colours and I love that they are. I'm aching for soft colours that are still interesting.





I wish the photo would show how shiny Butterfly Kisses is but not a chance. It's the kind of colour that looks almost liquid on your lids. It applies smoothly so the effect looks glidinf. I can't explain it but that's what it is. Fragile Charms looks a bit washed out in this pic but I can guarantee you that it's quite strong a colour. It's on the edgy side but very buildable. I used it quite moderately because Glowing Luna and Butterfly Kisses are such sweet colours that I didn't want them to disappear in the background.






Sorry, this was the best full face pic there was. I really like Sheer Nougat. Despite the name it's not brownish at all. It gives a very sheer wash of colour on lips. It's also a bit shimmery but more lipglass than dazzleglass shimmery. Great for office looks.

Of course I had to use Queen Alexandria as a highlighter because of the butterfly theme. It looks very yellow on the jar but it gives just a subtle shimmer on the skin.

Oh I wish I could take better photos because these colours are so much more vibrant in irl than in photos. Hope you still like the look :)

FOTD: It's those damn Paladins again

Happy 2010 all!

I wasn't able to take photos of my NYE look because our guest arrived literally 5 minutes after I had finished doing my makeup. Plus I had food in the oven.

So is there a better way to start the blog year of 2010 than doing a look with Fyrinnae? Well, I got a haul from them on NYE and there were a couple of beauties that made my heart squeal so I decided then and there that I'd start my blogging year with them.

Damn Paladins is a taupe with light blue highlights. Honestly, I considered leaving this one out. I think I chucked it out of the cart at least five times before giving up and ordering it anyway. SO glad I did. The blue highlight is subtle but very interesting. It's like seeing small blue flowers in a dry field or something. Griffonrider is a metallic gold with turquoise shimmer. I ordered a full size of this one without sampling (because that's how I roll) and I'm not a bit sorry. Now you must be wondering why a person with a slight aversion to blue makeup would order a full size jar of gold with turquoise shimmer but would debate over ordering a sample of taupe with light blue highlights? I don't know. Anyhow, I wanted to keep on playing with the light blue highlight and I decided to use Baby Beluga which is like a soft, satiny silver with light blue shimmer. It's a very milky shade and one of my favourites.

FOTD: It's those damn Paladins again

Face:

Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss foundation in Inquisitive Himalayan (foundation and wet as a concealer over blemishes)
Aromaleigh You're a Doll! finishing powder in Parfait (over foundation)
Fyrinnae Glow Blush in Captivate (on sheeks)

Eyes:

Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Damn Paladins (2/3 of upper lid)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Griffonrider (outer vee and crease, lower lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Baby Beluga (inner corners, over eyeliner)
MAC Fluidline in Blactrack (upper lashline)
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara in Rich Black

Lips:

Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Flavor of the Day





Uh-oh. I didn't get a decent picture with my eye open. So let's try another one with my eye closed.





This picture shows a bit of the blue highlight in Damn Paladins. You see how Baby Beluga just melts into it? I really like the blue in all of these shadows. It's not too much but it looks amazing when the light catches it. And yes, the blue doesn't show up all the time. That's the beauty of it. I love these kinds of shades and there could be more. With different highlights.





A bit sleepy here? I had to close my eyes a bit to show of the shades. I love the overall look. I was a bit intimidated by the blush. It's very strong and I only took a tiny grain of it. The result is an apple-like colour. Fyrinnae describes the colour as "Ruddy deep peach-tone with a golden shimmer throughout. The shimmer is very noticable, but not gaudy or "disco-ball" in appearance.". Yes, there is shimmer. But it's very sophisticated. This doesn't look peachy on me in any way but I think it's because my lack of pigmentation. I get apples on my apples.

BTW, it's about -20 centigrade outside. It's effing freezing! I took these photos on our balcony because natural light is the only way to go and I almost got hypothermic. Yeah, wearing a sleeveless top and pajama pants is a great combination for subzero temperatures.

I know I haven't done really colourful looks in a while so I promise that the next look will be a bit more wild.

But how do you like this one? What do you think about the blush?