Let's Talk About: Sleep

Ah sleeping, one of my favourite weekend activities. I recently found out that March is International Sleep Awareness Month from a sleep loving company called Casper Mattress that is trying to generally raise awareness. Of course it's now nearly the end of the month (oops) which seems to have flown by! 

I'd love to spend every day sleeping in till mid afternoon, but I've been so busy with University work that that hasn't been an option lately! I love this little infographic Caspar sent, and I've definitely related to them all at some point but probably the one that suits me most is The Bed Hogger (hello starfish sleeping style).

Which one are you? And just before I go I'll leave you with these sleep inspired nails - Snorlax Nail Art - the laziest of all the Pokémon.

Let's Talk About: Skin Tone

I've decided to start a little series called 'Let's Talk About' where basically I ramble on about a particular beauty topic and hopefully impart a little bit of info. Slightly more informal than a proper review.

Skin tone can be a bit of a confusing subject in the beauty world. Makeup artists will talk about 'warm' or 'cool' undertones when colour-matching you to a foundation. Some use the comparison of the colouring in your veins as a guideline; green veins for warmer skin, blue veins for cool skin, but as someone who has a mixture of these this isn't always very helpful. 

Pink undertones in your skin tend to mean cooler skin tone, and yellow undertones lead towards warmer skin tone. It's also possible to have a mixture (probably not advised to wear multiple foundations on different areas), or be completely neutral.

Foundations are made to complement this, MAC (for example) colour match you to either NW or NC depending on your skin tone. I actually prefer to go the opposite way, since I have quite a cool skin tone, I like to use yellow-ish or neutral foundations to counteract the pink tones in my skin.

I've also discovered that certain brands tend to lean toward cool tones or warm tones within their range; for example Clinique have much pinker foundations, and Smashbox have more yellow undertones.

It can be difficult to find an exact match to your skin tone, but when you do, and it has your ideal consistency too: congratulations you've found your holy grail foundation! For me that happens to be Nars Sheer Glow in Mont Blanc. Good luck finding yours!

Long Time No See...

So it's been quite some time since I last posted - 4 months to be exact. In a nutshell I just got busy, ran out of draft posts, and then didn't really know how to start again. There are some stereotypical 'beauty blogger' posts that just don't interest me, haul posts for example (although I still love reading them because I'm nosey), and it can get a little daunting when so many others post almost every day, have hundreds of followers, and Youtube channels (I don't want one of those either). 

I love the beauty blogging community, and I think these things can be great for others, but in my own little corner of the internet I want to stick to writing about the things I care about - getting back to my roots (also literally, I've ditched the blonde in my hair!) even if that means less frequent posts. I want them to be the type of posts that people find useful, such as the Halloween Makeup posts, I can remember the pride I felt when I my friend told me they used my advice to create their own latex wounds and it's moments like that that inspired me to start blogging in the first place.

So, what have I been up to in the last 4 months? Well, I have been focusing on my final year dissertation, and my other passion: cocktails. Since late November, I've been working as a cocktail bartender and also entered a few cocktail competitions. I'm setting up a separate blog for cocktail related things 'Boozy Robot' so feel free to give that a follow if you're interested!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures taken at a recent FlairSoc Mixology, combining my cocktail making with a nice shot of my eye makeup (man I love Urban Decay Half Baked eyeshadow)!

MAC Star Violet Vs Cranberry

I bought MAC Cranberry eyeshadow in autumn last year, to branch out from my usual gold and bronze smoky eye colours I usually wear. I've absolutely loved using it, and it even helped me with a Bloody Mary costume once.

I bought MAC Star Violet eyeshadow just before this summer, to create pink/rose looks instead of buying the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. 

When I unpackaged it at home, I immediately noticed the similarity between Star Violet and Cranberry and felt silly for buying essentially the same colour. But then after using them both, and swatching them I realised they are in fact not the same colour.

Star Violet (left), Cranberry (right)

Star Violet (left), Cranberry (right)

Star Violet has a much more pink (bordering onto purple territory) undertones, and is a more subtle addition to a look compared with Cranberry.

Cranberry is more pigmented, and can often require a lighter application to avoid the 'I've just been crying look' that nobody wants.

So these two eyeshadows have their differences, but should you buy them both? The answer, I think, is no. If you're specifically looking for a red eyeshadow for autumn/winter and want to create generally darker looks then get Cranberry. If you're looking for an all-year-rounder red/pink eyeshadow that is more wearable then get Star Violet.

Halloween Makeup: Werewolf Victim

I. Am. So. Excited. For. Halloween. No seriously, I love doing halloween makeup because it's just so much more creative and fun.

If you're a bit stuck what to do, this is a great idea for both the low-budget and last-minute since you only really need to buy liquid latex and fake blood (and even that you can make at home). Oh, I suppose old clothes would be handy too for the purpose of cutting them up and adding blood to make it look like you've been attacked. But let's concentrate on the face for now.

First, you'll want to draw out an outline of where you'll want your scratches to be, mostly to give yourself an idea, because now you're going to cover them up. With tissue and liquid latex. Layered.

Important thing to note! 
Don't get liquid latex on your eyebrows, eyelid, or general eye area because this stuff hurts when you peel it off.

When you have enough layers, let that all dry (you can speed up the process with a hairdryer on gentle heat) and then add foundation and powder to blend into your skin. This won't be perfect, but your friends will be too impressed/scared to notice that.

Next, very carefully rip the tissue/latex into lines down your face (feel free to redraw the lines if that helps) and seal the edges down with a bit more liquid latex.

Now fill in those gouges with something red, be it eyeshadow or red lipstick (I used both), and then add depth to the edges with darker colours to make it look more realistic. I would also recommend adding fake blood, but I didn't have any to hand.

For a final touch, lightly dust brown/grey eyeshadow over your face to dirty it up a bit.

For other Halloween inspiration, check out these tutorials from last year, as well as this Zombie Disney look and this Bloody Mary look.

Disappointing Products #3

Trilogy Cream Cleanser

I had a travel size of this, so decided to take it on holiday with me. I ended up not using it because it didn't make my skin feel clean, and was bizarrely clogging on my face rather than refreshing.

Nair Brazilian Spa Clay*

I used this on my legs prior to going on holiday, but found the product to be utterly useless - my leg hair grew back faster than if I'd just shaved my legs!

Lancome Artliner

I feel a bit mean about this one, since it's not a horrible eyeliner, but the spongy tip makes it seriously difficult to get close to the lash-line or do any kind of wing/cat-eye. It's an okay eyeliner which lasts a few hours but it's not very opaque and initial application can look very grey instead of black. I really don't it's worth the high price tag, there are much better eyeliners out there for your money and I had much higher expectations for this one!

Beauty Blender
There's been a lot of hype that's surrounded the beauty blender. Unfortunately, to me it just seems like a glorified sponge. It applies foundation  okay, but nowhere near as flawlessly as if I use a makeup brush, and I find myself using more product as it gets absorbed.

September Favourites

Seriously. Where did September go? Today I thought I'd share the beauty products I've been loving recently:

Topshop Matte Bronzer in Mohawk

When I recently ran out of my Benefit Hoola bronzer, I didn't really want to splash out £23.50 for a little box of powder. I was super happy to find this matte bronzer which is a total dupe for Hoola, and is only £9 for three times as much actual product, Topshop have an absolute winner of a product here, especially as it can be a struggle to find a decent properly matte bronzer on the high-street.

Viktor Rolf Bon Bon Eau de Parfum

I bought this perfume back in April, but didn't really use it much during summer. Now though, it's my go to fragrance for both day and night. This has been one of those fragrances which people have complimented on, which is always nice!

Ciaté Nail Polishes

I've recently found a new love for Ciaté nail polishes. In particular, the colour Cookies and Cream as the perfect nude/taupe colour, this is actually a repurchase of a mini version of this colour from a magazine freebie.

Rimmel Glam Eyes Professional Liquid Eyeliner

After a disappointing experience with a different liquid eyeliner (more on that later), I needed a new one. So this was a spontaneous purchase with no prior review-reading and pleasantly surprised me by how good this little product is. For just over £5 you can get nice opaque black eyeliner, and a neat wing. It doesn't last as long as Urban Decays's 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Liner, but for a third of the price I can't really complain!