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! :)

FOTD: Twinkling lilac with soft peach

Today I wanted to base my FOTD on MAC's Dazzleglass in Jingle Jangle. When I saw the colour yesterday, I went "OMG OMG OMG" in my head. Then I read the shade name and my heart sank. Jingle Jangle. I almost retched. Now don't get me wrong, I love winter and yuletide (I love the word). But I hate the gross commercialism around it. I love the smell of freshly baked gingerbreads and I love to decorate my christmas tree. But I hate how everything that appears around this time of year has to be so.. hokey. Finally I gave up because the colour is delicious.

Jingle Jangle is described as "sheer yellow peach" in Temptalia but to me it's warm peachy pink. I can't see no yellow whatsoever. Maybe they've mixed it up with another Dazzleglass from the collection that was actually yellowish.. Hmm.

Anyhoot, in MAC promo pics for the collection, the model is wearing Jingle Jangle on her lips matched with soft lilac eyes. I didn't want to copy that directly because I had my mind set on something peachy. I decided to jazz up the peach with lilac to pay homage to MAC (for making me buy a lip gloss with a hokey name).

I decided to use Fyrinnae's eyeshadows for this look. I chose Orangutan (a soft satiny peach), Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat (sparkling lilac) and Shinigami (deep purple with shimmer). I also used Sakura (an off-white with lilac shimmer) to highlight.

FOTD Twinkling Lilac with soft peach

Face

Purely Cosmetics Skin Smoothing foundation in custom blend
Meow Lost Rainforest glow powder in Chameleon (on cheekbones, bridge of the nose and chin)
Purely Cosmetics Diamond Finish finishing powder
Illamasqua cream blusher in Rude
Meow Lost Rainforest blush in Heliconia (over Rude)


Eyes

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (as a primer)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Orangutan (inner 2/3 of upper lids)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat (outer vee and crease)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Sakura (as a highlighter below brow)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Shinigami (wetlined on upper and lower lashline)
Lumene Blueberry Curl waterproof mascara (on upper lashes)

Lips

MAC Dazzleglass in Jingle Jangle







I had problems with blending Orangutan. It stuck on primer and I spend a good amount of time making it look softer. I think it might be the shimmer in it that makes it a bit harder to blend than for example Fyrinnae's Tamarin which is a similar shade but more matte. Usually mattes are harder to belnd but with these two it's the other way around.






I love Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat. It looks much darker in the jar which is why I hesitated a moment but on my skin it's a lot softer. It also has some sparkle in it so it's not a bland kind of soft colour. I actually didn't have to blend it that much to Orangutan, the colours worked perfectly together.

I was going to line my eyes with black pencil or Fluidline. But then for some unknown reason I grabbed Shinigami which I haven't used before. I was afraid it would be too harsh but it turns a lovely plummy purple when used wet.





And here's the end result. I love these colours together. I'm a bit sad that the camera doesn't capture the incredible shimmer in Dazzleglasses (I've had this problem everytime when I try to photograph them). But it really is very sparkly and beautiful.

When I first took photos of this look, I was wearing only Rude on my cheeks. Somehow it looked off and I went over it with a hint of Heliconia which seemed to brighten up the overall look. Maybe it was the sparkle on my lips, dunno.

Also, second day hair. I freshened it up with a spritz of Spoil Me but I left it looking a bit messy because of my makeup. I don't want to be look too made up on Sundays. Okay, sometimes I do but this is a laid back Sunday.

I think I need to find a brow pencil...

How do you like this look? Do you ever base your makeup purchases on the shade name? Do you like Dazzleglasses?

Fyrinnae Halloween: Werewolves and Pumpkins

I think I promised more Halloween looks... I got a haul from Fyrinnae a couple of days ago. I picked up some more of their Halloween 2009 stuff. I love them. Druid Werewolf looks dark, tarnished gold (with burgundy notes) on my lids. Pumpkinfire is black-based shadw with tons of shimmer ranging from gold and orange to green. Medieval Haunting is an antique gold with flashes of silver. I decided to use these three together and create a darker look (but not as freaky as my Death experiment).

Werewolves and Pumpkins

Eyes:

Too Faced Shadow Insurance (on upper lid as a primer)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Druid Werewolf (all over upper lid)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Pumpkinfire (outer vee and crease, wetlined on upper lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Medieval Haunting (wetlined on lower lashline)
Fyrinnae eyeshadow in Platinum (as a highlighter below brow)
Lumene Blueberry Curl Waterproof mascara in Rich Black

Face:

Purely Cosmetics Skin Smoothing foundation in Custom Blend
Purely Cosmetics Diamond Perfect Finish finishing powder
Meow Cosmetics Pampered Puss foundation in Inquisitive Sphynx (to contour, under cheekbones)
Meow Cosmetics Firefly blush in Illuminate (on cheeks)
Meow Cosmetics Crystalline Cat Glow in Quartz (on cheekbones, temples, bridge of the nose, chin)

Lips:

Illamasqua Sheer Lip Gloss in Soul
Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Solstice






Here you can see how velvety the Fyrinnae shadows look. I had a bit of a problem blending Pumpkinfire because it's so glittery. I even tried using Pixie Epoxy but that made things very sticky which didn't help. So when I had done the crease, I blended Pumpkinfire in with a little Druid Werewolf. Pumpkinfire looks so good wetlined because it really brings out the shimmer.

I didn't want to do a cat eye because we're talking werewolves here. And my eyes have been watering lately so my look would've been destroyed before any pictures. So I blended the shadows upwards and made the shape of my eye a bit rounder.





I didn't get a decent pic with my eyes closed. It seems that it's that time of the year when we Finns don't see much of the sun, even when it's middle of the day. But you can see the shimmer of Pumpkinfire.

Some of you may wonder why I don't line my lower waterline. I have really sensitive eyes and lining my waterline makes my eyes red and watery. I do it sometimes when I absolutely have to but it doesn't feel nice. I actually can't use Fyrinnae's Inks because I get an immediate reaction to them. It's a bummer because the colours are really nice and interesting.






With such strong eye makeup, I wanted to do almost nude lips. I first put on some Soul and then I dabbed Solstice over it. I didn't want to use too much of Solstice because I was afraid it would go too Egyptian instead of werewolf.

I'm a huge fan of Druid Werewolf, I think it's a fabulous shade. It doesn't look like much on the jar but it's gorgeous. I like the velvety finish and the almost burgundy undertones. It's almost metallic but not really. It's also easy to use for everyday looks. Yes, it's a bit dark but it's not "young lady, please wash your face" dark.

I might do more Halloween looks so if you have something in your mind, let me know? But in the meantime, how do you like this one?

Illamasqua swatches and review

Hello there!

When you are a beauty junkie, you pretty much browse the net looking for new exciting things to drool at and test. I had never heard of Illamasqua and would've lived my life in complete ignorance if I hadn't found out about their nail polishes through Scrangie's blog. I had no intention of buying nail polish but I decided to check out Illamasqua's webstore and just have a quick look. UH-OH. They were selling cosmetics, too!

Illamasqua is a relatively new makeup brand from UK. They are not selling trend products as such, they are interested in night time makeup. They describe their line with the words "Makeup for your alter ego". Simply put, it means the edgier and stronger side of you that comes out when you go clubbing etc.

Well, it didn't take me too long to make the decision to check their products out. And it only took a week when I got my goodies.

Here are some of their lip glosses in their nifty squeeze tubes:

From top to bottom: Move, Mistress, Soul, Galactica

Move, Mistress and Galatica are Intense Lip Glosses which means they are more pigmented than Soul which is from the Sheer Lip Gloss line. Move and Mistress are both matte in the sense that although they are very glossy, they don't have shimmer or glitter in them.

This is Move on my lips (sorry about the face, I'm not wearing any makeup apart from the lip gloss in these photos). It's a lovely pink-mauve colour. I used to have a similar colour but I think I accidentally threw it in the bin (and afterwards banged my head on the wall for several minutes). Really lovely, I'm very happy with this shade because it's so flattering.

And this beauty is Mistress. A warm, a bit orangey red that looks scary in the tube but gorgeous on the lips. I find it hard to wear red lippies because they usually clash with my skin colour but this is just pure love. It's becoming my mistress for sure!

Soul is a champagne shade and compared to the other glosses I hauled, it's very sheer. I like it and it gives a nice shine to my puckers. It's from Summer 2009 Sirens collection which concentrated on sexiness and golden shades. I think this is a beautiful shimmery nude and from what I've gathered, it's a big hit among the Illamasqua fans.

Galactica is pure, molten silver. Not just silvery but really rich, foiled silver goodness. I had a hard time taking this one off after taking the pics because it's full of shimmer and highly pigmented. Although it seems unwearable, I have worn this in public in daylight hours. Just apply it a bit less and it gives your lips a nice shimmer. This looks awesome on top of other lippies, too. This lip gloss is from Autumn 2009 Dystopia collection that has some really dark and edgy products.

I wanted to concentrate on the lip products because I often ignore them on my blog because I like to concentrate on my eyes when doing my makeup. Here are swatches of some other products from Illamasqua:

Upper row, from left to right: Solstice, Phenomena, Involve

Bottom row, from left to right: Fondle, Rude

Solstice and Phenomena are Liquid Metal products. They are creamy and can be used on eyes, lips, face and body. I've only tried them as eyeshadows and they are too greasy for me, they just creased in less than an hour. But I'm not giving up on these because the colour pay-off is great and the metallic effect is so cool. I swatched them on bare skin.

Involve is a Pure Pigment. Of course I had to have something purple for my eyes, are you kidding! I love it. It's very pigmented and as you can see from the photo, it has this amazing silver and blue shimmer to it. I swatched this one on top of Too Faced Shadow Insurance.

Fondle is a golden pink (or pinkish gold) Illuminator. It can be used on eyes, cheeks, lips, basically everywhere. I wanted it for a blusher and a highlighter because I'm such a sucker for golden pinks. It's very runny when you squeeze it out (same packaging as with the lipglosses) but it dries quickly.

Rude is a Cream Blush. The pan is HUGE for how little of the product you need. And I mean you need only a small dab and you get a lot of colour. It's completely matte but because of the creamy texture, it looks very dewy on your skin.

I haven't tried out Illamasqua's Powder Shadows. From what I've read, they are almost all completely matte because Illamasqua wanted to cater also for people who have a few or more wrinkles on their skin.

I'm going to buy Illamasqua again. I love their approach to makeup and they have interesting products (and crazy product names!). Right now I have a serious hankering for Underworld lipstick, Tantrum sheer lip gloss, Phallic nail polish (told you!) and some of their false eyelashes. They also have brushes and other makeup tools. AND, when you have made your second order through their website, you get 10% off from the following orders until a year has passed from your very first order. In the US, Sephora is carrying Illamasqua but I've understood that they aren't yet having the limited collections in sale. So if you want to shop something from Dystopia, you either need to travel to UK or make an order through Illamasqua.

So what do you think? Does this make you want to buy some stuff for your alter ego?