Facebook Page New Brooches Up On Etsy

First of all, I made a Facebook page for my little brooches and accessories. You can look at it, like it or share it here! I've had a facebook page for the work I do under the title Xenocblood Art for a while now which you can see here and I've found it to be a really great way to promote my own work and discover other people's work as well.

Other than that, I put three new heart brooches up on sale in my etsy shop today: a small pink pvc one and two larger vintage style ones. Follow the links for more info.

This little brooch is 7cm x 7cm.



This one is 10.5cm wide x 9.5cm high, has a pink lace trim, pink bow and shows two children eating some pudding with a red cherry on top.




Made of lovely blue Kath Kidson fabric with a white lace trim. It has a red flower detail with pearl beads. 



Maybelline Superstay 24 Lip Colour

I have a new love. Maybelline Superstay 24 Lip Colour. This isn't a review on anything. This is just me gushing about a product I can't get over.

I've tried all sort of "long lasting" lip colours and not really found any that I've been happy with. I've tried using stains which, although I find they're good at staying on your lips, they don't give as vibrant a colour as I would like. The best I've found so far is Lipfinity Lasting Tint by Maxfactor (which does NOT end up looking like the girl's lips in that picture, by the way) in 09.

I'm also really fussy about my lipstick staying on my lips and I'm terrified about getting caught with it on my teeth so I'm not one of those types of people who can feel comfortable going out without blotting my lips like a maniac beforehand.

Because of this, my red lip routine had evolved into this torturous routine:

♥ Lining my lips
 blotting with a tissue
 applying lip stain
♥ waiting for the stain to dry
♥ applying lipstick (Boots 17 Lasting Fix Lipstick in 'showcase') over the stain
 blotting
 applying a second coat of lipstick
 blotting again
♥ filling in any gaps with more lipliner
♥ and blotting a final time.

Ugh. A bit of a kerfuffle, you'd probably agree. And not the best way to spend a train journey. But not anymore!


This little fella from Maybelline goes on once after I've lined my lips and stays on the whole darn day. I have to reapply on the very inside of my lips if I've eaten something salty or spicy, but, other than that, it's near enough indestructible.


It also comes with a lip balm on one end to keep your lips moist. I hardly ever use it though because I don't don't find the lip colour drying at all and the balm has a slight fruity scent which I can't bare (that's just me though - I can't bare anything that smells of fruit. It probably smells lovely to most people).


Like I say, I didn't find it drying at all. It has the slightest tingle on the lips, but it's hardly noticeable and nothing like the itchiness I've had from using lipstains. The product is the consistency of a thick lipgloss and you have to paint it on carefully. Until it dries, it sticks your lips together a bit, and once it does it feels tacky and sticky, but amazingly does not come off on your fingers/cup/tissue/manfriend. Because of this, it gives the impression that your wearing sticky, unblotted lipstick, but does not come off once it's dry! Amazing.


As for removing it, I've found that it doesn't come off until the next day and then you can usually just peel or rub the remnants away. By this time it feels more like a face mask and you can sort of peel it away like you would peel glue of your fingers (you can tell I do a lot of crafts, huh?).


All the pictures so far were of me wearing  Maybelline Superstay 24 Lip Colour in 'Red Passion'. Below I'm wearing it in 'Cherry Pie'.

... Which reminds me, don't bother looking at the colours on the website or on the little colour cards under the product at the chemist - they're absolutely nothing like any of the lip colours in real life. They best way is to test them on your hand and see which one you like the best. I did that the first time and, when the marks didn't come off all day, that's when I knew I had to buy this!


Anyway, that's a very long post, but I hope it conveys a little bit about the character of this lip colour. Of course, products work differently on different people so others might not be as impressed as I am. So has anyone else used this? What did you think of it? Do you have a favourite long-lasting lip colour or technique?

*Edit: Also, if anyone could recommend me a long lasting purple-toned lipstick, I would be eternally grateful!

The Botanic Gardens

I was a beautiful sunny day last Sunday so after church we spent most of the day at the Botanic Gardens. We ate lunch outside, had ice cream and then browsed around the book fair. Definitely a cool way to spend a day.