REVIEW - Illamasqua 'Freak' Eau de Perfume

When Illamasqua launched 'Freak' a few years back, it sounded just my thing - however, samples were not available for purchase and I was unwilling to part with cash for something I might not even like... 'Freak' sat in the back of my mind along with other curiosities, until I received a sample with an order and knew I had to make a bottle mine...
Please remember that perfumes and scents are hugely reliant on personal opinion and body chemistry - while I love 'Freak' and it works on me, it may be different for you :)

TOP NOTES

Black davana, opium flower and belladonna.

HEART NOTES

Poison hemlock, datura and queen of the night blossom.

BASE NOTES

Aromas of frankincense, oud and myrrh.

Truth be told, the only notes I know the scent of off the top of my head are frankincense and myrrh thanks to Christmas room sprays (what?! Christmas smells gooood!) However, the witches brew sounding notes were enough to get me interested! When choosing perfume, go for base notes that you love before anything else, as these last the longest - then heart notes, then top notes.

To me, 'Freak' smells warm, mysterious and a little decadent. Upon first application, it smells like a really beautiful mens' scent - not spicy, woody or cheap like a lot of blokey scents on the market! After about an hour the scent starts to soften down, eventually becoming something a lot more feminine after around three hours. While 'Freak' is overall fairly masculine, I would say that it is more delicate than your average male scent and crosses into the 'unisex' boundary confidently. However, if you're more into your typical ladies floral or sweet scents, perhaps track down a sample before taking the plunge.

And, of course, the bottle! The 30ml version (like mine) comes in a simple glass bottle with 'Freak' scroll text and snail logo, which personally, I love. How many perfumes would use a slimy little mollusc as their symbol? The 75ml version's bottle comes at a jaunty angle with a little silver snail crawling up the side - beautiful!
I bought my bottle in the sale for £15 (bargain) - if you fancy treating yourself, the sale is still going on, and if you use the code 'sale10' you get an extra 10% off!
Do you own 'Freak'? What do you think of it? I'd really want to try 'Scarab' next!

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FOTD - Undress Me Too

Over the Summer, I got so used to the only time I wore make-up being at work behind a dark, hectic bar, that slowly my work make-up became my day to day face. I think the only thing I do differently is skipping on highlighting my cheekbones! Somehow, I've become pretty fast at it these days and even wear it for staring at computers for hours at uni.

I managed to snap a few pictures on Sunday before going bowling (I won! First time I've ever been and not come last haha) since I quite liked this one! I usually use any of the shimmery shades from 'Undress Me Too' on the lid, the Fashionista browns in the crease and the black from 'Undress Me Too' to darken things down a bit.
EYES - TFSI, MUA 'Undress Me Too' shade 'Tranquil', Fashionista dark and light from from the brow kit as eyeshadow, L'Oreal eyeliner, mascara.
FACE - Collection 'Lasting Perfection' concealer, Bourjois 'Healthy Mix'foundation, Rimmel 'Stay Matte' powder, NYC bronzer, Illamasqua 'Lover' blush.
LIPS - The Body Needs 'Chick Flick', some random sheer pink No.7 gloss.
Is your daily make-up getting darker, lighter, or remaining at a happy medium?
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FOTD - Fools Gold

Gold for £5? SEEMS LEGIT. Well, it can be in terms of make-up...For this look I used my current favourite palette, MUA 'Undress Me Too' (£4) as well as MUA waterproof liquid eyeliner (£1) - so that's a fiver's worth of gold!

Now, I'm not sure why I haven't done a proper review of MUA's waterproof liquid eyeliner yet because IT'S AWESOME. I was using it during Winter and it simply laughed in the face of snow and rain. The rest if my make-up was a victim to the weather most days - but the £1 eyeliner? That stuff's staying.

I started with 'Naked', applying it to my browbone. Then I swept 'Devotion' over 2/3 of the lid, along with 'Dreamy' on the outer lid and crease. 'Corrupt' was used to darken the crease and line the lower lashes. I then slicked on some eyeliner and mascara and that's it - easy! As always, Too Faced 'Shadow Insurance' was my primer of choice.

FACE - The Body Shop 'Tea Tree Pore Minimising Primer', Collection 'Lasting Perfection' concealer, Bourjois 'Healthy Mix' foundation, Rimmel 'Stay Matte' powder, No.7 highlighting powder, NYC bronzer, Illamasqua 'Lover' blush.
LIPS - 17 'Bare it All' lipstick.
Then off I trotted to Manchester and met the boyfriend for food at Kosmonaut, somewhere we'll probably visit again. Veggies, you even have more than two options there! And no sodding beetroot! WHAT A GOD DAMN MIRACLE. 
What's your favourite waterproof liquid eyeliner? Have you MUA's offerings?
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MISSION MERMAID: Flamingos on Fire

Around last week, I faced the fact that it was time to book in for a hair cut. After trying to grow it out for almost a year, I'll admit that the idea of losing an inch scared me a bit! I went off and booked myself a trim... then unleashed the bleach (hey - I was getting it trimmed anyway, right?!)

First I slapped some diluted Directions 'Flame' onto it...but I'd diluted it way too much and the result was pretty dodgy! Not to be disheartened, I went ahead and mixed some 'Flame' with 'Flamingo Pink' and slapped that on, which gave a nice rusty orange shade. After that had faded a bit, I decided to top it up with Directions 'Coral Red' to make it an orange toned red.

 For some reason it photographs a bit darker than it actually is! The ends are a bright orange in some lights, which is pretty awesome. 

My hair feels SO MUCH BETTER after having all the split ends chopped off! I'll be laying off the heat styling (and obviously the bleach) again soon and babying it like I did at the very start of Mission Mermaid. Some of you have asked why I haven't done many Mission Mermaid updates and the simple fact is this: You can't make your hair grow faster if you hair, scalp and diet are already healthy - so I don't have much to report!

 

And now I'm off to catch the train back to Manchester for my birthday weekend :) And yes, Illamasqua 'Apocalips' will be staying firmly in place.

 

Hope y'all enjoy your weekend!

 

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Where Have I Been?!

Heya m'lovelies! You *might* have noticed I haven't been kicking around as much in the blogosphere as usual because finding time to do anything other than work, sleep and eat has been a major struggle. It's not ALL work, though, so what else have I been up to?

 

Loving my skull mug (and Rekorderlig)...

 

Filming and being filmed...

Playing with Illamasqua sealing gel...

 Wearing questionable head gear...

Enjoying teapot tea and feeling festive with my warm spice Yankee Candle...

Slowly making my way through 'Great Expectations'...

I'm feeling mega festive lately, is anyone else? This time of the year is easily my favourite - when Autumn brushes off the remainders of Summer and everything becomes crisp, golden and quietly peaceful. It's also when the most fun happens! Bonfire night, Halloween and my birthday!

On that note - I'm turning 21 on Sunday and I can't wait!

Have you been up to anything excting lately? Anything major happening in the blogosphere that I need to be made aware of?


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FOTD - Radical Gold

Yesterday I received my latest Darling Girl Cosmetics order and today I played with a couple new shades and a couple golden oldies :) I also realised how quickly my Darling Girl collection is growing! It'll be growing even more soon with the release of their Halloween collection...

EYES - TFSI, Darling Girl 'Glitter Glue', Darling Girl 'Patty O'Green', Darling Girl 'Roots Radical', Darling Girl 'Totally Teal', Darling Girl 'Graveyard Glamour, Sleek black, white and cream eyeshadows, Illamasqua sealing gel, Fyrinnae 'Shrouded in Gold'.

FACE - No.7 'Beautifully Matte' foundation, Collection 2000 'Lasting Perfection' concealer, Collection 2000 face powder, Stargazer bronzer, No.7 highlighter.

LIPS - MAC 'Honeylove'.

I'm obsessed with mixing my own eyeliners using Illamasqua sealing gel, lately. You should see how this gold looks 'in real life' - it's like gold leaf, gorgeous! Speaking of Illamasqua, are you planning on buying anything from the 'Generation Q' collection? I have my eye on the Sophie blush... 
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FOTD - Calavera Cupcakes

A few days ago I spotted Fyrinnae 'Calavera Cupcakes' sitting, unused since purchase, in my eyeshadow drawer. I'll admit, I wasn't exactly blown away by it when I first swatched it so I've been more or less ignoring it! I figured I'd give it a go today...

 

EYES - TFSI, Darling Girl 'Glitter Glue', Fyrinnae 'Calavera Cupcakes', Fyrinnae 'Superstar', Darling Girl 'Obviously a Wig', Mad Minerals 'Camisole', Madd Style 'Plan 9', MUA 'Shade 12', Illamasqua sealing gel, Sleek white, cream and black eyeshadows, Collection 2000 pencil eyeliner, mascara.

FACE - No.7 'Beautifully Matte' foundation, Natural Collection 'Shine Away' foundation (this stuff is crap but fine for mixing with other foundations), Collection 2000 concealer, Collection 2000 powder, Detrivore 'Spoiled' blush.

LIPS - MAC 'Creme d'Nude', Beauty UK 'Sweet 16' gloss.

I'm still not sold. 'Calvera Cupcakes' is staying firmly in the 'meh' category for me! It's pretty but not very interesting or bold. This reminds me that I haven't swatched my last Fyrinnae haul, which arrived AGES ago. Keep an eye out for that, because I received some very non-meh shades, too :) In the mean time, check out some cupcakes I am definitely a fan of!

Despite the promise of death and Hell, these are the salted chocolate cupcakes I made using the recipe on Lipglossiping. They're delicious! Plus, how pretty is my cake platter?! Mum was going to give it to me for my 21st, but she got too excited and gave it to me early!

What's your most dramatic silver eyeshadow? Favourite Fyrinnae eyeshadow? Tastiest cupcake recipe? Let me know!

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FOTD - Death Rock

Yesterday evening, I settled down and started watching Under Blue Lights videos on Youtube. After watching a few of her incredible videos, I felt inspired to have a go myself, though I didn't come close to her level of awesomeness!

 

The light was dying since it was late in the evening and therefore photos were pretty horrific. Layering images hides a multitude of awful image quality, though you can't see the make-up as clearly. Ah well, you get the idea of it! I felt like a death rock bride of Frankenstein!

PRODUCTS - Stargazer white liquid foundation, No.7 'Beautifully Matte' foundation, baby powder, Illamasqua sealing gel, Fyrinnae 'Harlequin', Detrivore 'Spoiled', Sleek matte black, Collection 2000 eyeliner, Stargazer black glitter.

 

It's been a while since I did an 'out there' looks, so it made for a nice change!

 

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FOTD - Pulp Fiction

Can you believe I've NEVER seen 'Pulp Fiction'? Not even once.  Samuel L. Jackson + Uma Thurman + Bruce Willis + John Travolva to the power of Quentin Tarantino = EPIC. Riiight? Amiright? Seems like basic maths to me. Anyway, that's a long winded way of saying that I will finally watch it tonight. Wheeey!

Still lovin' the wig/ hat combo (AKA still too lazy to sort out my actual hair.)

EYES - TFSI, Little Mouse Ears 'Lizard Tail', Little Mouse Ears 'Quick Like a Bunny', Sleek cream, white and plum from the 'Mattes v2 - Darks' palette, Collection 2000 pencil eyeliner, mascara.

FACE - Illamasqua matte primer (trying it again), Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer, No.7 'beautifully Matte' foundation, Collection 2000 powder, Stargazer bronzer.

LIPS - Just Detrivore vanilla 'embalming tube'...AKA, lip balm.
 

Little Mouse Ears 'Lizard Tail' is such an awesome colour - a hybrid of plum, brown and dark silver, creating a gorgeous dirty taupe. It's from the 'Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die' collection, which consists of shades inspired by the film 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'. I actually won samples of the whole collection in a contest, lucky me! Definitely check them out, they're all lovely.

 

Now, onto the important business of curry, cider and a film. Ideal night in, wouldn't you say?

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GUEST POST: Summer Neon with Illamasqua 'Eurydice'

 Hi there! I am Blanka from Croatia, an owner of www.variolavera.com beauty blog and you are reading my post for beautiful Beautys Bad Habbit which is among my favorite blogs ever. :)

I am lover of bright, intensive colors in make up, which I often wear on eyes and lips. But with recent high heats in Croatia, my efforts to keep my colorful eyeshadow on place failed even with the best e/s primer, so I go for (more or less) neutral eyes and bright lipstick.

My current favorite is Eurydice from Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism collection, a neon pink/fuchsia color, perfect for everyone who is not scared of bold shades.

Eurydice does have a bit drier texture but it literally stays on for hours and has my favorite, matte finish. I rarely ever use lip pencil, but I can say that this lipstick doesnt need one, just apply it carefully and you will have neon lips for a day!

With this look, I used:
Garnier BB cream Medium
Illamasqua Skin Base
Chanel Poudre Universelle Libre
Illamasqua Spite blush
Illamasqua Thalia powdered metal
Urban Decay Naked Palette
Eveline liquid liner
Bourjois black eye pencil
Essence Get big! Mascara
Illamasqua Eyebrow Cake in Gaze
And of course, Eurydice.
I hope you liked my post :) tell me what is your favorite lipstick?

Massive thanks to Blanka for sharing 'Eurydice' here on my blog! (P.S) Blanka is an Illamasqua NUT and her blog is full of awesome swatches of pretty much everything...go have a look!

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