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!

Autumn Playlist

Firstly, how awesome is that middle album artwork? Today I thought I'd share a selection of the songs I've been listening to recently. My taste in music has definitely become more electronic/dance tunes over the last year, so if you're not really into that then this playlist probably won't be your cup of tea...

Overwerk - Control ft. Nick Nikon

Capital Cities - Center Stage

Overwerk -  Buzzin'

Cinnamon Chasers - You

Uppermost - Imagine Reality

Far Too Loud - Boom!

Anoraak - Nightdrive With You (Fear of Tigers Remix)

Cinnamon Chasers - Lights

Grum - Transport

Duochrome Smoky Eye

I decided to have another play with MAC Club eyeshadow, because I felt that my previous look using it (found here) didn't quite capture how literally beautiful this colour is. By layering Club over a blue base (I've used Nars Ubangi Eye Paint) it really brings out the different tones in the eyeshadow, shifting it between blue, green, and brown in different lighting.

It's difficult to capture on camera, but if you have this eyeshadow seriously give it a go because it makes for a really easy smoky eye by just adding MAC Satin Taupe and some matte blue eyeshadow through the crease and in the bottom lashline.

Something else I've learnt recently that makes dark smoky eyes like this look much easier; is by applying your crease colour first and blending that out, and then applying your lid colour.

If you wanted to, you could absolutely smoke this out further but I personally prefer to keep my eyeshadow mostly within my lid space - just work with your own eye shape!

Winged Eyeliner Made Easier

After my latest eyeliner purchase turned out to be a bit of a disappointment (more on that later), I found myself needing a new technique for applying winged eyeliner.

Step in the angled-brush-and-eyeshadow method. I spray some Urban Decay Complexion Prep Spray onto my MAC 208 brush, and then use it to apply matte black eyeshadow to the lashline and create a wing. It's difficult to explain in words how I make the wing shape, but there are loads of video tutorials on the internet and then it's basically practice, practice, practice.

It took me a while to find a brush that was was small enough to create just a subtle winged effect, but this MAC 208 does the job perfectly. This technique also works without the setting spray, but I find the finish to be less opaque and not as long-lasting.

Turkish Lookbook

A post I would have scheduled while I was away if I had the time, is a mini collection of the outfits I'd wear on holiday. Instead, I'm sharing it now:

The Airport

A simple and comfortable outfit for travelling in; no-one wants to be taking off loads of layers and accessories when going through security!

 The Daytime

Not a part of the holiday that requires much in the way of clothing! Being the lazy person I am, I only made it to one breakfast! and the rest of the day it was lounging around the pool in a bikini and throwing on this awesome white kimono for lunch.

The Evening

When it came to packing outfits for the evening, I pretty much just threw things in my case that were summery and I wouldn't be able to wear for much longer. Nothing too fancy, just something to wear while working my way through the menu of all-inclusive cocktails...