Bella of the ball

If there is one thing which is difficult to buy online because of unrealistic and digitally enhanced pictures is coloured contact lenses. Prime example of this are the Edit Twilight Bella Contact Lenses. I expected golden reddened light hazel nut eyes and all I got was slightly more defined brown eyes.

   



I love how the outer darker rim gives my boring dark brown eyes a little bit more edge. I love how it gives bigger eyes, a little bit like a doll but in the grand scheme of things, I wish I didn't bother with these lenses. They are a bit pointless in the sense that the change is not dramatic enough.






If you are going to go to the expenses of buying contact lenses and through the MASSIVE faff of putting them in, you want them to be really noticeable. I wore them yesterday on my trip to Nando's and none of the 4 people I was with noticed any difference. This is how subtle they are.

But since I had them in yesterday, I decided to keep them for a few (ahem) drinks round town. I seem to be in a red phase at the moment. I gave my red clip in extensions another outing and I decided to adapt my moulin rouge makeup, get rid of the fake lace, the feather and add a little glitter. Red eyeliner was made with snazaroo red face paint mixed with Ben Nye Liquiset mixing medium.






I was so scared to wear face paint as an eyeliner on a night out, in case it would smear but the eyeliner lasted remarkably well. I was really impressed. To make it more durable, I added a little bit of red glitter on top which I stuck with eyelash glue. If I wear glitter on the whole lid, I would usually rely on my trusty splash, but since it was only a small area, I decided to use eyelash glue instead.



  





As predicted, people didn't notice the lenses, but the makeshift red glitter eyeliner coupled with the red extensions got me some compliments. Woo :) If I lack inspiration for the makeup for my staff Christmas do, I might do this one again.

  

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Fork, fishnets and fun - My halloween 2012

I need to say it right away. I don't think anything could beat the excitement I had when I  turned myself into an avatar for Halloween. I loved that film so much, for so many reasons  which I won't go into right now and becoming a na'vi for a night is one of my most fun, exciting and memorable Halloween moments of all time. Any character you turn yourself into after feels  a bit boring. But I can't be avatar every year and it took me ages to decide on what I was  going to be for Halloween this year.

  
I don't know how this has happened but I seem to own 4 sets of devil horns in my house and  I thought I could recycle some of them and become a little Lilith for Halloween this year.


Problem: Devils are so popular for Halloween. How can you jazz up a devil's makeup and  costume? What can you do to stand out from all the devils around?  Paint your whole body red? Have eyebrows on fire?

   
This is what I came up with and I hope you like it.











  


  





I wanted to have 3D cartoon lips for the night. I know, I know, it looks like I drunk milk from the bottle and forgot to wipe my top lip but this was intended. Products used my favourite red lipstick of all time, All for Eve red lipstick, Black Barry M eyeliner on the edges and some 17 Cosmetics gold highlighter in the middle.

   






It was fun playing again with  spirit gum, and challenge myself makeup wise. It was the only way for me to get excited about my halloween character, after the anti climax of not being an avatar.



I want to tell you about the contact lenses I bought especially for the occasion and if I wasn't pushed for time and on a #bloggingdate with @raeraemakeup, I would have written about them today. Hopefully, I should be able to blog about them tomorrow. Click here to see what Rae turned herself into for Halloween 2012


Hope you had an amazing halloween! xx

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Un petit moulin {fotn}

One of my favourite bloggers is holding a fabulous competition whereby you could win, thanks to Vaseline a trip to Paris with £500 of spending money to go with it.

My chances of winning are very slim for mainly 2 reasons: 1) I am a French native speaker and although I spent all my life in Mauritius, I doubt the folks at Vaseline are going to choose me 2) My entry is a little bit predictable to say the least. But if you don't try, you'll never win, non?


Without further delving into my pessimistic introduction, this is my entry to Lipglossiping's 'Beautiful Paris' Competition sponsored by Vaseline. If you haven't already guessed by the title of this post, my inspiration is 'Le Moulin Rouge' cabaret, one of the most iconic night time establishments of the French capital, spiritual birth place of the Can Can dance.






  



There are many things I would have liked to tweak to this makeup look to try make it more interesting: more dimension to the faux-head gear lace pattern, more feathers, more drama all around basically but I quite like the way the eyes have turned out and I could see myself wearing this look in real life. The lace pattern is surprisingly quite long lasting and the only change would be to use ben nye liquiset to activate the red mehron face paint that I used for the red eyeliner. I had also planned to wear more extravagant lashes for this look but they didn't arrive in time. Boo

  






Other things I have used: stargazer red eyeshadow (ebay)
the fabulous 'All for Eve' red lipstick
estee lauder double wear maximum foundation
hd brows palette in 'foxy' for eyeshadow and eyebrows
mac vanilla eyeshadow

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My favourite eye makeup remover

Do you have scents associated with your childhood? I do. Apart from the iconic yummy fruity scents of my native island (vanilla, coconut, mango, etc..) and the not so yummy ones (overripe guava, papaya, banana) I think I will never forget the scents of essential oils of vetyver,  geranium, sweet almond oil and lavender. My mother used to be a big fan of essential oils. Her favourite was lavender and she used to  douse herself in it, as it 'would keep mosquitoes at bay' she used to say. Well, the stuff pongued so much, I'm not surprised it kept  mosquitoes and any form of living species at bay. I also will never be able to forget the strong, powerful and nauseating scents of  geranium and vetyver essential oils. Sweet almond oil, however, was a total different story. I couldn't never get enough of it. When  I left home, my contacts with sweet almond oil became more and more rare, verging non existent. In fact, I even forgot it  existed.


Soon after my poll about eye makeup remover and with the firm intention to purchase one of your recommendations, I ended up  purchasing a bottle of Johnson's baby oil to use as a makeup remover, after seeing lots of rave about it on YouTube. There's nothing  quite like an oil I think to remove stubborn eye makeup with ease. But deep down, I was not fully satisfied. I knew it wasn't the  best for my eyes and that it contained the controversial mineral oil, I turned to eBay and  came across Naissance a seller who sold 100% pure organic sweet almond carrier oil, bottled in the exotic land of ... Swansea.






Very often, when you try to reconnect with food and products from your childhood you end up being disappointed. Scary films from the  past feel suddenly ridiculous, and kids sweets don't taste as good. When I opened my little 50ml of sweet almond carrier oil, I must admit I  was disappointed. It had a lovely smell but it was nowhere as strong as the essential oil that my mum used to have. The fragrance is  very delicate. But then again, I thought that it was a blessing in disguise as I mainly purchased it to use it on my eyes. The very  day I tried the sweet almond oil on my eyes, the very day I threw away my bottle of Johnson's Oil, which was still half full.




I can't describe how lovely it feels to remove my eye makeup with this oil. I love how effortless and quick this removes my makeup.  The whole makeup removal ritual feels like a mini pampering session, with no skin tugging, scratching, and eye stinging whatsoever. 


Doesn't it leave my skin too greasy?
No. In fact, it leaves my dry skin so nourished and I feel that my lashes have been given a second  lease of life. If I need to reapply makeup straight after, say I have made a booboo and want to start over, I try to remember to  revert to my good old trusty eye makeup remover from Simple, in an attempt to finish the bottle but the reality is that I use this organic oil as a  makeup remover 99% of the time.




I feel really happy about myself when I use the sweet almond oil on my eye area. Sweet almond oil is high in proteins, and vitamin E,  an ingredient which I have been very fond of recently because of its universally recognised anti-ageing properties (vitamin e is powerful antioxidant) I feel like I am really caring for my eyes as the whole eye makeup removal  process is so gentle and there is hardly any tugging involved anymore. Twice I just plopped some directly on my face to use as a face mask and it made my skin feel so smooth! My skin is basically loving it and despite being an oil, it doesn’t cause any breakout.


Will I purchase a full size bottle?
The question doesn't even  need asking and this is the first thing on my shopping list come pay day. For now, I am enjoying my very handy travel size (see photographed above with one of my most worn day lipsticks) of sweet  almond oil and will continue to do so until the last drop.


what: 100% pure organic oil cold pressed sweet almond oil (carrier)
where: ebay, amazon or directly on the website.
name of ebay seller: naissanceuk.
how much: £3.29 for 50ml
disclosure: bought myself

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Sunny Spot: Gone dotty for Fee

Other than countless failed attempts at French manicure nail tips, I have never tried my hands at nail art. I don't have think I have the flair for it, the imagination, talent, patience and all the skills required for it. When I reviewed the beautiful Wyoming Nail Polish from Accessorize, many of you commented that you would love to see it as a base for some sort of nail art. When Fee from MakeupSavvy invited us to take part in her 15-day nail challenge, I thought this was the time had come to experiment. Today, it's day 14 and the theme is dots.

So I decided to go ... dotty for Fee.
The motivation: you guys!
The reason: Makeup Savvy 15-Day Nail Challenge.
The theme for day 14: Dots
The inspiration: Lucy's Stash Manicure for Sweet Sugar.
The polishes: Accessorize Wyoming Nail Polish (reviewed here) and New Look Colour Pop in Pistachio (reviewed here)
The tool: The only thing I could find in the house: a hair pin like this one.
The time: 30 minutes to do the whole thing (including taking photos and writing this)
The challenge: find a sunny spot to photograph (see what i did there?)
The result:

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Ok, before you look. Try to remember I've never done this sort of thing before
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Ok now, you can look
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The dots are so big and uneven and rubbish. Must try harder next time… if there is one that is!

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Accessorize Wyoming Nails

Third nail post in a row? Yes. I should mix things up a bit but when I am excited about something, I find it very difficult to wait. I want to share with you my latest acquisition from Accessorize Makeup. I was in the Accessorize shop, stumbled onto this nail polish and it had to come home with me. It's called Wyoming, like the American state famous for its national parks and nature in general and I couldn't think of a better name for it.






The creamy formula was such pleasure to work with and the coverage was superb and almost good enough to be a one coater. This is now the 4th creme finish type of polish I have from Accessorize which I am absolutely delighted with and Accessorize, yet again surpassed themselves with the quality. You can read more about mink, heart beat, and passion nail polishes here.



Long gone are the days of the first generation of accessorize polishes which were seriously patchy and a bit too bit runny to be honest. How do you know which polish is first generation or not, will you ask? I have summarised all the first generation polishes here. I am not saying they are all bad but from my little experience (I have tried 5 polishes from the first generation) I have not been happy enough to want to repurchase. Truffle was adequate and the best of the lot but Notorious, Superstar, Mermaid, and Electric Blue have given me patchiness.


Back to the majestic Wyoming. If you are looking for your ultimate shade of khaki, and for a price which doesn't break the bank, you might want to try it. I hope my pictures will give you a taste for it. Can I just add as well, that no clean up whatsoever was required for this. I am so impressed.













The best bit?






Yes, it was on half price sale in my shopping and only cost me £2. I was about to indulge in the new khaki shade (Lazy Green) from Gosh but now that I've got Wyoming at home, I don't need to anymore.


what: Accessorize Makeup nail polish in shade Wyoming
how much: £4 (special offer, half price at £2 in my shop)
where: Accessorize Shops and selected Superdrug nationwide
disclosure: bought by me

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Colourpop fun :)

So I was wandering aimlessly in my New Look shop a few days ago and stumbled on a new range of fun and colourful makeup called 'Colourpop' where every item is sold at £1.99. Of course, I had to take some pictures and share them with you, I do love a bargain! I have bought 2 items from the collection, do you want to guess which ones?

So they had lipsticks in the cutest packaging





lipglosses, eyeliners and nail polishes







and eyeshadows



You've guessed it already. I came home with 2 nail polishes.







The yellow one is just called err.. ‘yellow’ and the green called ‘pistachio’. You know already that a nail polish doesn't need to be expensive to have great coverage but good pastel and neon polishes, whatever the brand and price are notoriously hard to find. So how did these 2 little £1.99 bright things fare? Admirably well. What you see is only 2 coats of polish. Arguably, the yellow could do with a little extra coat but in real life, I really don't mind it like that. The brush on one of the polish had 2 little stray hair but it was nothing that a small of scissors couldn't quickly fix.









No streaks, no bubbles, no patchiness, just a pop of colour as the name suggests. The yellow is just my perfect shade of 'easter chick' nails and applied even better than the MUA 'lovehearts' yellow. The green is a lovely pastel and neon shade at the same time. I don't own anything like it and I am absolutely in love with it. The formula is lovely, thick and creamy and would also work brilliantly for accents of colours in a nail art pattern.







I must warn you that these nail polish stain the nail though. I tried the green one very quickly on my thumb which didn't have a base coat on and it left me with a darker nail after removal. So I decided to apply the nail polish over 2 coats of my favourite base coat (more on that in another post) just to be on the safe side and my nails were suitably protected and no staining happened.



I am delighted with my little bargain purchases. Thank you Newlook. ^_^



disclosure: bought by me
note: please excuse the quality of the pictures. compression rate set itself to 45 without my knowledge :/

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