It seems like the only time I do interesting makeup these days is for dance performances, so hopefully there will be more opportunities soon... but in the meantime, last night was my dance society's spring hafla - or, time to break out the heavy-duty goods!

It's a little more matte than last time around, and a bit paler too. As a base, I used MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NW10 (which I only recently discovered, but it's the perfect pale shade for me and I love it!) and Pro-Longwear Concealer in NW15. I used the brown powder from my new Sleek contouring palette (which I got in Light but probably should have looked for Fair) to contour my cheeks, and then Kat Von D blush in Truth for color, with Boots No7 pressed powder in Fair to finish.

The eyes, as always, were the centerpiece, and as usual, I turned to Urban Decay for lots of color and shimmer. Apart from my trusty Nars primer, I used the Naked 1 palette for the whole look: Sin as a base, then Half Baked in the middle of the lid, Smog on the outer third, and a bit of Darkhorse in the crease. Then I used Virgin as a highlight, along the browbone and inner corner, and to blend. I filled my brows in with Hustle (really! the shimmer isn't that noticeable, and I figured it would be fine for stage makeup anyway!) and smudged under my lower lashline with Smog. I used Bobbi Brown long-wear eyeliner in Mahogany to tightline my upper and lower waterlines, and then added a layer of the late, lamented UD 24/7 pencil in Honey (best gold EVER) under my lower lashline. The whole thing was finished off with a pair of UD Urban Lash in Black Velvet, which is a really lush (but sort of natural-ish?) combination of criss-crossed hairs and bits of black feather.

 
The lashes were a bit of a pain to take off - the feathers got wet and I had to try and reposition them correctly - but they looked amaaaazing, as you can see. (They were also a bit stiff as it was the first time I'd worn them, but hopefully they'll soften up with further wear.)

I finished the whole thing off with a coat of Tom Ford lip color in Coco Ravish. Amazingly, this face survived a mile-and-a-half walk into town, a performance, and lots of social dancing after, over the course of about six hours, with nary a bit of oil peeking through or even a hint of smudging. (It did take about an hour to apply and ten minutes to remove, though...)

I've been meaning to put this together for a while now, just to share these goodies - my go-to Special Occasion Makeup now. The colors are fairly predictable for me: eyeshadow quad in Cocoa Mirage, lip gloss in Pink Guilt, and eyeliner in Metallic Mink. 

When I was home over Christmas, my best friend pointed out something that I hadn't even noticed - Cocoa Mirage is quite literally an EXACT dupe for my beloved Bobbi Brown Chocolates palette from a few years ago (the eye shades, anyway). Metallic Mink is pretty much a dupe of my holy grail MAC Teddy eye kohl pencil, and Pink Guilt is... the same color as half of my lipglosses (UD Naked and Bobbi Brown Rose Gold are two I turn to frequently which are basically the same beigey-pink-with-gold-shimmer combination). Unique they are not, but they make up for it with their quality and the luxurious look and feel of the packaging. (Also, I've just remembered I have a Tom Ford lipstick somewhere but I don't feel like digging it out...)

Sorry about the wet hair! The base is my usual - Bobbi Brown Oil Free Tinted Moisturizer in Alabaster, Bobbi Brown blush (I think Desert Rose here?), Boots No7 pressed powder, Bobbi Brown brow gel in Mahogany, BuxomLash Waterproof mascara. I've used all four colors of the eyeshadow quad.

Hello, all! While I'm waiting for my post on Urban Decay Naked Nails to be liberated from the spam filter (... yeah, I think I ran afoul of the tagging system), I thought I'd share one of my other holiday goodies! I don't think I've posted about my Tom Ford stuff before, but I've picked up a couple of things the last few times I've flown out of Heathrow (otherwise I'd have to go to London to get them, but this way they're duty free!). On my way home at Christmas, I snagged an eyeliner and also this awesome Ultra Shine Lip Gloss in Pink Guilt:

I'm sure that this will come as a total shock and surprise to every one of you, but Pink Guilt is a bronzy-pinky neutral shade with flecks of gold shimmer. (SO UNLIKE ME.) It's not sticky, and while I'm not a huge fan of brush applicators, the color and formula are definitely worth the extra hassle.

So shimmery!

And with a full, otherwise natural face (I skipped eyeshadow and only used primer): 

I have a few other Tom Ford goodies that I want to post about (and a little comparison with a much-beloved and discontinued product), but that's all for now! Thanks for reading!

Just a quick post, to share my latest adventures in nail art! Turns out when you google "reverse French manicure", what you ACTUALLY get is a half-moon manicure (a vintage style favored by one of my personal style icons, Dita von Teese!), so I thought I'd experiment a bit. 

I used Essie Good as Gold and Models Own Pro Matt Green on top of Butter London Nail Foundation. I used Butter London Hardware Topcoat (shiny) on the gold bits, and Chanel Mat Top Coat on the green!

As I was browsing Pinterest recently (brace yourselves, you know what browsing Pinterest can do!) I saw these awesome navy-and-gold nails:

In a fit of inspiration (/procrastination), I decided that I would attempt to replicate this awesome look. I didn't quite have the right materials, but I though this could work nicely with a deep red and gold combo, too. I used Essie Good as Gold (which is way less metallic/shiny) and Essie Downtown Brown (which is actually a brick red, but I love it anyway), in combination with Butter London nail foundation and top coat. It didn't turn out half bad, if I do say so myself!

I applied the gold first (after the nail foundation), from the cuticle to about a third of the way up the nail. Applied another coat. Then slowly, carefully, did a freehand curve and filled in the rest of the nail. Then applied another coat of the red, and a top coat. Voila! Easy-peasy, and I love the look! What do you think?

(P.S.: If you want to follow me on Pinterest, I'm here.)

This post is mostly not about makeup! (Shocking, I know!) In fact, my face-of-the-day is now so entrenched that, for the first time in my ENTIRE LIFE as a beauty junkie, I have hit pan on a blush. (Stop for a moment, let that sink in.) I, Little Miss Makeup Butterfly, so used to flitting from product to product in a neverending search for the latest and greatest, have, in the space of only a few months, hit pan on a blush (Bobbi Brown Nude Peach) AND entirely used up a whole eyeshadow (Clinque Like Mink). I'm almost finished with my first tube of Bobbi Brown BB Cream and have just purchased my fourth tube of tinted moisturizer. I have a routine. It feels like some sort of bizarre accomplishment...

But since my makeup is pretty much the same on a day-to-day basis, I've had to look elsewhere for ways to make my look interesting. Strangely (for someone who hates needles with a passion), that elsewhere has been jewellery - of the pierced variety. I first got my ears pierced when I was sixteen and fresh out of my first relationship (it was a time of exploration, discovery, and shopping at Victoria's Secret, in short), and I always thought that was where I'd stop. Until last fall, when I decided that I really wanted a second hole in my ears. Which soon led to a third.

That's the state of my ears currently, and I've made some pretty awesome (if I do say so myself) sets of earrings (using Swarovski crystal beads and gold findings) for special occasions. I'm also planning to get a few more holes punched in each ear - cartilage, and maybe even a tragus piercing on each side. (We'll have to see about that. I like the look but am not really fond of pain, so...) But the next piercing is one I've been considering for a while, and am currently experimenting with - and the one which has the most potential to change my "look" for good: a nose piercing.

On the advice of... well, lots of people... I'm trying out the look of a nose piercing (using little stick-on gems) before I actually get a hole punched in my nose! I must admit that I quite like it, and it doesn't clash with my overall look, I don't think. What say you, fellow junkies? What do you think of piercings like this? Would you ever get one?

(With glasses, of course!)

Last night was my first-ever bellydance performance - and the first time I'd performed any sort of dance onstage since I was 17 (and back then it was flamenco!). It went pretty well, if I do say so myself, but - unsurprisingly - my favorite part was doing my makeup beforehand. (I also did makeup for a few other dancers who had clearly never done stage makeup before in their lives - another favorite thing about performing!)

(This picture makes it look waaaayyyy more subtle than it actually was, FYI. Poor lighting!)

For my base this time, I went with Lancome Teint Ultra 24h foundation in 005 and MAC Pro Longwear concealer in NW15. Blush is Bobbi Brown Desert Rose, and cheekbones are highlighted with Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Rose Gold. It's all topped off with Boots No7 translucent loose powder.

Next: the eyes! The most important part of any performance makeup, if you ask me! As is my usual these days, I broke out the false lashes - a new pair this time, Urban Decay Urban Lash in Sly. These are shockingly natural looking for how huge they are, and they were SUPER easy to apply - or maybe I'm just getting better? I also didn't have to trim them very much - just one little cluster of lashes off the inner corner.

I also dug into my Naked palettes to do the eye look: NARS primer to start, as always, and then a good coat of Snakebite on the outer half of each lid, up to just above the crease. Then Smog in the middle of each lid, and Half-Baked on the inner half, blending the three together. I added a bit of Blackout on the outer corners and blended, and then used Blunt to blend the top edges together, and Walk of Shame to blend out the edges, under my browbone, and at the outer corners (basically to cover up messy edges!). The lower lashline is Half-Baked on the inner half and Snakebite on the outer half. I used Bobbi Brown gel liners to line: Black Ink on the upper lashline (to help hide the fake lashes!) and upper waterline, and Chocolate Shimmer Ink on the lower waterline.

On my brows, I used Chanel's pencil eyeliner (the "automatic" one) to draw my brows in a slightly larger and pointier shape, and fill them in a bit. I followed that up with Bobbi Brown matte shadow in Mahogany, and then Bobbi Brown Brow Shaping Gel in Mahogany to set everything. 

On my lips - Bobbi Brown Creamy Matte lipcolor in Latte. (Lips were really not the focal point of this look, eh?)

Added in my awesome/huge earrings:

And voila: a look fit for dancing the night away!

It took me about 15 minutes (and an oil cleanser) to get this all off at the end of the night, but it was totally worth it - and I can't wait to do it again! But I'm definitely giving my skin a break today - it needs to breathe! Thanks for reading!

You thought I was going to say "Gray", didn't you? (Ha, no, you know me better than that. Me and shades of gray just do not mix, cosmetically speaking.)

So I actually took some time last Sunday morning to do a full, creative face! (GASP, I know!) The basics are the same as always, but I've gone with Bobbi Brown Creamy Matte Lip Color in Latte on the lips, and an array of golden-green-brown shades on my eyes.

Shades used (all are Urban Decay's new shadow formula): Blunt (bright gold - all over lid), Bender (green - outer half of lid), Snakebite (bronzy brown - crease), and Walk of Shame (palest beige - browbone). I used MAC Eye Kohl in Teddy dipped in Bobbi Brown gel liner in Ivy Shimmer Ink to line my lower waterlines.

On the lips, as I said, I used Bobbi Brown's new Creamy Matte lipcolor formula - this is over top of Fresh Sugar lip treatment, so it's a bit more glossy than usual; it does dry down to a very very matte finish and I prefer it that way. This shade (Latte) is a warm medium slightly-pink brown, and it's an excellent neutral.

A swatch of Latte below, and my very favorite earrings which I used to complete the whole look:

Final look, with glasses: 

Hopefully I'll be able to do some sort of non-neutral look soon - I have a dance performance coming up which might be a good opportunity to go wild and crazy, so we'll see! In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Not one but TWO new posts in one day, you say? What is this madness?!

Just something I wanted to share - my go-to nail look these days is a freehand French manicure on my relatively short natural nails. But I had the genius idea a few days ago to make them look even more "natural" by eliminating the shiny topcoat. I replaced it with Chanel Top Coat Velvet Mat, which gives a really nice, subtle matte-effect finish. I was very pleased with the outcome!

The white is Model's Own Pro polish in 006 French Ivory, and it's applied freehand over a Sally Hansen base coat.

My "adventures" in changing up my makeup have been pretty boring, guys, I hate to say it! I'm feeling like this isn't quite enough now that I'm getting back into my stash!

This time: I've substituted my usual liner (MAC Eye Kohl in Teddy) on the waterline for Bobbi Brown's gel liner in Denim Ink, which I've had for ages and used precisely ONCE. It's a slightly shimmery, deep indigo color that's a bit more interesting than standard black but still subtle enough that you could easily get away with wearing it everyday in professional situations. 

It's a little softer than black, too - it almost looks like a charcoal gray in some lights. But it does a good job of defining without looking too harsh. And (as the name implies) it's pretty much budgeproof once it sets. (This entire look, by the way, lasted through an entire shower, including two face-washings, with no smudges. That's how waterproof Buxom Lash Waterproof is. The stuff is MIRACULOUS.)

(I gave up on getting a good pic of the liner behind glasses. This will have to do. But thanks for reading!)