Jeffree Star - the Marmite of the make-up world... Beauty Killer review.

*waves* Hey!!

I haven't been posting for a while. Due to the devastating loss of a family member, I got really lost. The blog fell away in importance and I had to focus on self-care. It's been pretty rough and weeks later, it's still very fresh and raw. But putting life on hold isn't the way to deal with grief.

I could sit here and discuss my grief and the goings on but it's not really the right platform to voice what's been happening and how I've been feeling and I've been so grateful to have such a massive support network there for me to pick me up when I'm falling down and help me through such an awful time. So normality seems to be something that needs to be put in place because if you don't you'll genuinely go crazy. 

The most recent and exciting thing I have to review is the Jeffree Star Beauty Killer palette. Now, there's an emotional story behind this too. I wanted the Beauty Killer palette since I found out that it was in production but I didn't want to order it from the US due to customs but it didn't seem to be going onto any of the UK JSC stockists sites any time soon. I wasn't exactly rolling in it either so spending that amount of money on customs on top of the palette itself was a less than responsible idea. So I sat down to wait it out. Someone on one of the UK make up groups was selling one and I decided to keep an eye on the thread and then received a message saying one of my friends had ordered it for me. One of my personality flaws is that I find it really hard to accept gifts, I have no idea why but maybe it's something to do with my low self esteem and guilt complex lol. But it's one of the loveliest things someone's done for me just out of the blue and I'll be forever grateful. No matter how terrible the world seems to be, there are beautiful people with beautiful souls out there. 

Now that I've got the emotional part out of the way and I'm on the verge of tears, I should probably talk about the palette. I had seen mixed reviews on the palette. Like Jeffree himself, the palette seems to be a Marmite kinda palette, you either love it or you hate it. So once I've did my swatches, I'll touch on some of the things I've heard on the palette...

The palette retails at $45 which is about £35 but be wary when ordering straight from the site (I'll leave the link below as there may be customs and handling charges which will all depend on the final value of your parcel. The palette contains 10 shades in various finishes, matte, frost (shimmery) and glitter. It works out at $4.50 (£3.50) per shadow. Considering the size of the pans, I'd consider that pretty good. 

The packaging is super cute, all pink and has a large mirror inside. I wear glasses so always use the mirrors inside my palettes as I need to be up close with them off so it's a definite bonus!

The shadows are EXTREMELY pigmented so be wary when using the palette that a little goes a very, very long way. They're really blendable so great to work with and I don't think they're chalky at all. Cruelty free is a must for me when it comes to cosmetics and all of JS's products are vegan and cruelty free.

Onto the swatches. I've done a brush swatch and finger swatch for each shade as I think sometimes swatch videos/posts can be quite deceiving as colour can translate very differently from finger to brush so here it goes...

Top Row L-R - Star Power, Princess, Violence, Rich Bitch, Courtney.
(Rich Bitch comes out a true gold with the brush but as I'd forgotten to dust off my brush after using Violence, it looks as if it's a bit purpleish/brownish but it's a true gold, I promise you)

Bottom row L-R Expensive, Confession, Vanity, China White, Black Rainbow.

So to touch on a few of the things I've heard about the palette...

"It's not cohesive." - Nonsense, the colours all go together and there's plenty of room for doing different looks, I think part of the problem is people's personal styles so to say it doesn't mesh and work together might be true for you but not for everyone who owns and uses the palette. I've created loads of different looks with this from bright eye looks, smokey eye, more neutral looks etc so if you work with it and use some creativity, there's an abundance of looks you can create.

"They're not pigmented." Are you fucking kidding me?! I've used these with and without a primer and the colour payoff is insane. The first time I used it, I loaded my brush like I usually do and realised immediately that I had made a mistake. You do not need a lot of product for a lot of colour, the pigmentation is crazy on these so whoever said they weren't pigmented, God knows what they're expecting from their shadows if they think these aren't pigmented enough.

"You're limited with the looks you can do," Like I said previously, I've done so many different looks with this palette. Using this palette alone and incorporating other palettes along with it, there's no limit at all.

I could go on with the negatives I've heard and I can shoot down every single one of them but I'd be here all day and I have things to do, people to see, places to go.

I've included just three of the looks I've done so far just to show the difference between the looks. You can't just do bright extreme looks with this. Whoever has told you that is either lying so you won't buy it or they've not used their imagination.

I understand that a lot of people have a problem with Jeffree Star. Whether it be what you've heard about him online or whatever. Which is fair enough, I'm not going to tell you who to like and who not to like. But if you're going to use your opinion on an individual to add bias to your review of their products then that's not cool. Whether you love him or hate him, his products (in my own personal opinion) are outstanding. Again, I'm not going to tell you to like a product or dislike a product but make sure your opinion on said products are based on your honest view of the products itself and not your view of the brand's creator itself. 

Prime example: I'm not keen on Kylie Jenner *BUT* if I were to buy and review one of her Lip Kits, I'd review based on the products, not my feelings towards her myself. As a reviewer, make-up artist or Youtube vlogger, people are looking for advice and reviews on products because they want to know if they're worth buying or not. So you kinda have a responsibility to provide a non-biased honest review of the product you're testing out. 

I'm hoping to film a tutorial for a few looks with the palette but as the kids are all off school, I'm finding it a bit hard to get a quiet moment with nobody around to actually film it but watch this space.

5/5

Pros: Good value, highly pigmented, blendable, awesome.

Cons: None. Unless you count pink staining on my eyelid when I didn't use primer lol, but it came away with some coconut oil!

- x M x

Beauty Killer palette - Jeffree Star Cosmetics

Stop shaming...

*TRIGGER WARNING* I'm going to touch on the subject of rape culture at some point in this post so just a little heads up incase anyone wants to stop reading.

So it's a bit of a serious one today. And it's not all about make-up, although make-up is a part of it. It's something that's been bothering me for a while and after seeing some more of these "hilarious" or "inspirational" memes, I've felt the need to have a wee rant.

My Facebook seems to be plagued with memes regarding women wearing too much make up, men don't like you if you're too fat, men only finding women attractive who are curvy, men don't women who sleep around etc..

So much about this pisses me right off.

I'm going to open this up, not just targeted at men, but the human race in general.

I have full autonomy. My body is my choice, and so is what the hell I want to do with it! If you want to sit and judge me because of how I look, dress or act, then you can turn your ass around and make your way out of my life.

I don't choose my clothing or make-up to please any man or woman. If a man, woman or anyone in  between happens to find me attractive then that's great but none of my choices are made with the sole intention of pleasing a sexual partner or a potential sexual partner.

My choice to wear make-up is for a few reasons, none of which I should justify to anyone but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. Make-up is a creative outlet for me, it's a point of self-expression and it gives me a bit more confidence. Not the confidence that comes with looking good for the benefit of other people but using my skills to make something that I feel proud of. Whether that means looking like I've been rubbing my face in a paint box or not, at least I'm happy with the finished product. I won't stop wearing make-up because people find "cake face" unattractive. I love make-up, I can't wear enough of the stuff. It's awesome.

My body is slightly on the chubby side. I'm not going to lose weight just so someone else will want to give me one, if I choose to lose weight, it'll be to look in the mirror and find myself more attractive and give me the confidence I need to walk out the door and feel like a queen.

Now, putting my feelings about myself aside, everyone in the world has beauty and not everyone can see that individual beauty. Whether they choose to wear make-up or not, my hope in the world that the people in question feel happy in their skin. Even if that means using a little bit of make-up here and there or plastering their face full of the stuff, what's important is that they feel happy. Would it be better if I look in the mirror and feel like crap but be grateful that someone might find me more attractive because I'm not covered in make-up? Fuck no it wouldn't. That's not how life is supposed to be. What's the point in living an unhappy life for someone else's benefit?

As for the weight thing, nowadays, I see more body shaming geared towards slimmer women rather than curvier women. In support of the typical 'poking fun at fat people' mindset. Well, let me tell you something, if you feel the need to empower yourself by bringing another woman down, then you're just as bad as the people out there taking the piss out of people like you. Body shaming is not cool in any way, shape or form. I've been attracted to women who are very slim, I have been attracted to women who are very curvy. There is no "perfect" body shape. If you're going to be concerned about anyone's weight, it shouldn't be about how they look, it should be about their health and even at that, it's not your business to raise the issue.

In an ideal world, I'd make myself a few dress sizes smaller and my boobs a few cup sizes smaller but that's my business, that's about how I feel when I look in the mirror. If someone only finds me attractive based on how my face and body looks, well, that's a shallow bastard that I really don't want in my life to begin with.

On to the "slutty" clothing and sleeping around section of my rant. I can wear whatever the hell I want without earning your judgement. If you don't think I look good, then tough titties. I do. If I want to have my cleavage busting out of my top or wearing a skirt which comes just below my arse cheeks because I'm embracing my curves then that's my business, not yours or anyone elses. My clothes are not for you! They are for me. My clothes are not a representation of my virtue, neither are they worn so that you will find me attractive. Whether I want to wear a boob tube or a turtle neck, I'll be wearing it because I feel comfortable and attractive in it. Rape culture & victim blaming has a tendency to become more obvious an issue when it comes to clothing. If a woman is provocatively dressed then they're "asking for it" or should expect some sort of sexual advance. Yeah, you might end up with someone chatting you up but wearing items of clothing doesn't take away your autonomy and your ability to give consent. If you're sitting saying that a woman deserves to be raped or that it's her own fault simply because she's wearing certain clothing, then you're as bad as the rapist involved in the situation. You are sympathising with a rapist. That is the fact of the matter. I AM NOT DRESSING FOR ANOTHER HUMAN BEING! No matter what their intentions.

The most frustrating one of all is the sleeping around part. Humans are sexual beings. They want to have sex for pleasure, they want to have sex to procreate. So why is it that men are allowed to sow their seed as they please but women are slut shamed if they enjoy sex and want to have it? I've never understood this frame of mind. If a woman wants to have sex with one man or a hundred men (or of any gender), she has the ultimate right to do so because it's her body and if she wants to go out and get the same pleasure that a man would without being judged for it, then she bloody well should do it. As long as both parties are being safe, why is there an issue here? Again, the rape culture issue comes up in that people have the opinion that if you sleep around a lot then you're fair game. Why can't you see what is wrong with that sentence? If you're one of those people who says these things, you might want to take a seat and have a real think about the sort of person you are and if you really think that you can condone assault of any sort based on a woman's (or man's) appearance or actions. CONSENT IS THE ISSUE HERE, NOT HOW A PERSON LOOKS/APPEARS!

And what the fuck happened to feminism? A lot of these memes are geared towards the male opinion but most of the time, it's women I see sharing them! Why are we bringing other women down? Aren't we all fighting for the same thing? To wear what we want, be equals, look how we want, act how we want? Yet we have women ripping other women to shreds simply to make themselves feel better. Well, I'm sorry but that's not how life works. We're all in this together, we're all beautiful and we should all accept that we have the rights to our own bodies and what we choose to adorn them with or what we choose to do with them.


All human beings are beautiful. Yes, it might be that not everyone finds a certain person attractive, we all have our own tastes, but as long as they see the beauty in themselves than that's what's important here. Attraction is subjective. We like what we like and that's fair enough. But what isn't fair is using our preferences to make other people feel like shit.

I have no idea what the purpose is behind this rant except maybe to get it off my chest and let people sharing these memes see another perspective.

Stop shaming other people guys. Whether it's body shaming, slut shaming or whatever, I don't care, just stop!

Peace and love to everyone. Go look in the mirror and see the beauty in yourself. Embrace that beauty. Do not let anyone else tell you that you have to look different for anyone else's benefit.

x M x

Budget foundation part 3 and Drag Wednesday!

So I kinda forgot to post last week about the latest foundation, I've been so distracted lately that I keep writing posts and forgetting to actually publish them, so here it is.

The third cheapy foundation I tried was from W7. The High Definition Camera Ready foundation. Now, I got this in B&M but I lost my receipt so I can't give the accurate price but I do know that it was under £3!

So there's no information about this foundation on W7s website so I assume it's either a discontinued line or a special promotion that they've chosen not to become a regular line. There's nothing on the bottle to suggest what the foundation is supposed to "do" ie wear time, coverage etc.

It comes in a pump bottle which is great because the other W7 foundation I bought to try (more about that tomorrow) comes in a glass bottle which you have to shake to get the foundation to actually come out and I really hate foundations in glass bottles. My pet hate when it comes to foundation!!

The consistency was quite creamy, not too runny (I loathe runny foundation) and not too thick. It applies evenly (I used my RT face brush to buff it in) and the colour 'Buff' was a pretty good match to my skin tone. It got slightly darker as it dried but I blended it right down on to my neck so if there was any noticeable difference in comparison to my skin tone, it wasn't visible.

As from the name of the foundation, it is supposedly "high definition" and "camera ready" but there's no further information as to what that entails. The foundation has pretty good coverage and there's nothing on the bottle to suggest that it has an SPF, which doesn't really go well with flash photography.

It's definitely worth the price and it's a foundation I would go back to again but it would be nice to access some more information on the product before buying again. I'll give it a 4/5 because the wear time was pretty good, I had it on for a good 8 hours and it didn't really show any signs of wear, maybe a little fading here and there but nothing noticeable unless you're being overly critical like I was!

Moving on to Drag Wednesday!! Since starting to trim my eyebrows after plucking or waxing, there's been a huge difference in the ease of covering my brows. Before, the amount of Pritt Stick I was having to use to get them glued down was a bit ridiculous and it took a hell of a long time but this time around it was so much easier. After gluing and powdering them, I decided to use the Primark foundation that I had mentioned before to go over the top of them and they were gone! It's probably the best coverage I've had so far eyebrow-wise since starting to do drag make-up on myself.

I decided to not use a runway look from the show this week and instead make it up as I went along. I saw a picture during the week of a sort of outlined starburst eyeliner during the week and I wanted to try something like that except huge and filled in instead of just the outline. I used the KIKO gel eyeliner and my Wilko eyeliner brush (as always) to map it out and fill it in with a large wing that joined up with the star burst at the inner corner of my eye. I was really impressed with how good it looked to be honest. I used my Make-Up Revolution 'Give them Nightmares' palette along with a cheapy palette that I don't know the brand name of (oops) to do a sort of gold and purple look. Unfortunately the purple in the MUR palette didn't show up too well on the area where my brow was covered but I actually managed to forget to prime my eyes before I actually started putting eyeshadow on them so I might have to try it again with primer underneath!!

Lips were another story altogether. I used the LA Girl Matte Gloss in Blackcurrant as it's a beautiful dark purple and I thought it would compliment the eyes well.  Which it did, but I had to use literally 4 or 5 coats of it to get a fully opaque lip. Now, I'm not going to blame the lipstick. The skin on the lips is pretty different to the skin covering the rest of your face and lipstick is for your lips. So overdrawing them to such a degree meant I was going over the skin below my nose and below my lower lip and it did need a hell of a lot of lipstick to totally cover that up.

I used my old faithful lashes, cheap and cheerful Primark ones and managed to get the eyelash glue everywhere, so that was fucking great. But it actually worked out pretty good in the end. My contouring looked so much better using my cheapy contour palette along with the Morphe blush palette. Usually in photos, my contour doesn't show up at all so I was pretty impressed.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to film a skincare review on the Boots Witch Hazel and Tea Tree jelly skincare products but that all depends on if we can actually get a hold of them in store! Failing that, it'll be discussing the eyeshadow palettes (that I've yet to try) from Primark! So hopefully that'll turn out better than the last video I filmed. Which was horrendous. Will also be talking on here about the final installment of budget foundations and a little bit about body confidence!

x M x

Zoeva En Taupe palette, budget foundation part 2 and Primark foundation update!

Well, the last time I posted, I was praising Primark's £2 stick foundation. I gave it a 4.5/5 and was rather taken aback by how good it was. Well, the phrase "too good to be true" really was apt in this case. I TAKE IT ALL BACK! BURN IT WITH FIRE! In total, I had the foundation on my face for about 6 hours. My face was a greasy mess. There was absolutely no foundation left on either side of my nose and there were actual streaks on my face where you could see the natural skin underneath where the foundation had swiped straight off my face. It was a hot mess. It felt slippery and almost like my face was sweaty. The rating has fallen all the way down to a 2/5. Never again.

On a happier note, my Zoeva
En Taupe palette came yesterday morning! It was £18 from BeautyBay (will pop the link for it at the bottom) and it is absolutely beautiful. Now, neutrals aren't my thing at all. Most of my eyeshadow palettes are either full of brights or darks but I struggle with neutral colours are they never seem to excite me. But my sister had asked me to do a more natural look on her recently and I sort of just stood despairingly in front of my make-up case wondering how in the hell I was going to pull this off but I found a small Freedom palette with some nice pinky neutrals in it that fit the bill. It was obvious, however, that I was going to have to invest in some more muted palettes if I wanted to be able to cater to more people.

I stumbled across the Zoeva palettes when I was flicking through BeautyBay on Thursday and it's a brand I hadn't come across before. I had a look around on YouTube and apparently they're a German make-up brand with some of the most gorgeous palettes I've ever seen. Like I said previously, neutrals don't generally excite me very much but I saw these are fell in love. Being a conscientious shopper, I had a look at some videos on YouTube with people reviewing the palettes and couldn't resist buying one to check out for myself.

I paid £20.50 all in as I paid the extra £2.50 for next day shipping so it wasn't particularly expensive compared to some palettes on the market at the moment considering you're getting 10 reasonably sized eyeshadows in the palette (works out at £1.80 per eyeshadow!).

The packaging is just your standard thick cardboard magnetic palette and it comes in a pretty little cardboard slip cover as well. I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but I'm a sucker for pretty packaging and Zoeva pretty much nail it, all their palettes come in very pretty packaging and I love it!

The eyeshadows themselves are amazing quality. They're so smooth and creamy, not chalky at all. Due to the texture of the eyeshadow they are so easy to blend and you don't get a lot of fall out, even with the darker colours. They are so highly pigmented so combined with the texture, a little goes a long way. It's a perfect addition to anyone's collection if they have a soft spot for neutrals.

Moving on to the budget foundations, this time I tried out the Essence Stay All Day 16hr Long Lasting foundation. Again, Essence wasn't a brand I was familiar with but I had seen it talked about on various make-up groups on Facebook, praised very highly so I thought it was worth including in my venture. I looked into Essence a little bit and they're a European brand, cruelty free and reasonably priced. The only place I've seen them sold in store is in Wilko and I must have passed by them so many times without even noticing they were bloody there! So the 16hr foundation is £3.80 and comes in 3 shades. Looking at the shades available, I think I need to go with Soft Beige but the lightest colour they had in store was Soft Crème. I bought it anyway thinking I could use powder to lighten it slightly if it was too dark.

The texture of the foundation is very smooth, it blends really well and is faintly scented. Now, I have no idea whatsoever what it's SUPPOSED to smell like but it's nice. I don't normally like scented make-up products unless it's lipstick so I was a bit skeptical of a scented foundation.

As I suspected, the colour match was waaaaaaaay far off. It was super orange compared to my own skin tone and I looked like I'd been fucking Tangoed. Even other people were pointing out to me how orange my face was, even after powdering to try and lighten it! But I made the best of it and blended it far down my neck to try and cover up the obvious difference since we were only trying it out anyway. Well, that was until I found out we were actually going out for dinner and I didn't have time to change my make-up!!

TRAGEDY STRIKES! My cheapy oval brush from eBay fucking snapped! The handle snapped clean in two while I was applying my foundation so we had to switch half way through to a Real Techniques face brush which actually seemed to blend in the foundation even better in this instance. It blended in very well and gave a lovely smooth, flawless finish. It's medium to full coverage and I wear two coats of foundation anyway so it covered up any flaws whatsoever.

Staying power-wise, it stayed on all day. I had it on for approximately 9 hours. It would be rare that I would have foundation on for 16 hours anyway so I didn't really get to test it to it's full potential. When I came to wash my face that night, I still had a full face of make-up on, nothing had budged or went cakey in patches. I was really impressed. I felt a bit jaded by the Primark fiasco so I wasn't really expecting much from another cheapy foundation. I really do need to try and get it in my own colour because it truly is a wonderful foundation for the price. It's something I would use every day, it's good quality, my only issue is the lack of variety in shades.

This is the finished product of my endeavours. As you can see, the foundation really did look pretty good so worthy of another try (in my actual colour!!!) And the eyeshadows are just to die for. I was planning on doing a tutorial but there were too many people home and I couldn't sit and film it while everyone was sitting around taking the piss SO, maybe another time. If I can get peace. Unlikely. But I'll give a quick run down of what I did.

I primed my eyes with MUA eyeshadow primer. Using a soft brush, I covered my whole lid in the shade Stitch by Stitch (pale creamy shade) and then applied 'Gallery' all over my lower lid. Using a fluffy shading brush, I started working 'Outline' into the crease and blending slightly upwards towards the brow, and the shadows were so soft they just blended right up seamlessly. So be careful if you're using them that you don't just blend everything away LOL!. Then I went into 'Exquisitve' with the same fluffy brush and started working it into the outer crease into a 'V' leading down to the outer corner of my eye. Just a small amount to add a bit of definition. When working with pale neutrals, I love just popping in a wee bit of colour because sometimes, it can just end up looking quite flat and boring. My personal opinion, I'm not saying anyone else looks boring, I just find it hard to stay interested in my reflection at times without looking like a unicorn has done it's business all over my face. Anyway, using a smaller brush, I put a little more of the 'Exquisitve' shade under neath my eye close to the lash line. I then popped a little bit of 'Sheers and Voiles' as a highlight just at the brow bone and dabbed just the tiniest amount of 'Gallery' onto the brush to go into my crease again just a TINY little bit. Finished it all off with a little KIKO Gel Eyeliner and Essence's Lash Princess mascara. Not forgetting to finish off my face with my new joint favourite lipstick, Scorpio.

TA DA!!!!

So tomorrow, it's another budget foundation review. One I can guarantee 100% will not be the same colour as my natural skin tone so that'll be fun. And possibly discussing my lust over the new Urban Decay palette coming out next month that I HAVE to get my grubby little hands on!

x M x

Beauty Bay - Zoeva En Taupe palette

Jeffree Star and Budget Foundations!

Now I've recovered from my complete meltdown over my parcel coming, I feel that I might be composed enough, MIGHT be, to post this....

MY MOTHERFUCKING JEFFREE STAR'S CAME! Scorpio and Gemini were released last weekend on Jeffree's site but the site I order from in the UK didn't receive them in until during the week. I sat refreshing the page for hours and finally they went live. Unfortunately, Gemini wasn't up there so I ordered Scorpio and Dominatrix. They are everything!!

One thing I will say is these photos do not do the shades justice at all. They are much darker in real  life in the natural light. The Dominatrix shade is such a rich chocolate brown and Scorpio, I cannot even begin to describe the colour of it. It's grey but it's purple and it really is so much darker than it looks in the severe light of my bathroom where I took the photo.

I don't have confirmation but I THINK the formulation might have changed slightly because the new shade seems to be even creamier and silky than before. I'm totally beside myself over them. I can't even. I can't. My Zoeve En Taupe palette will be here tomorrow and I can't wait to try it along with the Scorpio. I think they're going to compliment each other really well.

I'm also running a test of budget (ie cheap lol) foundations to see if they really compare at all to mid-range foundations. I always use No7's Beautifully Matte foundation in the shade Calico (£14.50). It's my holy grail. I really love a full coverage foundation and I spend a lot of my time touching my face (don't ask me why, I'm a total freak) so I like something that will stay put through all my constant fingering (let's not lower the tone pmsl!).

This afternoon I bought a selection of low cost foundations, all supposed full coverage to test out and see if they were worth a look.

The first I've tried out is Primark's stick foundation. Now, I used to always use Max Factor's Pan Stick (I paid £6.99 for it in Boots) but stopped when I found out that they weren't cruelty free. The Primark one is £2.00 and doesn't come in very many shades from what I saw. My local Primark isn't particularly big so the larger stores might carry more variety when it comes to shades. The photos above where I'm showing the lipstick shades is where I'm wearing the Primark foundation.

There's a fair amount of product for the price first of all, there's a faint scent to it but it's nothing over powering or unpleasant. I bought the ivory shade which was the palest one I could see there. I'm quite yellow toned and it fit me perfectly. The colour match was perfect which is a rarity as I seem to find myself in between shades a lot of the time and either having to mix shades together or adjust with powder or bronzer/blush so was pleasantly surprised.

I primed my face with Nivea Post Shave balm and I applied it as I usually do with stick foundation and just run it over my face a few times and blended it in. I used one of the cheapy oval brushes from eBay and it was so rich and creamy, it just slid right over my skin and blended right in. I used my usual setting powder (MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder) along with a brush to set it and went over the apples of my cheeks with blush. At first glance, it was perfect. I was really taken aback by how flawless it was. The coverage is amazing and like I said previously, it blends so unbelievably well considering the price. HOWEVER an hour later, it looks a bit cakey around my nose. I'm used to that with stick foundation as the Pan Stik did the same so it might just be my skin type that's the problem. My nose gets a bit oily throughout the day and I just went over it with the brush and it evened itself out again. My only let down is, it seems to take a hell of a lot of powder to set it as it's so creamy. I swiped my finger across my lip when taking off the Scorpio to switch shades and managed to wipe off some of the foundation above my lip. It was still soft to the point it would rub off by hand. I'm going to try it again with different setting powder and squirt some setting spray on there too to see if it makes a difference.

Overall, I'm really impressed. Going to give it a 4.5/5, only losing the half mark over the cakeiness around the nose but it might drop depending on wear time so watch this space.

It's something I would contemplate using again if I can find a way to work with the texture of it once set It'll be perfect for drag looks as I'm not typically in drag make-up for an extended period of time out of the house so cheap and cheerful for that. I am really surprised that it was so good if I'm being completely honest. I'm not a make-up snob by any means but I highly doubted that such a cheap foundation from a store that predominantly sells clothing as opposed to toiletries and cosmetics. I'm going to see how long it holds for and then update (with a photo) of how it held up over the hours. It'll be about 5 hours I'll have been wearing it when I wash off so should give a good indication of staying power.

Tomorrow I'm going to be testing out Essence's 16 hour foundation and reviewing the Zoeva En Taupe palette! Now I'm off to stare at myself in the mirror while alternating between lipsticks until I get sick of my reflection. As if that'll ever happen lol!

x M x

Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick restock, new shades and Jeffree/Kylie drama!!!

All my constant refreshing finally came to fruition this morning when I came upon the new Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick shades live on the Cocktail Cosmetics website! 

At the moment, Scorpio has already sold out and from the looks of things, Gemini hadn't yet been added to their site. Currently, Redrum, Queen Supreme, Unicorn Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Dominatrix are still in stock but I'm not sure when exactly they'll be getting more of the Scorpio or if they're even going to get any of the Gemini.

The plan was to order one of each of the new shades but as Gemini wasn't being stocked yet, I decided to order Dominatrix alongside the Scorpio as I've been lusting after it for a while and with £4.25 postage and packaging, I felt it would be best to make the most of it.

The new shade, Scorpio, is absolutely stunning from what I've seen in photos. I'm a sucker for a purple lip and Scorpio is a beautiful muted grey-purple shade. I cannot wait to get it on my face. As for the Dominatrix, it's a shade I've been wanting to buy for ages but never got around to it. It's a rich chocolate brown shade and it seems to suit any skin tone from what I've seen online. I know that Cocktail Cosmetics have said themselves on their site to allow 24 hours for orders to be processed as they're expecting a high volume of orders due to the JS restock so I'm not sure exactly when it's going to be here so there's going to be a lot of order update checking over the next few days.

Now I must weigh in on the Jeffree Star/Kylie Jenner shenanigans that's been plastered all over social media. So, I've seen a lot of people bitching about Jeffree and complaining that he's being unprofessional calling Kylie out about the quality of her lip products (specifically the wands). Now, I might seem biased because I love JS but I don't see the problem with this. It's probably notable that the Kardashian/Jenner clan have a massive following who seem to get defensive at the slightest negative implication towards them but would people rather be ignorant to a problem, buy it and be disappointed or have the real truth and be aware that they're paying a considerable amount of money for a considerably poor quality product? Maybe it's because I love a bit of shade but I was cheering from the sidelines. Thankfully, it's now been promised that all customers will a faulty product WILL be receiving a replacement so I have to give her credit for acknowledging that there was a problem there and trying to rectify it. But I have to wonder what the quality control is like in the factory if so many faulty products were able to slip under the radar.

It's probably worth noting recent speculation that the Lip Kits might actually be a product of private labelling. I can't confirm or deny this so I'm not going to pretend I know for definite but I'd be extremely unhappy if I found out that I had been paying $29 (approx. £20) for a possibly repackaged Colourpop product (the Colourpop mattes retail at $6 on the Colourpop site which is approx. £4). Now this isn't a slight against the Colourpop mattes because I'm desperate to try Colourpop myself as I've heard so much about the Colourpop lipsticks being amazing, but a slight on the speculation that these lipsticks might be repackaged and sold at a considerably higher price. I imagine that we'll hear more about the subject over the next wee while and I'm truly hoping that private labelling isn't the case here for the customer's sake as well as hers because I doubt people would be very happy to find out that the wool had been pulled over their eyes. So here's hoping that it's all a huge misunderstanding.

What I do know for certain is that over the next few days I will be stalking the postman and be prepared to pounce on him as soon as he appears at the door to get my new lipsticks. Decision has been made on my first video post and it's going to have to be swatches of the Jeffree Star lipsticks,. I know it's been done to death but I figure it's an easy enough choice to ease myself into YouTubing and becoming more comfortable in front of a camera. I'd quite like to record a base routine as I get a lot of people asking me what foundation I use and  I'm awkward enough meeting people in real life never mind sitting alone in my house essentially talking to myself. 

AAAAANNNNNDDDDD today is motherfucking Drag Wednesday bitch! So I'm going to do a step by step eyebrow covering photo tutorial and post the final look tomorrow morning!

x M x

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Life update: I'M A STUDENT!!!

So I don't think I've updated since I got my interview letter for college through so a little update is necessary.

So the lead up to the interview was hellish. I couldn't sleep for that whole week leading up to it and I felt like utter shit. To put it plainly. The anxiety was at nuclear meltdown level and I was a riot. The lack of sleep was probably exacerbating the feeling of anxiety to be honest.

I organised my stuff for the interview. I had to take photo ID along with my qualifications and it felt a bit rough. My darling friend took me to one of the photo booths to get my ID printed and what a riot that was. Got my make-up done, looking lovely and fresh and it ended up that my photo looked like a mugshot. Fantastic. So if the college is keeping them for our student IDs, I'm basically going to have to pass for a serial killer for the next 3 years!

Along with the photograph and certificate, we were asked to bring in photos of make-up that inspired us. So I ran to the library at the last minute (my specialty) to get them printed out. I chose the following 9 images to take along.

I wanted to make sure that in taking the photos that I did with me, I was putting across really who I was as a person. I'm inspired by the bright, the bold, the beautiful. Drag has become such a huge part of my inspiration that I actually ended up having to cut some of the queens out (the shade) so I wasn't taking too many photos in with me! Overkill much?

There was a bit of here and there going with me trying to decide whether I should take a portfolio in with me or not. It wasn't required but it seemed like it would be sensible. You can only sell yourself so much with your words but actually being able to take some of my work in with me would let them see exactly what I can do. So I put together an album of about 100 photos of work I'd previously done on myself and other people. There was an even mixture of more neutral looks, really bright and in-your-face looks and some drag looks so there was a nice balance there to show that I'm not a one trick pony and I really am willing to try anything.

Then came deciding what I was actually going to do with my bloody face and clothes. I didn't want to go in proper interview attire because that's just not me. I've prided myself on always putting Marianne across and not pretending to be something or someone else I'm not so when people started to advise me to go in interview clothes and tone down my make-up I was quite on edge. I ended up settling for a simple black swing dress with knee high boots, my hair in it's usual slicked back style and attempted to tone down my make-up just the slightest bit. Couldn't resist throwing in my old faithful JS I'm Royalty to add a splash of colour. I'm now considering it not only my favourite lipstick but my lucky lipstick!

The interview itself swung around quicker than I was comfortable with, if I'm being totally honest with you. Walking into that college on the Tuesday morning was incredibly nerve-wracking. I had no idea what I was walking into. Disappointment struck when upon entering the room the lecturers informed us that the course was full and they were actually interviewing for a waiting list. We were advised to look at other courses as a just-in-case sort of thing and also that the course was a Level 6 course and it was preferable but not necessary to have qualified at Level 5. So at that point I lost all hope inside. I had no make-up or hair qualifications and no experience working in the beauty industry so I really knocked myself down. The feeling of hopelessness almost had me walking out the door.

My turn came around and I was taken to speak to one of the lecturers, she asked a few questions and looked through my portfolio, she was very complimentary of my work which almost made my heart explode with pride and I was grinning like an absolute idiot. Then had a look through the inspirational photos we were asked to take and she said they were really great. After a quick discussion I decided that I would apply for another course just in case I didn't get in but she said that she didn't see a reason why I wouldn't if the place was free. On my way out the door I was a little bit lost so I stopped one of the lecturers to ask her how to get out and as I walked off she tapped me on the shoulder and told me she "loved my look" and at that point, a shot of confidence went through me and I all but skipped out into the corridor. 

I got home that night and felt a mixture of emotions. The biggest part of me was saying that there was no way it was happening. The course was full, I had no experience, no qualifications, there was no point. But the other part of me was thinking about how well the interview had actually gone in the end. I awoke the next morning and sitting there in my e-mail inbox was an unconditional offer to start in August. I could not believe it! I burst into tears on the spot and just sat totally frozen to the spot. How many times did I read the e-mail over and over again? Lost count, honestly.

So I called everyone and messaged everyone to spread the news and now here I am. Sitting here waiting on August to come around and I'm absolutely terrified. But it's baby steps, we got in so now we just need to take it one day at a time. My sleep is still all over the place but I'm trying to keep my eye on the prize and that one day in the near future I will actually be able to pen the letters M U A on to the end of my name.

In other news, a YouTube vlog is coming. I figured there's no time like the present and since everything else is going so well at the minute, I might as well suck it up and put myself out there. So tomorrow is filming day (Review and swatch of the LA Girl Matte Gloss lipsticks) and it's also Drag Wednesday! Woohoo!!! Promises from now on to try and update daily!

x M x

Product review and lipsticks!!

Okay, so I said I'd talk about the interview. I'm scared. Like, hella scared! I'm totally unprepared for this mentally and I don't know how I'm going to cope on the lead up to it. I've been asked to bring images of things that inspire me. My inspirations come from drag queens and more theatrical/creative make-up and I don't want that to hinder me if they think that I can't do more "basic" looks. So I have a photo album with different make-up looks I've done on myself as well as other people in the hopes that if I take it with me, they'll take a look and see that I'm more versatile than it might seem from my inspiration! And there's a skills assessment. And and a written part. I can't even. I need to take a passport sized photo with me as well which is just fan-bloody-tastic as I don't have any just laying around. So desperately hoping that I can get one which looks half decent as I look like a serial killer in my actual passport photo which is about 9-10 years old! I just hope I can get past this fear of "people" and just try as hard as I can to make it through. Even if I don't get in, at least I'll know that I've tried, to the best of my abilities.

Next, product review! In preparing for my drag make-up on Wednesday, I needed gold glitter and I had run out of mascara. Instead of buying glitter, I stumbled upon glittery eyeliner from Collection which seemed like it would be easier to apply than a brush, adhesive and glitter. Plus, it was only £2.99 in Boots so it was cheap enough just to give it a try. Mascara-wise I went for Barry M's Show Girl mascara (£4.99) and due to the chest detail on the drag look, I needed a felt tip eyeliner so I bought the Collection felt tip liner as well in Black. Unfortunately, I managed to make myself look like a complete idiot at the checkout since I kept picking up bloody testers!!

The gel eyeliner was great. The eyebrows went on perfectly and was definitely a wise choice. It was wet enough that it slid across the skin but not to the point where the glitter was sliding down my face. It dried pretty quickly as well and stayed on for a few hours before I had to wash it off again. It completely washed away as well, as glittery products I've tried in the past left random glittery residue all over my face even after washing! This morning, I thought I'd use it as it was meant to be used and pop it on as eyeliner. I fancied doing a cut crease, which actually turned out better than the ones I'd tried in the past and popped on some of the liner across my lash line. My only problem there was, when coming to apply my mascara, the excess glitter that had gone onto the tops of my eyelashes, was almost impossible to cover up. I got most of it covered but it meant that I've quite a lot of mascara on at the roots of my lashes. I'd definitely be more careful next time not to get any on there.

Mascara-wise, it's a bit 'meh'. It boasts that it's "extra lengthening" but to be honest, my eyelashes look the same as they did before but just darker. It's not particularly expensive so I'm looking at it from the perspective of "I didn't spend a hell of a lot on it so can't expect it to be the best mascara in the world" but I've bought really awesome make-up from cheaper brands before. I won't be buying it again but it's not bad enough to throw in the bin without finishing it first. I think part of the problem is the applicator as opposed to the mascara itself though.

The felt tip eyeliner... well... that's a different story altogether. I tried using it for the chest detail on the drag look and also as eyeliner but honestly, it might be the worst eyeliner I've ever used in my life. And I love eyeliner. I've tried a hell of a lot of them. It was too wet, too see-through, didn't apply evenly, it was tragic. I had to go over the full lot with gel liner to try and fix it. It's not something I'd recommend and definitely not something I'd ever buy again. The tip of it was pretty good, it's just a shame the liner itself was so terrible, I even tried going over it several times to build up the colour but it just wasn't happening whatsoever!

The question from the make-up challenge today is asking what lipstick, gloss or lipliner do you like. Well, anyone who knows me, knows my obsession with Jeffree Star Liquid Lipstick is seriously unhealthy. I only have 10 of the current colours, 5 of which are the Holiday Collection which I managed to receive as a gift for Christmas and the colours are EVERYTHING. I'd never recommend any lipsticks to anyone apart from Jeffree Star. The colours are so bright, they last for ages and they're matte without being drying. At the moment, I have Androgyny, Mistletoe, Ho Ho Ho, Drug Lord, Doll Parts, I'm Nude, I'm Royalty, Blue Velvet, Weirdo and Prom Night. It's not enough! I want them all!! So I'm still building up my collection but there are two new colours being released this year and also another collection of lipsticks which I believe are due out in the spring, it's currently spring actually, so I hope they're going to appear soon.

The only colour I couldn't find a photo of was I'm Nude but I'm pretty sure I'll have something up in the future with it on.

I'm planning on going out to buy a camera next week so maybe I'll get some videos posted on YT and can supply a link to an alternative to written tutorials because it's just not the same trying to follow a written photo tutorial as opposed to a video but my accent is horrible and I have a tendency to ramble on quite a bit, as is pretty obvious from this blog but we'll give it a shot. The worst that can happen is rude commenters so we'll see what happens.

x M x

Boots: Collection Glam Crystals Eyeliner £2.99
Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Eyeliner
Barry M Show Girl Mascara

Collection Glam Crystals Eyeliner 5/5
Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Eyeliner 0/5
Barry M Show Girl Mascara 2/5

Drag Wednesdays (yes, it's Thursday) and foundation...

Well, it was Drag Wednesday yesterday!! This week's episode of Drag Race was absolutely fantastic! The main challenge performance was fantastic and honestly, there was nobody out of the crowd that I could say was worthy of being in the bottom two. Unfortunately, there had to be two and Laila McQueen and Dax Exclamation Point were the two unlucky queens to land in the bottom. Now, I really like both queens and I was hoping, due to the fact that nobody was actually bad in the challenge, that it was going to be a non-elimination and was just gonna be an opportunity to scare the shit out of the queens and get them to step their game up. The lipsynch that followed sealed their fate. Both queens were lipsynching to 'I Will Survive' and it didn't end well.  Halfway through the mediocre (sorry but as much as I loved them both, it's true) lipsynch it became apparent what was going to happen. None of the judges seemed impressed throughout the whole thing and, to be honest, Rupaul looked as if she was glaring at them the whole time. When both of them were eliminated, it wasn't much of a surprise as I think it was intended to be. Disappointing end to such an electric episode.

So this week's runway look that I decided to attempt (and fail), was Acid Betty's look. Out of all the queens, this was the one that really caught my eye. It was so creative and really made me go 'Wow!'

Covering my eyebrows is the bane of my existence and it causes me great strife. I never seem to be able to get them completely smooth no matter how hard I try and I think I might end up shaving half of them off again to help aid the covering. But we'll see what happens. I'll pop the products used underneath...

Pre- blended contour photos are always worth a look...

Honestly, it's not the worst drag look I've ever done (honest) but it's definitely not on par with the original look. I left my make-up box feeling a little bit disappointed but, like I said last time, I've seen worse! LOL 

After seeing the photos, I really have fallen in love with golf eyebrows and really thinking of incorporating gold eyebrows into my everyday make-up. Already I can picture the looks on people's faces when they see them but I think it's fierce and definitely eye catching.

Question #4 on the make-up challenge was about foundation. Whether you like wearing foundation, what foundation do you like and what colour are you.

Whenever I wear make-up, I ALWAYS wear foundation. I figure that if I'm going to put in the effort to make my eyes look good, what's the point in leaving the rest of my face mediocre. It's been a struggle finding the perfect foundation and I've tried loads of different brands in the hope that one day, I'd find the right one. I'm currently using No.7 Beautifully Matte foundation and I discovered it by accident.

My sister and I have quite different skin tones, she's more pinky and I'm more of a yellow base (even though I'm actually white as a sheet when you see me from a distance) and this foundation colour (Calico, which I believe is the palest shade) was totally off on her skin tone. So I found it laying around one afternoon and thought I would give it a shot, just to see what it was like. To my surprise, I loved it. Normally, I don't buy No.7, for no other reason than I seem to forget the brand. I normally shop in Superdrug and No.7 is only sold in Boots. It's a nice full coverage foundation. Not too watery, not too thick and it covers SO well! Primer wise I only use a small amount of Nivea Post Shave Balm so there's not really any coverage underneath and I don't use concealer very often unless I have a break out (usually around THAT time of the month) so I was pleasantly surprised at the flawless finish. It's £14.50 for a bottle and you don't need a hell of a lot to do your face as it covers so well. And like I said, with the consistency of it along with a beauty blender (Real Techniques one), it's really smooth and easy to apply. I won't try any other foundation since stumbling across this one!

Oh my god! I can't believe I forgot! I got an interview for college next week. Since I've rambled on quite a bit this morning, more on that tomorrow!! Interview prep, inspiration and comfort zones to follow!

x M x

Products used in drag look:

Nivea Post Shave Balm

Cheapy contour pallete (second darkest shade of contour)

NYX Jumbo pencil in white (for highlight & eyeshadow base)

MUA Loose Powder

NYX powder blush in Silky Rose

Collection glittery liquid liner in gold (for eyebrows)

Cheapy 180 eyeshadow palette

B is for Beautiful gel eyeliner (for eyeliner and chest/face detail)

Primark Dramatic false lashes

Barry M Show Girl mascara

LA Splash Lip Coutour liquid lipstick in Poison Apple

Cheapy contour palette (sparkly light shade for highlighting cheekbones)

MUA highliter pressed powder (for nose highlight, forehead and upper lip)

Day 3 (ish), RPDR and the return of DRAG WEDNESDAY!!!

Good afternoon!!

Okay so the wait is finally over, season 8 of Rupaul's Drag Race (the epitome of guilty pleasures) started on Monday. After the farce that was season 7, I was unsure if I'd ever watch the show again. But true to form, I couldn't help myself. I am so bloody glad I did!! That one episode was better than the whole last season rolled into one.

So Drag Wednesdays... Basically, every time I watch Drag Race, I like to take the opportunity to try out drag make-up (because I bloody love it) and every single time, I ultimately fail. That doesn't stop me from posting it on the internet for everyone to see and laugh at though. My favourite look from episode one had to be Kim Chi's runway look. It was absolutely flawless and my jaw actually dropped when I saw it. Definite contender for winning the crown!! If you have no idea who she is, do a quick YouTube search and you'll be blown away. You won't regret it!! So I thought I'd give it a try...

With my limited make-up skills, I didn't really have high hopes for the end result. As you can tell, I'm slightly lacking in the confidence department. But it wasn't the WORST drag make-up I've ever seen (or done for that matter)...

As usual, the worst part was actually covering my brows. This time around, they actually covered quite well so will post a photo tutorial at some point in the future. There's a lot that can be improved but it's generally not *THAT* bad although a far cry from the original look. The white below the eyes was supposed to me quite a bit smaller but thanks to a finger slip while applying, there was no going back. Also, that wonky eyelash is seriously frustrating the life out of me, I tried removing and re-applying but it had affected the black liner underneath. I've had a few tips given to me from a real life queen so gonna try it again at some point and see if I can get it to a more acceptable level.

Sadly the photos don't reflect the contour and highlight very well. Pretty poor lighting in the house means that I can't ever put the full effect of my make-up across from showing off contour to reflecting how bright the colours I use are. I'll put a list of products used down below at the very end.

On the subject of Drag Race, what a bloody episode that was!! I think the show might be back on form. Season 6 was such an epic season with the queens and challenges involved so it would've been difficult for season 7 to have topped it anyway.

I felt a bit sad to see any of the queens go, to be honest, although the queen most deserving of being in the bottom two (& wouldn't be missed by myself), wasn't. So I felt a bit shafted there. I don't want to be shady naming names but I think, to anyone reading this, it's more than obvious. Naysha (beautiful and talented queen) definitely did not deserve to go home by any means and I would have liked to have seen what she brought to the game in future episodes! But Laila really did tear it up during the lipsynch and I'm glad she stayed so I'm torn! I think she's got a lot of potential and it would've been a shame to not have been able to see what she had to offer! Really looking forward to the next episode to see what happens next!

So I kinda forgot about the make-up challenge a lil' bit! So day 3's question was "What are your favourite brands?" Which is a pretty difficult question to answer. I don't have any particular favourites but there are brands I'd definitely avoid. Any company who aren't cruelty free are an instant write off which is a shame because there were brands I loved to used that turned out to not be CF. I'm also put off by companies like Younique which sadly involve quite aggressive selling. I don't want to buy a product because I'm being pressured into it or told that I *have* to buy it. The brands I'm currently using are Urban Decay, LA Splash, NYX, MUA, Make-up Revolution, Jeffree Star and Freedom London but no favourites as yet. I have some LA Girl lipstick on the way so we'll see if they're worth buying into as well.

So anyway, eyebrow covering tutorial tomorrow for sure and see what else I can conjure up in the next 24 hours.

x M x

Products used for drag look:

Pritt Stick glue stick
MUA Red lipstick for colour correction on brows
MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder
Maybelline Dream Satin foundation (bought before I found out they weren't CF)
Cheapy contour palette from eBay
Make-up Revolution Girl Panic palette for powder contour & eyes
Jeffree Star Liquid Lipstick in Weirdo (for eyeliner & lips) and Drug Lord (for white under eye and waterline)
Rimmel Scandaleyes mascara
Primark falsies (Define Lash) - If you're gonna try Primark lashes, the lashes themselves are pretty good but the glue is a bit sub-par so I'd suggest buying a better quality eyelash adhesive!
Freedom London pro-brow pomade in ebony brown