FOTD - Agent L

I wore this last night on an outing to the cinema to see Men in Black III and then head for a drink at the chilled out pub down the road. I felt the need to do my eye make-up simply because I feel I don't do it often enough these days! I have, however, ordered far more make-up that I can really justify lately - so expect a sharp rise in FOTD posts...

EYES - UDPP, Darling Girl 'Glitter Glue' (this stuff is my God), Barry M limited edition baby pink dazzle dust, Darling Girl 'Bare Tribal', Avon pale green shimmer and pale matte pink, MUA 'Shade 12', random coppery gold duochrome eyeshadow, Collection 2000 felt tip eyeliner, mascara, Barry M 'Purple' bold eyeliner.

FACE - No.7 'Beautifully Matte' foundation, powder, The Balm 'Hot Mama' blush, Collection 2000 'Lasting Perfection' concealer.

LIPS - Bare.

Sorry for how vague the eye make-up list seems - I scraped this together from eyeshadows my sister abandoned when she moved!

For anyone who has been thinking of seeing Men in Black III...don't. There needs to be more aliens, more action, more comedy and more of a play on Agent J being a black guy in '60s America. However, Jermaine Clement was perfectly cast as 'Boris the Animal' and I challenge you not to find 'Griffin' adorable...And the twist at the end is awesome.

What does your emergency 'trip out' make-up consist of? Any films you're looking forward to?



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EVERYDAY BEAUTY - Saviours of Crazy Hair

If you've already read my 'hair history' post, you know that myself and my locks have a rather love/ hate relationship. I love that it's thick, I love that it's dark, I love that it's resilient to *most* of the abuse I throw at it. I hate that it's curly, I hate that it's frizzy, I hate that it takes almost 2 hours to straighten properly when I have a full head and I hate that anti-frizz/ smoothing products generally have zero effect on it. However, there are a few products I've found work wonders...

First things first, my hair has to be the colour I want it to be! I went natural for about a year, but I always return to bleaches and dyes. Most recently, I've been using Directions 'Rose Red' for a red-pink shade and a mix of toners and dyes for a purple. To bleach my hair, I used Jerome Russel B Blonde Powder Bleach and 40 vol. peroxide by the same brand. Once my hair is light enough, I empty some dye into a tinting bowl and apply it to my hair with a synthetic fibre paint brush (tint brushes are too clunky for me) before combing it through to ensure it's an even application.

After letting the dye take for about one hour, I rinse it out, using Naked 'Intensive Care' Shampoo to ensure every last bit has been washed away! After a bleaching session, hair is in need of TLC and Naked 'Repairing Hair Treament' is the perfect way to ensure soft, well nourished locks. I roughly towel dry my hair, spritz Inecto 'Leave In Conditioner' to the tips and run Avon 'Lotus Shield Serum' through the lengths to guarantee frizz free hair.

After leaving my hair at least 24 hours to dry out naturally (avoid damage from blow drying if you can) it's time to style things up! Got 2 Be 'Guardian Angel Heat Protection Spray' saves my hair being sizzled to a crisp by my Philips straighteners. I used to use GHD heat protection spray with GHD straighteners, but honestly I think they are SO over-rated - you can find better products at much cheaper prices! Random slides and bobbles hold my 'do in place, Batiste dry shampoo saves me on lazy hair days and Tresemee 'Extra Hold' hair spray makes my hair near enough bullet proof for nights out :)

What do you use to smooth out your hair? Any product recommendations for a frizzy haired 1/4 African ( my hair has mainly afro traits) lass?

NOTD - Blue Ombre

Ombre this, dip dye that, fade out the other, bla bla bla. It was only so long before the 'cool kids' hair dying technique seeped into nail trends. But y'know what? Even if my idea of what is 'cool' is probably so uncool that it's not even ironically cool - I like ombre nails.

[[ Thumb to Pinky - Avon 'Classic Fit', Barry M 'Cobalt', Barry M 'Cyan', Barry M 'Turquoise', Model's Own 'Bloo Boo' ]]

We like, yes? I do, at least! I have so many blues, but I was still surprised that I could get such a good graduation of shades and none of them leaned too turquoise, too white or just not being quite right. Oh, and also, how awesome is my hip flask?! I love it. My friend bought it for me from Urban Outfitters years ago - I'm going to paint the pattern on my wall once i have a place of my own.

What do you think of ombre nails? What about ombre hair?

NOTD - Golden Leopards

After seeing this design on Emily's blog, after her guest post over at DoNotRefreeze, there was no way that I couldn't play copycat. Yeah, yeah, everyone does them and they're pretty cliché these days, but I still love them! The one time I've tried them before ended in disaster - my hands looked like a cross-breed of a Fimble and a cow had thrown up on them. Not this time...

GHETTO FABULOUS.

Gold base - Barry M 'Gold'

Silvery tip colour - Avon 'Mystic'

Brown dots - Barry M 'Mushroom'

Black lines - Claire's liquid eyeliner

Topcoat - Seche Vite

I applied the gold polish, sponged some silvery taupe onto the tips, dotted on some brown dots and squiggled around them with black liquid eyeliner before adding a topcoat for some shine. The silvery tips look so awesome in the light, giving a subtle two tone effect which looks way more interesting than straight up gold :) Unfortunately this wont last very long - I've got some plaster work at college I need to do! Darn you, art, with your nail ruining effects...

What do you think of leopard nails? Boring? Fun? Tacky? 

FOTD - Bright Purple Fishnets

Felt a bit dramatic and colourful - so what better to reach for than the infamous MUFE 92? I added some pink glitter for fun; I would have popped some falsies on, but the light was dying and I wasn't feeling brave enough for a blind falsie application!

[[ So bright! ]]

[[ Matches my zebra plug :D ]]

EYES - UDPP, MUFE 92, UD 'Fishnet', MAC 'Nylon', Kryolan liquid eyeliner, Avon glitter eyeliner, MAC pink glitter, Kryolan white pencil eyeliner, mascara.

FACE - GOSH primer, Kryolan cream foundation, Collection 2000 matte foundation, Sleek cream foundation, Rimmel powder, Topshop 'Neon Rose' blush, Ben Nye pink blush

LIPS - MAC 'Blankety' lipstick

Anyone have any tips for a good base to use with MUFE 92? UDPP doesn't help with how patchy it gets and  over a cream base it becomes next to impossible to blend. With mixing medium it loses its vibrancy :/ I'm willing to overlook patchiness for such a stunning colour, though!

(P.S) Sorry for primarily FOTDs lately, I've been busy with college work. Day off tomorrow and I have plenty of reviews to write up!

Marbling Fail/ Success

First, the fail....

I only liked the little finger nail!

It looked like a Smurf had thrown up on my hands. I didn't even bother to clean up, just removed it ASAP! I was trying to get some use out of the yellow and green, because I NEVER use them. The yellow kept drying on the water within 20 seconds and came out really sheer :/ Perhaps I'll try again, but use a yellow as a base and just marble the blue and green over them....

Now, the success...

I used a gold base (Avon 'Gold foil') and marbled a petrol blue (Barry M 'Racing Green') and navy (Avon 'Classic Fit') over them. Barry M polishes take really well to marbling! I may well have to purchase some more....