Shocking Pink & White Make-up Look And Cresent Nails

This is a very different look for me since it has no black eyeshadow whatsoever. I think it might not work with a pale shade, but the brightness of the pink is enough that you don't really need a lot of black with this.

♥ I used Natural Collection eyeshadow in 'snowstorm' (a lovely white with a pale blue iridenscence) as a brow highlight, in my inner corner and all over the inside two thirds of my eyelid.
♥ Then I used a matt super soft eye crayon by Barry M in no.9 pink in a 'C' shape around the outside of my eye and smudged it.
♥ Over that, I used a reddish pink eyeshadow and blended that into the 'snowstorm' with a blending brush.
♥ Finally I added a tiny black wing of liquid liner and made the inside corner of my eye into a "point" with some black eye pencil

♥ Lips: Barry M lipliner no.6 and Natural Collection moisture shine lipstick in 'Rose Bud'

Also, I was clearing out my cupboard the other day and laid out all my nail varnishes in chromatic order just to see what it would look like. So there you go! I've recently been trying to get the hang of doing crescent nails too. You can see my attempt at it below. I used a pale pink underneath a bluish black colour and the stickers are just little circular price labels I chopped in two. 

Bronze Smokey Eye Look And The Buttercup Dairy Co.

I've decided to keep a photographic record of every make-up style I try out since I'm so obsessed with make-up these days. Who knows if it'll actually lead to anything or have a final result, but I guess it's nice to have a record of these things anyway. Especially since it's not like drawings: you can't keep a make-up look for more than a day so it makes sense to photograph it!

We were going into the west end of town on Sunday and I was wearing my glasses (which I hate wearing) because my eyes were kind of tired so I gave myself big bronze smokey eyes to look better with my specs on.

 

♥ I used a matt black super soft eye crayon by Barry M over the lid (and under my eye) and smudged it with my fingers, then used Mac matte eyeshadow in 'carbon' over that.
♥ Then I used a metallic bronze around the black and curved it up to the outside of the eye, blending it into the black with a big blending brush and softening out the edges.
♥ I finished it with a little wing of black liquid eyeliner.

Anyway, once I'd got my face on, we left for town. We went to the scifi bookstore and then planned to go to our favourite tea house, but it turned out that there was a gala on. That ruined our plans a bit since the tea house had live entertainment on outside for the gala and, well, we're a pair of miserable old gits so we ran off.

Managed to find a new place for coffee though. The Buttercup Dairy Co. at Felix and Oscar. There's something really lovely about having a coffee in the middle of a gift shop. I don't get to do that very often.

A wee sketch I did while we were sitting. The jars at the top are the types of chocolate you can choose in your drink. They're all by Temper Chocolates. Tim had a dark chilli mocha. I had a try and you could really taste the bitterness of the dark chocolate, not to mention the chilli aftertaste. We we already  converts to chilli hot chocolate anyway, but I kind of wonder what the lavender chocolate tastes like...

A little tutu (pettiskirt?) I saw in the shop. I may just have to go back and order six of them for the little flower girls we'll be having at our wedding. It's adorable. I'm not sure about the pink though. I know little girls love pink (and so do I... sort of), but it doesn't really go with the gothic colour scheme we've been thinking of for the flowers etc... Oh well, lots to think about!

And just to share before I forget: my aunty brought back this beautiful jewellery set from America for me. The ring's a little big although I think I can fix that,, but the earrings are so gorgeous they make me want to get my right ear pierced so I can wear them both at the same time. I've still only got holes in my left ear and I have to admit some earrings look better in pairs.

Birthday Things Made By Small People

Thought I'd share some photos from my birthday the other week. I wasn't feeling too well and we were pretty skint at the time so we didn't end up doing anything very exciting, but I stilll managed to have a day in Edinburgh and came back home to my cute little niece and nephew who were over that night. The rest of my family came over too and we had chinese takeaway which is one of those simple treats in life that doesn't cost much time or effort but somehow tastes soo goood.

We found a new coffee place in Edinburgh that I can't for the life of me rememebr the name of. Will definitely be going back though. I'm pretty sure it's on the royal mile...

My nephew in his skeleton pj's. His wee sister has matching ones. Isn't that the cutest damn thing?

Playdoh shapes. I think my niece might be addicted to licking playdoh. She keeps trying to eat what she's made. I'll wait until she's at least a teenager before I start worrying about it too much though.

They made me a playdoh cake too! Silly kids. They got my age wrong! I'm only *cough* 22! *nervous laugh*...

Iced biscuits the wee ones made with Granma. Black icing because they know I like black.

It might look a bit odd, but this was the best photo I could get of the awesome black pancake the kiddies made for me as a birthday treat. I think it'd been poked and prodded a fair number of times before I got round to taking a picture of it though.

Trip To Northern Ireland

This weekend, we went to visit my fiance's brother in Northern Ireland. We stayed with them in a town called Lisburn which is a really cool place even though all the shops close on a Sunday (and I mean all the shops). It was like something from a zombie film. Anyway, getting the ferry there and back was a bit of a treat for me since I've never been inside a ferry before. I didn't even know they had 'insides', so to speak. On old holidays with my family, we always stayed outside, clinging on for dear life in the wind.

Looking at the waves through a wee window.

So this is what the inside of a ferry can look like. Who'd have thought?

I couldn't help thinking the ferry itself looked like a tranformer. I even swore I saw something that looked just like it being advertised as a Power Rangers toy on telly the other day. Incidently, I'll spare you the photo after this one of Tim pulling his trousers down and mooning me while I struggle to figure out the camera settings on my new phone (now you see why I love this man so much).

"Windswept and interesting"

We found a cafe in Lisburn called The Yellow Door (which doesn't actually have a yellow door unless I totally missed that) that made really nice coffee and the thickest, chocolatiest walnut-covered chocolate brownies ever.

Just some thank you cards I quickly slapped together before the trip to thank folk for birthday money and presents they gave me.

Day At Campsie Glen

The other week, we went out to Campsie Glen. It's a nice little area just before the path up to the Campsie Hills. My sister used to work there as a waitress and a silversmith (not at the same time) so I've always had a fondness for the place from the days when I'd go along in the car to pick her up from work on Saturdays.

The little tearoom is still there although apparently it's changed hands twice since I was last there. I was kind of sad to see all the trinkets in the shop gone (there's no shop now, just the cafe), but the homemade baking make up for it.

Also there was a little witchy shop next door with a tiny heart-shaped venetian mirror that I can't quite remember why I didn't buy considering I've wanted one for ages! I saw this image of a bathroom in the Hotel du Petit Moulin in Paris and now I can't help desperately wanting a bathroom with glossy red tiles and heart-shaped venetian mirror.

Something new that's popped up, however, is a vintage shop called The Owl The Pussycat. I didn't get any photos of the interior, but you can see lots on their facebook page. I'm normally not that into vintage places since they can be a bit *ahem* trendy, but The Owl And The Pussycat was genuinely cool and they had a lot of really well made up-cycled (I hate that word) things like re-upholstered chairs, stools with comic book decoupage and an adorable paper lamp decorated in cupcake cases which needs to be seen to be believed!

Showing Off New Foundation, Primer and Sponge

After trying out Illamasqua foundation for a day, I decided to go back and buy it. It was skin base foundation no. 3 which is the palest of the yellow-based foundation shades. Apparently a lot of girls - especially us poor, pale Scotswomen - assume they are a pinky base when they're actually more yellow in skintone (no Simpsons jokes, please). In the end, I'm really happy with the tone I went for since I feel it matches and compliments my skintone rather than masking it.

Since it was a treat, I decided to go for the matt primer as well to wear under the foundation. This review by Michael James explains it better than I can though.

Oh! And they both make your face smell like cake! And what man could possibly resist that in a woman?!

Having never worn foundation before, I've never had any need for a sponge, but I'd heard so many great things about Cosmopolitan's Blend Perfection Sponge that I went hunting for one on the same day. Low and behold, Superdrug had one left! The last one on the shelf just waiting for me to buy it! Haha.

It looks a bit odd, but this sponge is just the greatest. The idea is that you dab it onto your face in a sort of stippling motion and that way you get a far more even coverage. I've heard nothing but good reviews for it and personally I wouldn't want to use any other type of sponge now. Even though it looks a bit... suspect.

Here's some only slightly goofy pictures (without editing) to demontrate.

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation in no.3

 It's my birthday at the end of the month so my sister was asking me what I wanted. I've been wanting foundation for quite a while now and I've heard good things about Illamasqua who apparently do good foundation if you're a pale little snail like me. I've never worn foundation before since my skin's fairly ok, but I've always liked that ever so slightly caked-on, china-doll look (I think the natural look is overrated these days) so I went into Illamasqua in Debenhams to test some out.

The result looks… well, judging by the photos, exactly the same as the way I look without foundation! But in real life it’s quite spectacular, trust me. You don’t know what you’re missing.

Also I have fuzzy hair and still can’t take pictures of myself without a mirror.