Glitter, Glitter, GLITTER!

So glitterflakes, its about that time where I make a post and apologise for not updating...

But I have AMAZING NEWS!

So we all know I have an obsession with anything glittery because lets face it, I am a magpie when it comes to shiny things. So you can imagine what I'm like with glitter.

And we all know that I love Katy Perry. K-Pez is love, I'm currently listening to the TGIF remix on repeat as I type. I was the geek who was awake a hour before Katy Perry tickets were released and abusing the refresh button 5 minutes before to ensure standing tickets for a group of us to go (in fancy dress of course) in October. I also dressed up as a Candyfornia queen last hallowe'en complete with multicolored twizzler crown, which was sealed with a glitter laced varnish and really motherbluffin heavy on your head... but it was worth it!

So when Katy Perry and OPI announced the California Gurls line, I ran after college to the local Sallys and bought one of every color. This was of course after nearly dying inside when I could only spy the mini sets and was holding it in my hand thinking, should I get this? The girl then politely informed me the full set bottles were beside the tillpoints and I genuinely don't think they had seen anybody set down a set and zoom to the tills as fast in their life.

So the colors were:

Not Like The Movies: a gorgeous grey, pearlescent polish that both looked romantic, with the pearl sheen giving off beautiful peacock tones.

The One That Got Away: a berry pinky red with micro glitter flakes to give a more glossy shine.

Last Friday Night: a pale wash blue with glitter.

Teenage Dream: Baby pink with craploads of glitter, larger holographic glitter and for a change, more glitter!

I won't lie, Last Friday Night kinda disappointed me. I think it was supposed to have the same effect as Teenage Dream does, but the blue wash is the most dominant feature of the polish. Even to use more coats of the polish, you can still see your nail underneath, so it just means that to use it, I'd need a color underneath it (handy when you live in a room beside Neverland Nails). The One That Got Away is a funky one for a night out, but I haven't really got to use it yet so I don't have a lot to say about it yet. I love love love Not Like The Movies because its a charmeleon polish, it can look like a romantic dove-grey color and then manipulate it with the lighting in the room to give the right sheen for you. However, the star of the show for me is Teenage Dream. Two coats of this baby and your nails are completely saturated in glitter. Perfect for me. This polish also is the perfect color as a 'nude' pink. I use the word 'nude' very loosely as it is more my skintone than a traditional 'nude'. My workplace doesn't appreciate bright nail colors and I was able to wear this for 3 weeks running. It blends in whilst still saying, 'BAM! Look at me, I'm really glittery!'

Now as I type this post, I'm sitting in Spain on my holidays. Dad has gone out for the morning, I was supposed to go with him but due to the heat in the apartment, I only got around 2 hours sleep and requested to stay behind and sleep for another few hours. Now, I was walking around the Estapona port market on Sunday (yesterday) and my shoulders had gotten some sun and the extremely hot day just cooked my sunscreened shoulders to a crisp, so I am sitting indoors with the windows open and will head down to the pool later and go for a cooldown (with a tshirt covering my still pink shoulders). So heres a tip when you go on holiday - you can get burnt through your clothes so if you remotely think it will be burnt, protect yourself!!!

So I arrived on Wednesday and I had already informed my poor dad that I was taking him to a makeup store that I don't have back at home. Sephora. I'd only ever heard of Sephora's and leaped at the chance to visit it. However, I bargained with myself, if you can get it back home then don't buy it. So as I stepped into the store, I heard the little voice in my head screaming as I looked at the makeup. The voice also screamed as I picked up a lovely MakeUp Forever buttercup yellow eyeliner, "Not at that price you don't!!!" The euro exchange to my stirling pound is a pound for a euro, and the eyeliner cost over 20 euro. So I glumly set it back and then I saw it.

The Too-Faced stand is something I look at back home as well, after becoming a huge fan of their 'Glitter Glue' eye primer. You can click here to see my video review of it. I looked at their loose glitters, which are expensive but pretty. Beside it was a range of glitter eyeliners I hadn't seen before and there she sat in her tester glory. The Two-Faced Starry-Eyed liquid eyeliner in Mad Mad Love. I instantly loved it because it was called Starry-Eyed and I thought of my favourite Ellie Goulding song 'Starry Eyed'. But Mad Mad Love was the exact match to Teenage Dream! I felt my hand creep to my wallet and the rest was history...

--------------------------------

So I've been home for over a week and I've worn the eyeliner into work once. I got a lot of compliments about how pretty and subtle it was, as it was glittery without being very 'in-your-face' and because it was quite pale, it helped show up the little tan I had earned whilst making my 'lets-look-more-awake' makeup a bit less boring and a bit more Jordana :)

I failed to mention previously about the brush I purchased in Sephora too - it reminds me of a eyeshadow sponge applicator tip but instead of it being sponge, its silicone… whats this for I hear you say… its for glitter! I know, genius! Plus, it was only 9 euro - total bargain for something I'll be using time and time again!

Also, I hit up the duty free on the way home and purchased MAC 'Lucky Green' and the limited edition Wonder Woman line of loose pigments by MAC in 'Marine Ultra' - just because it was pretty :D

Until next time Glitterflakes :)

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Okay, if any of you follow me on Facebook or Twitter - not so new…

So we all know that I have issues with Urban Decay at the moment… No, we don't? Okay, basically in a nutshell, Urban Decay create these beautiful, high pigmented eyeshadows in lots of yummy, scrummy colors that make me drool… but then they decide to put flakes of glitter into them… just why? The glitter is far too big a flake to even warrant being in an eyeshadow!

Now, do not get me wrong - I Love glitter! Anything glittery has me pulled over by a gravity force and going all googly-eyed and much like those cute little aliens from Toy Story. Heck, give me a quick-dry glitter eyeliner and I'm all over that like Spanish Buzz over Jessie!

But this glitter is actualy pointless! I've tried using primer, sponge applicators, stiff brushes, fluffy brushes, angled brushes and every time I use these gorgeous shades with the flakes of glitter, the glitter flakes just fall out!!! Seriously not cool!!!

However, as I wander through House of Frazier or Debenhams, usually the latter as I wander over after class to kill time as I wait for Neverland Nails to finish work, I still find myself at the counter. Damn the pretty colors and the glitter!!! But I was recently over on a mission - I had loaned my sample Primer Potion to a work collegue and it came to my attention that there wasn't much left in it. So I purchased the Primer Potion - just the original formula, I find the 'Sin' formula leaves all shadows with a hint of shimmer and if I wanted a satin or matt finish… yeah, you get me?

Now, again, I have issues with the presentation of the packaging… really? A velvet lined blister-pack? How very poncey of you…

Now, why would I buy this if all I do is complain about it? Simple. This is, without a doubt, the best primer I have ever used. It's not silicone based, and pretty much keeps your shadows as crease proof as humanly possible. Plus, because its an Urban Decay one, all the pigments in your shadow stick and really show up with it.

I have tried other primers - I sampled the new M.A.C Prep and Primer eye primer, but it uses a pump and too much product squirted out, and I bought the LemonAid by Benefit. This is an eye brightening one, and it does wonders around my eyes as a color correcting aid. However, when I applied it on my lids, I felt that it did nothing for keeping eyeshadow cliffs at bay. And by eyeshadow cliffs, I mean the buildup of product due to creasing.

So it was my birthday at the end of May, and I made plans to go out on the Saturday night after the actual birthday. Now, I saw a xSparkage tutorial on an Easy Rainbow Eyes look and in this, she states that she uses a cream shadow base. Now, where would I get a cream shadow - the Illamasqua counter in Debenhams. So off I scamper to Illamasqua.

I had received the Liquid Metal Palette No. 1 for christmas from Neverland Nails. Now, if you are not acquainted with Illamasqua's Liquid Metal range, let me introduce you. It's a creamy, high pigmented metallic range that when used in a concentrated method i.e eyeliner, it looks like you had brushed metal onto your skin. It also can be lightly dabbed onto skin for a slightly colored, metallic shimmer.

Palette No. 1 has been out of stock at the Illamasqua counter since October 2010 due to a product restriction. The first few batches came out okay, but I think that the formula was changed because of a discontinued ingredient and the supplier to Illamasqua have said that they are not 100% happy with the formula and are working on the problem. So I am very much the cat that got the cream in regards to this.

Palette No 1. consists of a silver, bronze, gold and pewter quad. It is designed like a compact and has a mirror but no brush. I absolutely love the colors that they swatch and would highly recommend that people should get these for in their kit. Not necessarily the Illamasqua ones, but the colors go with every shadow color and can just give the right 'pop' to a look when needed.

So I began to browse, and I got approached by a makeup artist. Now, I'm always intimidated by these people because they look flawless, and I usually am wearing no makeup when I browse and therefore am treated like an absolute moron. Again, Urban Decay did a makeover for me, and the artist used the wrong color (I had my eyes shut otherwise I would have pointed this out before she had finished the look), didn't contour or add depth and then used the bloody glitter eyeliners that take an absolute age to half dry out! Benefit also gave me a makeover to sample the LemonAid and when I informed the artist that I used very bright colors, she proceeded to give me a very neutral eye, tried to sell me the Bad Gal Lash mascara that I told her I already owned and filled my eyebrows with crap to redefine them. Just why?

So it was very refreshing to talk to an artist that listened to my query, and showed me the cream pigments that I was after. She also talked me through different options that I could have used, and even opened a brand new cream pigment for me to swatch. So I was looking at a cream pigment and a medium eye pencil, and when I asked her for an honest opinion of which was the better option, she talked me through the pros and cons and gave me a rounded answer of the eye pencil, which was also cheaper than the pigment. So here was a makeup artist who actually listened to me, took the time to talk with me and actually sold me the cheaper product because it was better than the dearer product for its intended use. So we talked and she wrote down a lot of cosmetology schools for me to look at, and I asked for her name for if I wanted my makeup done for an event. It was, overall, a good half to three quarters of an hour for each of us.

Now, when I got home, I was whisked out by my father to do some messages so by the time I got home, I just wanted to play with the Primer Potion, the Medium Eye pencil and the Barry M pigments I had purchased. And during this, I discovered the best eyeshadow base/primer combination in the world.

Layer the pencil underneath the Primer Potion for unmoveable color. Seriously. I swatched some pigment with just pencil, just Primer Potion, and then with both on the back of my hand. Now, I forgot about it and went to bed. The part that was swatched with the combination was still on when I woke up in the morning.

Now, I never got to show this off because of work and not having enough time to do the rainbow eyes, but watch this blog!

Until next time GlitterFlakes :)

A Quick Update

Hey guys!

This is just a quick-fire post to let you know how I'm doing. I've just been super busy at the minute but hopefully I will get my last makeup look posted this week. I was out for dinner a fortnight ago and did a quick look and I'll also be looking at the importance of a clean shadow brush! I learnt it the hard way guys!

So this weekend, its the annual Easter 'Lack-Of-Sleepover' up at the church, and me and my sister Neverland Nails are getting a room to turn into a salon. Makeup, nails, hair and maybe even glitter tattoos. Keep watching this space!

I also want to give a really good recommendation to any of my UK readers. If you need any makeup bags and need them cheap, head straight for Primark. I am addicted to the oil-treated plastic cosmetic cases and bought a pencilcase to carry my brushes in for the beauty room on Saturday. I have 2 of the large, carryall type bags like these:

The other one is french navy with cherry and cherryblossom print, and I had a black one with an oriental, floral pattern in purples and pinks but I carried so much stuff in it that the handle broke. Do not let that put you off - I was stuffing the poor thing to capacity with eyeliners and solo shadows! If the handle didn't break, the zip would've bust!

Until next time GlitterFlakes :)

Why bother with make-up?

I was one of these girls who protested against make-up. My first time wearing foundation was when I was 17 and attended my school formal/prom. And I asked, "Must I wear it?"

So whats changed from now and then?

My attitudes towards make-up have seriously changed. I went to a school, filled with girls who wore make-up incorrectly, scrubbing their foundation on like they were icing a cake, leaving the collars of their shirts very obviously orange and having a serious tidal wave at their hairline. And when the foundations with 'skin brighteners' for 'a more natural look' came into fashion… well… that was… attractive. They looked like oompa loompa's that decided to roll their faces in a pile of iridescent glitter… like an orange Edward Cullen before his time came into fashion.

(Not that I'm dissing the Twilight… I am a fan… just not to a point of ridiculious-ness *COUGH buying into the Twilight cosmetics COUGH*)

So attending the school of make-up disasters warped my view of make-up. I also fell into a group of friends who wore little make-up, making a bit of eyeliner the most they'd ever wear. One of my friends was not allowed to buy make-up until she was 16 and another was a tomboy who didn't like dressing up.

I always enjoyed experimenting with eyeshadows and progressed to eyeliner when I hit my rebellious, gothic stage when I was 13-14. So when I was bought eyeshadows as gifts, I always played with them and wore eye make-up at the weekends or evenings.

I bought my first face powder in 2010 and used it to help disguise dark circles. I used a cheap blusher from a cheap palette bought to me as a present from one of the kids who attended the youth club I volunteered at. It was around this time when I found the YouTube beauty community and began to watch and follow Petrilude, XSparkage, Michelle Phan and BubzBeauty. And so, now I have a full standup set of drawers full of cosmetics and I'm seriously debating getting another set.

So theres my make-up story done. Lets get this party started and get some hauls and reviews and tutorials on here to fill it with prettyness!!!