First ever swap! It's here ^_^!

Well actually I received my package yesterday, but I wasn't able to blog then ;).

Before I begin...Thanks SO much Sarah ^_^!!! Seriously, she was amazingly kind and patient (it took me a month to send her stuff out - ahem, will do better next time, I hope :-P) throughout the whole process, and gave me so much lovely stuff that I never would've been able to acquire on my own :). Check out her make-up sale here - and even though it's a sale, she does do swaps for certain stuff ;).

So, without further ado...The goodies ^_^!!!

(Unfortunately, the OPI nail polish broke :( and puked ink all over most stuff, lol XD.)

I sent her one Korres Rose mask. With loads of samples so I wouldn't feel unkind, but...I still kinda do! Look at all the stuff she gave me ^_^!

Here we have: the plastic packaging from the Visee Glam Hunt Eyes eye shadow in G-5 (that thankfully protected most of it from the enamel ;D), my new broken OPI nail polish in Russian Navy ;_; (but I still kinda got one single manicure out of it, keep reading), Silk Naturals eye shadow baggies in Sizzle and Lurid (that one got inked and had a tiny hole in the bag, but I think I can still use it once or so :-P, lol - I don't let stuff go to waste if it can be saved at all), a Wet & Wild green eye shadow trio, the Visee Glam Hunt Eyes, a Revlon cream shadow quad (in Copper Crayon - it does say Crayon :o, that's weird :-/, lol XD), Wet & Wild cream shadow in Envy, a Burt's Bees lip balm, and Dior and Fresh skincare samples :).

Close-up of the eye palettes:

Thoughts and comments and stuff...On stuff ^_^! Lol I'm in a dorky mood today :-P.

Visee Glam Hunt Eyes: My first ever Japanese item yay ^___^! I feel so privileged :). It's funny, but I may just be the only one in the country to own this, and that feels so lovely ^_^! It's a great palette :), with the colours being white, green, purple, dark and silver (the pic's pretty true), and I love the imprints - and the packaging :D ^_^. Oh, and the back has a diagram on how to wear the colours - definitely a good thing for me, 'cause I am usually clueless, lol ;D.

Wet & Wild eye shadow trio: That thing has the best mirror I have ever seen (or owned) on a low-end item. It's actually large enough to be of use :D, unlike most >:-). It slides out from the side ;). The shades are great :D - if you're in North America, like greens and don't mind using cheap make-up, you have to get this :-P ;). And it's not tested on animals ^_^! I love this :). Does anyone have any other colours available for swapping ;)?

Revlon cream quad: I normally don't like Revlon, or creams :-P. But this is special :). It has all the colours one normally wears ;). Brown, blue, white...And red :D!!! OK, that one isn't 'normal' XD, but you know I love red shadow :). And this isn't a true red, it's more of a copper, so it's wearable ;) even if you're not a bright shadow person :). I'd be OK either way though, 'cause I am :-P ^_^.

Wet & Wild cream shadow in Envy: I saw this in an old photo shoot from US Seventeen, and it looked so beautiful on the model...I had to have it :). I tested it on my hand and it's lovely ^_^!!! I hope this doesn't crease badly when I use it on my eyes >:-), but if it doesn't, that would make it sort of perfect :)...For the price though, it already is ;).

Burt's Bees lip balm: This does smell and taste really strongly of honey, so if you hate honey this isn't for you :-P. But I don't, and I love this :). It's so soft and lovely ^_^! Will swap for this again when I use it up - but I hope that won't be too soon ;).

Silk Naturals shadow baggies: Lurid got soaked :(. It's a really nice brown though, cool-toned and with slight shimmer. And Sizzle is a gorgeous metallic light blue :D. I love the colour, I'll have to use my sample and if the shadow works well, I'll add this to my wishlist ;).

Last but not least, even though it broke...OPI Russian Navy.

The perfect inky blue. If you're fair and like dark blues, you have to buy this.

There, I've said it. And now I'm gonna search for this in every Sephora in town. I know I won't find it though - it was a 2007 release :(. But I can still try ;). I love this colour sooo much, I even did my nails with it! I used (you're not gonna believe this) nail polish remover to get the lacquer still left in the bottle into a semi-fluid state - can't remember where I read about this, but I did, and it works ;D. It does look quite clumpy on my nails, but I don't mind :-P 'cause the colour is this beautiful :). I might even get one more use out of that broken bottle, if I'm lucky ^_^.

Yes, my nails are all different lengths...So what :-P. I'm trying to grow them out ;).

Oh, and another New Acquisition I neglected to mention...Last Saturday, I went to The Mall (actual name - isn't it stupid >:-D?) with my sister and her friend. (Fine, actually I took my sister to the mall so she wouldn't get lost 'cause she'd never been there before, and we met up with her friend there.) I hate The Mall, and malls in general 'cause they're overwhelming (and remind me of a bad period of my life), but at least that place has a Sephora :). And I picked up the Too Faced Miss Sixty palette ^_^! (My sister had to lend me 5 Euros - I feel a bit guilty about that :-P.) It was the last one they had left :D, and the blush was partly broken >:-), but I can live with that :-P. Does anyone want a review :D?

Let me know ;). Thanks everyone for reading :), and Sarah for swapping with me ^_^.

Spring 2009: Beauty Pop Colour Expression [ArtDeco].

Promo image for the collection. Brights for spring = gorgeous :D. And way more original than all those First Blushes :-P. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but they're such an obvious choice.

(You can see a tutorial for this look right here ^_^.)

ArtDeco's a German brand, around since 1985, and probably most known because of the unique (for a high street brand) 'refillable' concept - shadows and blushes are sold in pans, and shadow boxes (to package them in) are sold separately. This allows people to make their own palettes and combine colours in whatever way they like :), change the colour combinations whenever they feel like it ;D, and you can reuse the boxes until they break XD. Which is quite unlikely to happen for a very long time :-P.

[Collection description from official website.]

Collection products: Oil-Free Long-Lasting Foundation, 4 new eye shadow colours, 1 new blush colour, 2 new waterproof eye pencils, black liquid liner, 2 new Eye Designer refills, 2 new shades of High Performance lipstick, 2 new shades of Perfect Colour lipstick, 2 new waterproof lip liners, and 2 new shades of nail polish.

Oh, and a new Beauty Box :D. It's a 3-slot one, which means it fits either 3 shadows or a blush. It was designed by Romero Britto (an artist from Brazil), and 10 percent from sales of this item goes to charity ^_^. Not quite MAC Viva Glam, but still something :-P :). Plus, the bright, pop-art design's my personal favourite out of all the boxes they've created - don't you think it's lovely ^_^?

Pictured here with 3 of the 4 new eye shadows. The fourth one's a lovely bright spring green, and you can see it below because I've bought it :-P.

Size comparison pic: MAC Mutiny pigment, ArtDeco eye shadow in 243, and Rimmel eye shadow in Saucy Mint.

Next come swatches of everything I was able to swatch at the counter - I couldn't find testers for the Eye Designers :(. (They're described as 'light citrus' and 'sparkling orchid'.) And we never have nail polish testers >:-). For the record, the nail polishes are a bright red and a pinky violet, and you can see them on the website :).

Please excuse these looking kind of pale - they were single-swipe, and I was nervous because this was my first ever full-collection swatch for blogging purposes XD (yeah, I'm stupid :-P). And I've no idea why my hand looks so fat there :-/.

So, from left to right & up to down:

*Lip liners in 90 and 83.
*Eye liners in 19 and 45. I really like the green one :D!
*Eye shadows in 77, 222, 227 and 243, and the very camera-shy >:-D blush in 33...
*High Performance Lipsticks in Sweet Rose and Peony Red.
*Perfect Colour Lipsticks in Poppy Red and Spicy Tangerine.

Eye shadow swatches close-up:

Lipstick swatches close-up:

I need to practice my swatch-taking...Lol.

So, what am I personally excited about :D?

This collection's must-have item has got to be the Limited Edition Beauty Box :). I'll be getting at least 2 ^_^. It may fit 3 (and not 4, as usual), but the design's amazingly bright and happy :D, and it's a charity item ^_^! I love those :). Plus, I need Beauty Boxes 'cause I don't own any yet ;). The Perfect Colour lipsticks are outrageously bright in a good way, plus the swatches lasted all day ;). I do own similar colours, but definitely check them out if you don't. The liner swatches also lasted all day (and didn't fade when I washed my hands), so if you're looking for waterproof liners, try these, the colours are lovely ^_^. (I personally hate waterproof items though :-P.) Last but not least, the eye shadows :). Go grab all the colours you haven't yet got, 'cause these are amazing. I bought the green one ^_^, and remember I said the blue and yellow match the Hello Kitty colours? Well, not precisely XD. The blue is quite close, but it's matte, not glittery like Stylin', and it's bluer :-P. And the yellow is far more lemony than gold. I wanted to go back for it, but then I found a match in my collection - the yellow from Avon's Orchid Delight duo. So (unless you own them or similar colours), definitely go grab 222 and 243, and try the other two 'cause they're great, just less unique - but still great shades to add to your collection in the (admittedly unlikely) event that you haven't got them ;).

Will buy: At least 2 Beauty Boxes :), and Eye Shadow in 243 - but wait, I've already bought that ;D :-P ^_^.

As always, do let me know what you think :). Oh, and here's another blog on this bright collection ;) ^_^.

Look what I've got for swapping ^_^!!! Plus, Bourjois swatches, thoughts on Spring 2009 stuff, and various other randomness.

That's right :D...2 brand new Tinted Lip Conditioners from the MAC Hello Kitty Collection ^_^! I have one Pink Fish and one Popster ;D.

I would like to swap these for Fashion Mews and Strayin' only. Sorry guys, I'd love to grab some more for each of you who missed out on these (and swap them for the lovely stuff you may have to offer me), but I have run out of money XD. I hope you can understand ;).

*I'd prefer brand new lipsticks (since mine are), but if you've only used them a few times, that's OK.

*I'd prefer to swap with someone in Europe (much less hassle for us both), but this only applies if I receive multiple offers (from various countries). If nobody from Europe is interested, I will swap internationally :D. Yay ^_^!

*It would be much easier if I could swap the 2 TLCs for 2 lipsticks in a single swap, but if you only have one available, contact me anyway, I might still consider your offer ;).

That's pretty much it. If I receive no offers within a month's time, I'll put these onto Make-Up Alley, but I'd much prefer to swap with someone I know from blogging :).

Got these today :). They haven't sold out yet, which is a bit odd 'cause shoppers in pretty much every other country seem to love them :-/. Oh, and Pretty Baby's tempting me, badly, especially because of the cuuute packaging, but facts are facts - I can't afford it at the moment :-P.

Kitty Kouture is here :D! To be honest, after my experience with regular MAC Kitty I was extremely worried about the price, but surprisingly...The Dazzleglasses are 32 Euros each, and the Kitty Kouture powder is 80 Euros - this is not much higher than the US price, yay :D! And it's still expensive enough to hold off the average consumer until my birthday in late April ;D! Well, I hope XD. I swatched everything, and the glosses are just gorgeous, much better than the regular Kitty glosses (I didn't really like any :( - but at least that means more money saved, lol), and the powder is the Best I have ever tried in my life. (Well, it better be at that price >:-) XD.) And that lovely packaging ^_^...It's official - this is where my birthday money'll go, even if I have to kiss goodbye every single other item on my Wishlist ;).

I don't have pictures, but if you're interested in Kitty Kouture, Fuzkittie has a lovely video reviewing everything ;). Watch :-P.

Oh, and one of the MAC ladies was asking whether Sushi Flower was permanent, and I blurted out that it was before anyone else had a chance to reply. Felt a bit of an idiot after, of course XD. I do tend to speak my mind without thinking :-P.

Sephora had nothing special, except for a Sephora palette with 4 eye shadows and lip colours each for the 2 looks it offered - natural and dramatic. The Dramatic section included red eye shadow :D, and the whole thing was on sale for 15 Euros ^_^! Might go grab it later if I have the money, I'm a sucker for red eye shadow ;). It's so hard to find :-/...

I also went to a department store to swatch the Bourjois Vintage Blushers for the lovely Sarah of A Watercolour Sky (one of my favourite beauty blogs ^_^) :). She had them on her wishlist (and we've got a swap planned as soon as the first one is done), so I thought she (and maybe some others who read this blog, lol) might like to see them ;).

[Explanations come after the pics ;D.]

This was taken on the bus stop, in moderate natural light.

On the bus, with the (annoyingly bright and irritating, for me anyway, and) evil Greek sunlight coming through onto my hand...But yes, I do pick a window seat if I can help it, sun or no sun. I'm such an oxymoron >:-)...Lol.

At home, with very little light. (I like to basically barricade myself once I get home XD :-P.)

So, the colours are (from left to right) ArtDeco's new blush for spring, which just doesn't seem to photograph well :(...I actually kinda messed up my swatch for it for the collection review I'll put up soon, and I wanted to redo it. Still very sheer though :-/ :(. It's a mauvish pink, with no shimmer, and you can barely see it on the pics >:-).

Then, Bourjois Little Round Pots (13,5 Euros each here) in Ashes Of Roses, Ashes Of Carnations, and Ashes Of Wall Flower (odd name XD). The R, C, W were made by me with a random Bourjois liner so I wouldn't forget which colour was which >:-). These were all multiple swipes 'cause I wanted to make sure they stayed on long enough for me to take pictures XD.

Due to that [in]famous Greek sun, I was able to see the colours in both 'natural' daylight and bright sunlight (which really brought out the shimmers) - you see, every cloud has a silver lining XD :).

Ashes Of Roses: This is a light pink that reflects coralish in bright sunlight - it actually reminds me a lot of MAC Fafi nail polish in Girls Will Be Girls (which I own) XD. If you have it too, you'll get what I'm talking about ;).

Ashes Of Carnations: This is more orangey (not full on orange though, don't worry), and the sun makes it appear close to brick red. Like Ashes Of Roses, it's quite shimmery, but not in a bad way - I think that as long as you don't overload, they'll look lovely glowy :).

Ashes Of Wall Flower: This is a matte rose in natural light, and has just a soft (and I think, more cool-toned) shimmer in bright sunlight, as opposed to the other two, which really reflect gold. I think this one's my favourite if I had to pick one :), but if you've got money to spend, grab all three (test them on yourself before you do, of course ;D) - all colours are gorgeous :D, plus they're Limited Edition :-P.

It's been a good day :). The only bad part was having a seedy ugly man stalking me (and offering to buy me stuff XD) all through the store with the Bourjois >:-). It's not the first time either (though they're different people each time) >:-/. Why can't normal people ever approach me for a change :( :-P?

Look of the day, just because I think the face pic turned out OK. But oddly enough, I just couldn't get a decent eye one this time :-/.

No make-up at all, just sunscreen ;). Except the eyes (light blue from Pupa Heart on lid, dark blue on crease, melted blue glittery end of Oriflame Batman & Robin on upper line, and curled naked lashes) and the lips - one coat of Strayin', applied at the MAC store ;). See why I want it :'D?

[I'm not marking this blog as 'look' 'cause it's not a complete look ;) :-P.]

I believe I'm done here :). Thanks for reading, and comments are always welcome ^_^. I do read all of them :-P ;).

Regarding the TLCs, you can contact me by e-mail, or just leave a comment ^_^.

One last note...

IsaDora Blooming Spring has been released :D!

Does anyone want swatches ^_^?

Let me know ;).

Ten Honest Things About Me, and another award - thanks Miss Imperfect ^_^.

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog’s content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!”

Brilliant :D? Me XD? Lol. But since I've got this, I will brag about it now :-P ^_^. And for the record, I received this award from the lovely Miss Imperfect - thanks so much :).

So, Ten Honest Things About Me ;)...

*I plan blog posts in my head if I get inspired when I'm not online. I partly wrote this in my head too, lol.
*I don't drive and don't ever plan to learn to drive or own any kind of vehicle, since it's A)Enviromentally malicious and B)Far too much hassle.
*Being honest is actually the only positive trait I will accept about myself. If you compliment me in any other way, I'll smile and say thanks, but I won't believe you.
*I do enjoy using public transport (like buses and the underground) - people never want to believe this >:-), but I do. I really do.
*I never kill bugs and think that people who do that are really cruel :(.
*I love helping people pick out make-up to suit looks they like etc. ;D ^_^. I do this for my sister all the time, and we joke that I should be a make-up stylist - if such a job even exists, lol.
*I really love vinegar :). I add it to pretty much everything that's not sweet XD.
*I actually named my blog after my e-mail ('cause I couldn't come up with a name - and then I grew to like it and kept it ^_^), and not the other way around, as it may be more natural to assume :-P.
*Sometimes I feel guilty about spending so much money on make-up - but then I admit that I'm not that bad, since I don't shop for anything else (like clothes) or spend any money on 'going out' ;).
*My greatest fear is not having my life work out the way I'd wished for it to when I was little, and with every day that passes by, I get more and more afraid.

So, these are my confessions. I'm not tagging anyone though since it seems like everyone has done it already - but if you haven't, please feel free to do it and steal the pretty picture :-P ;D ^_^.

P.S. I swear I thought the Lady GaGa contest was until March 31st...And I was wrong >:-)...So now I'm too late, lol. But I don't mind much 'cause I really had no chance in that one, with all the talented people taking part...
And because I WON JANET'S CONTEST :D :) ^_^ !!!!!!!
Check out the prizes...I cannot believe someone is actually kind enough to send me so much amazing stuff. Thank you so much Janet :).

MAC Hello Kitty, finally ^_^!!!

New Acquisitions (before you ask, I happen to hate the word 'haul') from MAC Hello Kitty:

*Eye palette in Too Dolly (left).
*Eye palette in Lucky Tom (right).
*Pigments in Milk and Deep Blue Green.
*Lipstick in Fresh Brew (keep reading for explanations).
*ArtDeco eye shadow in 243 - it's not MAC Hello Kitty, but I still bought it today so it belongs here :-P.
*Powder blush in Tippy.
*My sister's (OK, so I talked her into it XD) Beauty Powder in Tahitian Sand, and I'm allowed to borrow it if I ever need to ^_^.

Background: MAC Hello Kitty bag :), free with 4 items. If I remember correctly, it's free for every 50 dollars spent in the US, which means I would've received three. I love living in Europe :-P...
I do. I really do. But some things are unfair >:-/.

Anyway, I'm still really happy with my new stuff :D. I finally made it to MAC today, and made my sister come along 'cause salespeople tend to be more civil to me when I'm with her >:-). The MAC lady was really nice though, gotta give credit where it's due ;) :).
But...I was relatively late.

The palettes, pigments, glitters and glitter liners were all there, so I snapped the pigments up as planned :). I always knew I was going to get those ^_^. I actually planned on getting one palette, but after seeing them in person, I just fell in love and had to get them - I could, 'cause some stuff I'd planned to get was sold out (keep reading).
Just for the record, the palettes were 39 Euros each, and the pigments were 25 Euros each >:-).

This is why I do NOT normally shop for MAC in this country.

Seriously, what the hell? This is more than twice the US price. There's making profit, and then there's ripping people off 'cause they're fans of certain things...OK, rant over...But this is just wrong.

The lip products were cheaper, therefore many were sold out :(. Including Strayin' and Fashion Mews, which I really really wanted to get :'(! Of the three that were left, Most Popular looked just wrong on my skin and Big Bow was far too sheeny (plus excuse me, but I'd never get a lipstick with such a stupid name anyway), so I got Fresh Brew, a gorgeous creamy colour :). Special thanks to my sister for getting this for me ^_^, 'cause I had no money left - and now I need to repay her ASAP, lol XD. Don't worry, I will :-P ;).

Half of the glosses were also sold out (Nice To Be Nice, which I'd wanted to get, wasn't even available for swatching :( >:-/) , and I didn't like any of those that were left, so I passed. Both TLCs are still available though, and to be honest I didn't like them...Does anyone want to swap lipsticks for TLCs by any chance ;)?

The Beauty Powders were still available, and I convinced my sister to get Tahitian Sand because it was gorgeous on her :). She's not a Kitty fan, but she relented - I'm very persuasive XD. Fun & Games was sold out, but Tippy was not, and I bought it :D.

Hmmm...What else? The grey nail polish was sold out, the other two were not, but I'm afraid my craving for those has passed, sorry MAC people ;D :-P. The lashes were there and looked really good, but I have no idea how to use false lashes XD, and the black accessories just weren't that attractive to me ;).

I also went to a few other stores and finally swatched ArtDeco's spring stuff (will do a review soon :D) - I took pics too, so yes, you'll be getting swatches ;D! And I bought the new eye shadow in 243, it's an absolutely striking lovely spring green colour :D - if you're in Europe, you've gotta get this ;). I wanted to get the blue and lemony shades too, but they're similar to the Lucky Tom Kitty palette colours, so I won't have to :).

Went to the Laura Mercier counter at Attica just to have a look - I was completely broke after MAC :-P >:-). First Blush isn't out yet :(, but the saleslady said it'll arrive before Easter. That's fine with me, I'll have more time to save for it, lol ;D. It'll probably be over 50 Euros, but I adore Laura palettes and those colours are just so spring-perfect :)...This is one palette I'm very likely to buy ^_^.

Besides my MAC and ArtDeco stuff, I picked up Givenchy perfume samples, Neutrogena body cream samples (a girl was giving them out), and loads of ads, even for brands I know I won't be shopping from, 'cause the looks were still gorgeous and I love to be inspired ;). I even grabbed a card from YSL, because Purple Snowflake did an absolutely beautiful rendition of it, and I know I can't match her but I may still try ^_^.

And that's about it ;D...Will do a post on ArtDeco and that Honest Things tag as soon as I can ;). I'll leave you with more MAC Kitty pics...Thanks for reading :), and do let me know what you think ;)...Questions, comments, Kitty-caused swoons XD, whatever ^_^.

My pigments, lipstick and ArtDeco shadow close up :).

With the lights on...See that gorgeous blue green reflection :D? And isn't Milk just pure sweet loveliness ^_^?
The whole lot under electric light...Beautiful :).

P.S. I adore my free bag :) ;D :-P.

My very first blogger award - thanks so much Gabriela ^_^!!!

~ List 7 things that you love, and then pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you love!
~ Be sure to tag them and let them know that they have won.
~ You can copy the picture of the award and paste it on your sideboard letting the whole world know...you are Kreativ!

I want to thank...First of all, the sweet and lovely and certainly very creative ;) Gabriela of Angels With Dirty Faces, for my very first award :) - hopefully many more will come :-P...Lol, but seriously, I can't believe this. I've only had this blog for like a month XD! I'm so happy right now :).
Thanks to all my readers, followers and commenters :). I would've given up without any feedback, no :-P?
Thanks to the person who came up with the concept of giving blog awards :D. Truly a brilliant idea :).
Thanks to Janet, Abbie and Posey for having contests and thus inspiring me to do Look entries...I needed some kind of stimulus 'cause I'm not that confident >:-), and they gave me it ;) :).
Thanks to Fuzkittie, Nikki, Nic Nic, Autumn Masquerade, Watercolour Sky, Nutty, PJ and Phyllis, for being some of the best blogs out there and inspiring me to start mine :). They all deserve this award too, btw :), but most of them have already received it ;), and I want to give this award to blogs that are not as well known, but just as good :D.

So...Here they are ^_^.

*Citrine
*Chomfifi
*Grayburn
*Jess of Ohh...Pretty!
*Annie
*Gracie
*Kayra of A Blogger That Falls In Love With Make-Up

That was hard. Try picking out seven blogs when you have over a hundred :-P.

My Seven Loves:

*Hello Kitty ^_^!!!
*My blog :).
*My mp3 player and phone, I'd be lost without them. I love being a 21st century girl ;).
*Make-up, obviously :-P. Especially all of mine, past present and future ;D ^_^.
*Diamonds...
*The colour red.
*Shopping ^_^!

I ended up listing blogs first and listing favourite things second...Because I forgot about the rules XD I'm eccentric like that :-P. It doesn't really matter anyway 'cause the blog list part's more important :).

I'll go add my award to my blog now ^_^...I'm so happy :). Thanks again, everyone, and I hope you win awards too ;) ^_^.

Results of insomnia on a Saturday night...My latest contest entry! Isn't that lovely :-P.

Yes, you read that right. It was Saturday night (though I suppose by now that'd be Sunday morning), I couldn't sleep, and I hadn't yet done my look for Posey's contest for which I by the way was running out of time for...So I thought I'd kill two objectives with one stone and just do it :-P.

Note to everyone who hasn't got that yet: I am NOT photogenic AT ALL. I absolutely HATE photographing myself for these contests, and I'm perfectly aware of my pics' inadequacies. Thank you.

Moving on...I won't be using this picture to enter since I'm not sure whether wonky faces count XD? I was just messing around, completely frustrated at my face's inability to look nice on a freaking single photograph >:-/ >:-D :-P.

Lovely, right >:-)? [That was ironic.]

Posey asked for editorial-style make-up, and now looking at it in retrospect, I sort of think mine wasn't wild enough XD, but I don't have time for another attempt so I'm gonna enter and hope for the best ;D.

Inspiration links (from one of my old issues of ElleGirl) here and here. [Bonus for my readers: the other two pages from the article ^_^.] Yes, that first scan is upside down. Isn't it always >:-), I hadn't used this scanner before and had no idea which way was which XD. But you can get the picture's general idea :-P...Or just rotate it ;).

Contest pics for my blog readers :D...Posey only asked for two, and she requires entering by e-mail, so I'll e-mail her and do my usual contest look blog for you lot :), and I'll give her the link to this as well ;).

Face picture I'll be entering with...(Don't forget to read the note in bold at the start of this blog ^_^!)

And it took me an hour to get this (OK-looking) one... Everything else was worse >:-). I do mean it when I say I'm not photogenic.

Eyes close-up:

These are easier to get right than full-face ones :). But contests need full-face pics >:-).

Single eye, open:

Single eye, closed (yes, it's the other eye - I'm being fair XD):

And...We're done here :D. Moving on to my favourite part...Look explanation and products ^_^.

For this look, I put together (and kinda tweaked XD) 2 looks from the ElleGirl article: the turquoise and light gold winged liner on bronze lids, and the duochrome orange-slash-fuchsia lips. Except I'm freaking irritated 'cause on the pics, you can't see the duochrome >:-/ :(. I can, but on the photographs my lips just look orange :-/. Oh well...It's quite a striking shade of orange though :-P :D. And since this was a high drama look, I wasn't gonna go with naked cheeks :-P. I used one of my favourite blushers - the one from my blue Pupa Heart palette ^_^.

Face: Oriflame Visions Fresh Face Foundation in Porcelain Doll, Tigi Bed Head Fixx-It Stick in Light, and Rimmel Lasting Finish Compact Pressed Powder in Transparent, as usual ;).

Eyes: Bronze pigment layered over a powder shadow similar in colour, turquoise liner on the upper lid, and pale gold on the lower lid. The pigment's by Oriflame, a sister to the white pigment from my look for Abbie's contest, except that it's bronze - I do love those pigments :D, all of them :). The other two that you haven't met yet are teal and pink that sorta reflects gold ;). The eye shadow I used as a base is from a 36 eye colours palette by...You guessed it, Oriflame >:-). Are you sick of Oriflame yet XD? Sorry :-P. This palette is a lot like the Coastal Scents ones, but it only has 36 colours and doesn't contain as many bright colours. I really like it though :), and my sister calls it my Happy Palette 'cause she finds that huge range of colours quite cheerful, lol XD. The bronze colour I used is similar to the pigment, but not as shimmery and bright. I used Styli-Style Flat Pencil in Venice on my upper lid, and a pale gold liner by Pupa on my lower lid...All it has on is Pupa, eye pencil and E104A...Maybe that's the shade's name. It came with the Optical Red palette ;). Both liners were heated with a lighter a little to get them to a semi-fluid state. I used several coats of mascara (Rimmel Lash Maxxx) on upper and lower lashes, but forgot to curl my lashes - I did do this look at an insane time, after all :-P.

Cheeks: I used the blusher from my blue Pupa Heart Palette :D. No highlighter. Not sure why, but that's the way it is :-P. If you want to replicate this look, I'd probably suggest adding some highlighter ;).

Lips: The inspiration pic had a fuchsia stain on the lips' corners and a bright orange lipstick in the centre. I modified this a little. No base was used for this look - since I was going to stain, I wanted to really, well, stain my lips XD :-P. I rubbed in the mauvish shade from my L'Oreal Essential Colours palette with my fingers (on corners only), then applied (straight from the tube, I was too lazy to use a brush :-P) three or four (I can't remember XD) coats of the very bright/fierce/lovely Maybelline Forever Metallics Lipstick in Orange Fusion onto the centre of my mouth :).

Piccies of my products coming right up ^_^.

Everything in one picture - that was hard, this look turned out palette-heavy XD. It doesn't have to be, of course, but my colours for this look live in palettes, so there you go :-P.

Close-ups of the palettes, liners, pigment and lipstick, so you can see the colours :).

Bronze eye colour from Oriflame palette: second in the second row (and column, for that matter XD). L'Oreal lip colour: third from left (the one that was missing in my previous post ;D). The Pupa blush is that huge section of colour with words ('heart', 'coeur', 'cuore' and 'corazon' ^_^) over it - the shimmery creamy pink next to it is the matching cream highlighter I forgot to use >:-).

That was my take on 'editorial' make-up...Not as high drama as I had hoped perhaps, but every cloud does have a silver lining...Or perhaps a winged gold & turquoise lining XD? Lol :D. And here it is: this look is, in my opinion, quite wearable for special occasions, and I'll be redoing it in real life (for special occasions ;D) because I absolutely love the way it turned out :). [I may not be photogenic, but I can still be content with the way I look in real life :-P ;).] Had it not been for this contest, I would've probably never tried doing it. Thank you, Posey :).

Gotta send that entry e-mail to Posey now, good luck to me ;). And thanks for reading :), let me know what you think of this look ;D.

This is where I try to prove that one can indeed look lovely while using only affordable products ^_^.

Well, as lovely as I can look >:-D. I don't exactly have the nicest face to work with, but I can't really go exchange it >:-), so this is the best I could do. Bear with me ;).

Abbie of AbbieAndBrian from Make-Up Reviews (if you want to know who Brian is, click here) is having a contest (do participate if you haven't yet ;D) and it's...Well, pretty lovely if you think of it :), 'cause you can do any kind of look you want - that's right, whatever :-P. There's just one rule (it is a contest after all >:-D): you're only allowed to use low-end brands. So no MAC, Dior, Nars, Shiseido etc. ;).

For this contest, I decided to do one of my favourite (and most frequently worn) looks: white eye shadow, intense black lashes, and a matte, nude face. Here is the only OK-looking picture I managed to get of my face >:-)...And it's not that attractive either :-P. I so wish I was photogenic :( >:-/...

Anyway.

It's not good, I know. But I've got close-ups of my eyes too, and those are much prettier :D.

Heart the lashes...I know the right eye looks very weird though XD.
Here's another with my eyes closed...

I don't know why my lashes look so limp here :-P. They do look curled in the other pics :-/...

And last but not least :D, my personal favourite :). Doing the contest has been worth it just for this :). I only wish that every pic of me could be this pretty :(...

I really, really, really love this one :).

Of course, I do know that any photos of me are the worst part of my blog entries >:-), which is why I'm pleased to announce that we're done here XD. Moving on to the good stuff...Descriptions and products - all from low-end brands, as promised :).

Face: Oriflame Visions Fresh Face Foundation in Porcelain Doll, Rimmel Lasting Finish Compact Pressed Powder in Transparent...And I wasn't allowed to use my Tigi concealer >:-D! So I ended up using the lightest shade from the Oriflame Daydream Eyeshadow Stripes Trio in Sweet Dreams ;). It sort of worked, but I'll stick with my Fixx-It Stick for my usual looks, thank you very much XD. I was lucky in having an eligible foundation; had my foundation been high-end, I would've had to either go naked or rush out and buy a cheap product just for this contest - and knowing me, both are unlikely :-P.

Eyes: I used the white shade from Oriflame Soul Mates Eye Shadow Duo in Mickey & Minnie as a base, and then carefully pressed on some...Well, I'd call it pigment. It's actually loose colour I got as a roll-on eye shadow (from Oriflame again...) years ago, but everyone knows how damn irritating and hard to apply those are >:-), so I depotted it ;). It's just such a lovely bright shimmery white colour :D and I love using it :). To line, I used Oriflame Visions Dynamic Duo Eyeliner in Laurel & Hardy, both the black and white colours...There's a very skinny line of black liner on the upper lids, and loads (really loads) of white inliner (I heated the tip with a lighter and layered on several coats to get that matte intense colour) - and of course, mascara...Rimmel Volume Flash, on curled lashes, several coats of it :). Lower lashes get loads of mascara for this look as well ^_^.

Cheeks: The peach blusher from the L'Oreal Essential Colours Palette. I also used the shimmery light gold shadow from the same palette as a highlighter ;D. [Side note: I also patted on some of that right under my eyebrows.]

Lips: Labello Sun lip balm as a base - high SPF lip balm mutes one's natural lip colour and makes lips appear lighter. Then, two coats of L'Oreal Made For Me Naturals Lipstick in Nude, applied straight from the tube.

Pictures of all my products for this look come next :).

Close-ups, with the Essential Colours palette opened, so you can see the colours ;)...

I used the second (from the top) eye shadow (as a highlighter though - not as eye colour) and bottom blush ;). Sorry that my Nude lipstick's covering the third lip colour...It's a sort of warm mauve. If anyone wants a review of the L'Oreal Essential Colours palette, just let me know :). And that's the Sweet Dreams trio and white pigment on the right side ;D. And my tiny Laurel & Hardy liner, isn't it cute ^_^? Lol XD.

Well, I hope you like it, Abbie :D...I enjoyed doing this :). Good luck to me now XD (lol).

Thanks for reading everyone :), and I hope I helped prove Abbie's point ;D.

This is a sort of Look of the day, blog promotion and contest entry, all in one post :-P.

Janet over at All Things Pretty is having a contest :D to help her blog get started ;). To enter, one has to post a Face Of The Day, and bring new readers to her blog...That is, if I've understood everything correctly. I hope I have XD, I've got a headache >:-/ :(...

So, here is my first ever Look to be posted on this blog, as part of my first ever contest entry...Featuring My Favourite Red :), as a bit of an homage to my previous post ;).

Bizarre stunned bad-horror-movie-still-like pic >:-). I adore how my earphone cable ended up strangling me :-/. Must pay more attention to details next time...

Do I look drunk? I'm not drunk. I swear I'm not drunk XD. I never am.

Hmmm...Or am I simply on the way to passing out >:-) :-/?

This is the closest I could get to a normal picture >:-). My facial expression looks really stupid, like I can't quite decide whether to smile or not...(For the record: I think I indeed couldn't XD.) And the Angelina posters are my sister's :-P.

So those are my very unattractive pics :-P...(I was going for a classic liner & red lips look.) Now here's the list of stuff I used :).

Skin stuff: Oriflame Visions Fresh Face Foundation in Porcelain Doll, Tigi Bed Head Fixx-It Stick (concealer) in Light, and Rimmel Lasting Finish Compact Pressed Powder in Transparent.

Eyes: Styli-Style Flat Pencil in Cairo (black) to line the eyes (winged it out a little on the outer corners ;D), the light shade from the Almay Trio For Hazel Eyes on the lid and inner corners (for the sheen, and because I hate hate hate naked lids), and loads of mascara (a few coats of Rimmel Volume Flash, then one coat of Rimmel Lash Maxxx to define & separate, then another coat of Volume Flash on the outer corners), on curled lashes of course :). Oh, and I used some Benefit EyeCon on my under-eye area ;).

Cheeks: Benefit BeneTint ;D.

Lips: Oriflame Visions Liplicious Lip Balm in Strawberry as a base: it's a waxy, non-fluid texture, and has a reddish colour. Then, one coat of Oriflame Matt Glam Lipstick in Jean, applied straight from the tube ^_^.

And here are all my products for this face ^_^...

Not sure what my Tigi sharpener is doing there, since I didn't use it XD. And there goes that earphone again >:-D...Lol.

[The eye colour I used is the one on top ;).]

Their close-ups are next...

And that's my part of this done...Now here's what you have to do :-P ^_^: Go visit Janet's blog, check it out, and maybe even sign up (:D)...And leave her a comment saying something like, "Cris from Diamond Enigma sent me" ;). You can enter this contest if you want to, of course :-P...If you do, good luck, and have fun ;D. That's why we do these things after all XD.

Thanks for reading :), and please help me win :-P ;).

"When in doubt, wear red."

[Inspired by this blog post :).]

Red is definitely my favourite colour :). So it's only natural that I should own a red lipstick. Or two...
Being far from natural or normal, I own nine :-P. And this list includes red lipsticks only - not glosses, balms, or even palette colours. So, here is my Red Lipsticks collection ^_^...

Pic of the lot (closed):
From left to right: L'Oreal Colour Riche in Transparent Red, L'Oreal Colour Riche Star Secrets in Penelope Cruz Red, Oriflame Matt Glam in Jean, Oriflame Matt Glam in Liz, Oriflame Power Shine in Sangria Red, Maybelline Forever Metallics in Ruby Red, Maybelline Forever Metallic Lites in Red Star, Maybelline Moisture Whip in Passion Red, and Avon Kiss 'N' Love in Sparkling Kiss.

Opened, so you can see the colours ^_^:

Same order ;). Aren't they pretty ^_^?

A few words about each coming right up ;)...

*L'Oreal Colour Riche in Transparent Red: This was my first ever L'Oreal lipstick :). I wanted something red, but sheer, but red XD. This suited my wish well - it's a sheer, goldish red with some shimmer in it, and yes, it's quite 'transparent'. I usually wear it when I want red lips, but have done my eyes up enough to make using something like Jean or Passion Red overkill ;). [More on those below.]

*L'Oreal Colour Riche Star Secrets in Penelope Cruz Red: This is very creamy, and a warm red colour. Well chosen name as well, isn't Penelope Cruz a perfect fit to advertise red lipstick ;)? I certainly think so. I'd recommend you to test this one, and I name it Best Warm Red :).

*Oriflame Matt Glam in Jean: Sadly, the Matt Glam line has been discontinued :(. And I really am sad, because this is my most used red lipstick, and I never got a second tube >:-). It's a bright blue red, quite matte (so yes, it can't really be worn on chapped or dry lips), and looks striking either by itself, or with clear gloss over. I adore this lipstick, and it's my pick for Best Cool Red :). I wish it hadn't been discontinued :(...

*Oriflame Matt Glam in Liz: From the same line as Jean. God, I love that line...The square fattish packaging isn't the best, but the colours are wonderful, and I love the Old Hollywood inspired names :). This is a darkish brick red, on the warm side. I don't quite adore it as much as Jean :-P, but it does have its moments ;).

*Oriflame Power Shine in Sangria Red: Smells and tastes tropical XD, and like all the Power Shines, is very shiny. Quite sheer, and goldishly warm. Probably a summer colour :).

*Maybelline Forever Metallics in Ruby Red: Ruby's a good description. A metallic ruby red doesn't sound very wearable XD, but I like to just throw it on when the rest of my face is bare ;).

*Maybelline Forever Metallic Lites in Red Star: A lighter, slightly rosier metallic colour, perhaps this is more of a berry than of a red. But it's called Red Star, so I thought I'd include it :-P.

*Maybelline Moisture Whip in Passion Red: My second most used red :). It's an amazing bright true red, not too blue or too warm, so I think it'd work wonders for most people who are brave enough to use it :-P ;D. In terms of texture, it's creamier than Jean, but more matte than Penelope Cruz Red. Perfect for a true red statement mouth, and my pick for Best True Red :).

*Avon Kiss 'N' Love in Sparkling Kiss: I bought this because of its shape (a heart) and its low price :-P. It's the pinkiest red of the lot, and a lot like Transparent Red when worn, except its shimmers are pinky, not warm.

Since my descriptions are probably not enough, I've also got some swatches :).

Natural light:

Electric light:

Same order as in the tube photos ;). The 2 hearts are Oriflame Colour Attraction in Cabaret Red (top) and Oriflame Midnight Colour in Midnight Red (bottom), swatched from my samples. Cabaret Red is a golder, lighter Liz, and Midnight Red is similar to Jean, but more of a true red (kind of like Maybelline Passion Red). They're not exact matches, but they're what I'd recommend getting instead of (the now discontinued) Jean and Liz.

I've just realised that I don't own any expensive reds XD! Nor do I want to, really, 'cause my three faves are perfect :). And the fact that they're all relatively cheap is just great ^_^. I hope that my blog inspired you to try red (maybe one of mine ;D), or at least that you enjoyed looking at my stuff (I know I always love Collection blogs ^_^) ;). Thanks for reading :).

P.S. The quote's apparently by Bill Blass, and I got it from a quote book called "You're The Best!" that I received as a gift from a friend a few years ago :). I agree ;). When in doubt...Do wear red ;D ^_^.

What about you? Anything to say on the subject of red lipsticks? Recommendations? Favourites? You know where to comment ;) :) ^_^.