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

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 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

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

Day 2... where did you learn how to do make-up? Typical make-up look...

Okay, so technically I missed out on two days. In my defense though, I had a show to go to on Friday and was too tired for make-up yesterday as I didn't get home until 3am the night before! A rare occurence for me to be happy to skip doing my face!

Admittedly, I'm pretty knackered today. We've got a poorly 6 year old who has been sick all night and then again this morning but I had to do the school run anyway with the 4 year old so here we are.

Day 2's question is "Where did you learn how to do make-up?"

Growing up, my Mum always wore make-up. No matter where she was going, she had her warpaint on before leaving the house. I remember watching her as a kid in the mirror and seeing what she was doing. It was fascinating for me seeing anyone's transformation when it came to make-up and she always stuck to the same look the whole time since as far back as I remember. It was always a fairly natural look with the eye make-up and either brown toned lipstick or gloss. Recently, I've managed to lure her out of her comfort zone and she's worn different lip colour but that's pretty much as far as I can push her by the looks of things.

When I started wearing make-up to school as a teen, I pretty much followed the same routine, although back then, my eyeliner game was pretty rough so I always skipped it. Different coloured lipsticks creeped in over time and eventually eye shadow. The best piece of advice I ever received from her was probably to blend into my neck and stop going overboard with the bronzer. Looking back at photos of me as a teen, I feel mortified (although was hideously offended at the time) seeing the obvious tide marks and the bright orange cheeks. I was a hot mess.

Over time, I managed to improve my skills thankfully. When I discovered YouTube tutorials as an adult, I was already competent at doing my make-up but it was great to see different styles and how to execute them. Particularly with eye make-up as that's my "thing".

I have to thank her for the inspiration growing up, to be honest. Without that introduction to make-up, who knows if I'd have as much interest in it as an adult? My guess is probably yes but who knows. I could still be sitting here an adult looking like I've been tangoed with lines all around my chin. Thank you mother!!

So for the photo challenge, day 2 is "typical make-up look". Well, I don't really have a typical make-up look as I like to try something new every day but I do have a failsafe for any time I'm in a rush and I need to throw on something reliable. So here goes. Basically foundation routine is all the same but instead of some bright eye make-up, it's a natural lid with eyeliner. No matter what I have on my face, I cannot skip the eyeliner!! Coupled with a red lip, it's something that'll fit any occasion and is easy enough just to whack on.

I've used the Urban Decay Vice4 palette. 'Framed' all over the lid, a small amount of 'Bitter' in the crease, a small amount of 'Deadbeat' smudged under the eyes and 'Bones' for the highlight. At the moment eyeliner-wise, I'm using B is for Beautiful gel eyeliner. It seemed awesome at first but I'm starting to wonder if I'd ever buy it again. It seems to dry up pretty quickly even though the lid is screwed tightly shut after every time I use it. Never a good thing. And for the red lip, I either reach for Jeffree Star's Mistletoe or LA Splash's Lip Couture in Poison Apple. Both are liquid matte lipsticks and don't have a tendency to rub off or bleed if I can't find my lipliner (which always seems to disappear). Links below for all products used.

This takes roughly 15-20 minuted depending on what eyeliner I use. This one is particularly hard to work with as it's drying up faster than it should (!) so it takes a bit of fiddling about with to get it just right.

It's something that suits everyday wear but can also work if going out in the evening so it's pretty versatile so a good failsafe!



Nivea for Men Post Shave Balm £5.29
B Flawless Complete Coverage Foundation £5.49 (usually £9.99) I use the colour Rose Ivory which is currently not in stock on the website but can be found instore.
MUA Matte Perfect Loose Powder £3
NYX Powder Blush (Silky Rose) £5.98
MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder £3.00 (Opalescent Amber)
Urban Decay Vice4 Palette £43
B is for Beautiful B. Precise Gel Eyeliner (currently £3.49)
Freedom Pro Brow Pomade (Ebony Brown) £5

The only thing I can't include on the list is the Jeffree Star liquid lipstick in Mistletoe. Unfortunately, it was part of the limited edition collection that was released around Christmas time. If you search about online, there might be some online stores that still have some stock but it was pretty popular, so there might be a chance that's it's unavailable. They do a similar colour called Unicorn Blood which is similar colourwise but the Mistletoe is more glittery. Alas, it's out of stock on the Cocktail Cosmetics site which is usually where I get my JS lipsticks from but they're always replenishing their stock so keep an eye out. Link to site below.

Cocktail Cosmetics

x M x

Make-up challenge day 1... bare faced and when we first started wearing make-up...

Good morning! :)

So I found two "30 Day Make-up Challenges" on Google the other day and thought it would be fun to take part.

Day 1 is "post a picture of yourself wearing no make-up" on one list and the question "When did you start wearing make-up?" on the other so here goes...

I started wearing make-up as a teenager when I started high school. I didn't have much confidence in myself and I found make-up gave me that confidence. I was probably about 13 and grew up watching my Mum do her make-up and waiting for the day when I could start wearing it regularly. I never had YouTube tutorials or anything like that back then so was basically going off whatever I had seen from my Mum and making the rest up as I went along.

Looking back on it,  I was a hot mess. Honestly. In most pictures I see of myself, my face is bright orange, I have tide marks where I haven't blended my (far too dark) foundation onto my neck properly and my eyebrows were just tragic. 

Moving on from then, when I started working in a shop, I stepped my game up. I finally matched my colour properly and didn't look as much of a riot leaving the house. I always loved bright colours and have never been one to regularly go for a natural look so it was always bright and bold. 

After having my two kids, make-up wasn't a daily thing. I was so busy dealing with babies and toddlers that I only really wore it if I was going out shopping. The rest of the time I was bare faced. Don't get me wrong, now as an adult, I have much more confidence in myself physically but I feel it's almost a kind of mask. I have anxiety and putting on that mask gives me that more of an "oomph" but it's more a case of actually enjoying putting the make-up on than anything else. I feel I can express myself with colour and style. Not only that, but with the anxiety, I feel like sitting down and methodically applying the make-up itself relaxes me. At the end of it, I can look at it and see that I've actually achieved something. Whether it be my less favourable natural look or something wild, wonderful and creative. 

Now I've realised that I want to do make-up for a living. I want to give that confidence to someone else, pass on the creativity, inspire others. We are all beautiful. No matter what we look like, there is beauty in all of us but sometimes it takes just that little bit of make-up here and there to give someone confidence, cover flaws that make us feel self-conscious, let us express ourselves and be creative, accentuate that beauty that is already there.

x M x

Big steps, Freedom London eyebrow pomade review and MUA Liquid Lipstick review...

Well hello, it's been a while...!

A little life update and review seems right about now seeing as how it's been a little too long since I posted last. From then until now I took a massive step in my life. I applied for college. It's pretty scary if I'm being totally honest. My anxiety has held me back for such a long time that now the kids are both going to be at school, I really need to push myself into it before I waste my whole life procrastinating and talking myself out of things that are going to make me happy.

The application was sent a few weeks ago so I probably still have a while to wait before they get to the interview process but I'm making an effort to try and stay positive. Looking at it from the perspective of "Hey, if I do this right now, in 3 years time I could be working as a qualified MUA." has kept me from running away. Keep your eye on the prize and all that jazz.

Onto the review. Took a little trip to Superdrug at the weekend to see what I could find and stumbled across Freedom London's eyebrow pomade (£5). My eyebrows are the bane of my existence, I've tried powders, gels and pencils but they never seem to look how I want them. Due to over plucking and waxing as a teen, my eyebrows don't really have much shape to them and they've become really difficult to grow in so finding the right product to suit me has been a bit of a challenge.

I looked into pomade a while back when I was contemplating buying the AHB Dipbrow pomade but I figured I didn't want to overspend when there was a chance that it might not work for me so coming across the cheaper version felt like fate. When researching the pomade before, it was recommended that you use a stiffer angled brush to apply it because of the texture but I decided to go for a softer one as I've had no success with a stiff one (oo-er lol) in the past. I picked up a cheap smokey eye Superdrug own-brand brush (£2.99) to try it out.

I have quite dark hair and usually go for a darker brow so I picked up the ebony shade. Use a tester in store if possible because when you open the pots, it looks deceptively lighter than it does when you actually dip your brush in. The pomade is nice and smooth and picks up onto the brush nicely, only use a dab at first. I lined underneath and above the brow and filled in the middle just with the angled end of the brush, I didn't need a spoolie or anything to even it out or brush over the brows but if you have quite unruly thick eyebrows, you might need to give them a brush through before and after applying. It's very pigmented so don't put too much on the brush when first applying because it'll look far darker than what you're trying to achieve. It was really easy to work with as it was so smooth and went on like a dream. I think I've finally found my perfect eyebrow product and I highly recommend it to anyone. The pots are 2.5g but for the amount you need to do both eyebrows, it's definitely going to last a long while. It comes in 11 shades (I think) so whether you're really light or really dark, you'll find something to suit your colour. And it's a definite bargain at £5.

While I was browsing, I picked up an MUA Luxe metallic liquid lipstick (£3 in Superdrug, £4 on MUA Store) in the shade Lustre. Recently, I've gone off a satin or glossy lip so it was the first time I hadn't picked up anything matte. But the shimmer was really eye catching so I thought it was worth a try. It comes with a doe foot applicator so easy to apply (for me anyway, I hate applying liquid lipstick with a brush). They're highly pigmented and very shimmery and you can build up the colour from sheer to more opaque. It smells lovely which was the first thing I noticed when I opened the tube, which I know isn't really that important but I've had some rather unpleasant smelling lipsticks in the past which I find a bit offputting. With regards to wear and tear, as it's non-matte and more of a gloss than a lipstick, it does come off a little while eating or drinking but it's not *that* bad. I timed the length of time between re-application (not including food or drink) and it lasted for a good 3 hours before I felt the need to apply it again and even at that it didn't fully come off. It's nice and smooth and doesn't dry your lips out at all and the colour didn't bleed out so I didn't feel the need to use a lipliner with it. Definitely worth the £3 and I'll be investing in some of the other shades. I'm not 100% sure how many shades there are in total but there are currently 9 live on the Superdrug site but only 4 on the MUA Store.

All in all, I'm going to give the Freedom eyebrow pomade a 5/5 and the MUA Luxe Metallic liquid lipsticks a 4/5, only missing out on the 5 because of the fact I felt it was more of a gloss than a liquid lipstick.

(Links for the eyebrow pomade, liquid lipstick and brush are right down the very bottom.)

Also, I just had to include this photo as my youngest decided he wanted to join in when I was getting ready and take a few photos <3

Hopefully, next time I can come back with some good news about college! <3

Much love!

- x M x

Products used:

Maybelline Dream Satin foundation (using up the last of it as I've stopped buying Maybelline sadly).
MUA Loose Powder in Translucent
NYX Powder Blush in Silky Rose
MUA Highlighter in Amber
Urban Decay eyeshadow primer
Urban Decay Vice 4 palette
Maybelline satin liquid liner (again using up the last of it)
Rimmel Supercurler mascara
Freedom London eyebrow pomade in Ebony
MUA Luxe Liquid Lipstick in Lustre

MUA Metallic Liquid Lipstick - Lustre
Freedom Pro Brow Pomade - Ebony
Superdrug Smokey Eye Brush

MUA Mini Haul/YouTube thoughts/ideas

I'll start with the YouTube thing. I was recently thinking about having my YouTube channel running along with the actual blog. The main reason being, it's easier to follow a tutorial if you're actually watching someone do it instead of reading off a page. So I was thinking maybe keep reviews and stuff on here and just have tutorials on YouTube. I might end up changing the format and just switching everything over to YouTube but I can only film if there's nobody else home or everyone is in bed so it's not always going to be convenient. Also, I'm not sure if there would be many viewers Any suggestions welcome.

So onto the make-up. I got an MUA delivery 3 weeks ago. I opened it after a rather traumatic hair experience so there was a lot of distraction that it totally slipped my mind to post on the day. Or that week to be honest. The hair trauma is ongoing, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I can go on lol. Live to see another day and all that jazz. Anyway, I wasn't looking for anything in particular so I just gathered a few bits and pieces together. I ended up with 3 lipsticks, 2 liquid eyeliners, 2 pencil eyeliners and a pressed powder highlighter. All for £10 from Superdrug. Gotta love MUA for value.

I have to say, for anyone who hasn't used MUA before, that in this case the cost doesn't reflect the quality of the product. I love MUA Cosmetics, mainly because it's not a case of low cost, poor quality cosmetics. The products are great quality as well as great value. So here it is:

Please excuse my horrendous photographs, I had limited places available at that given moment and was in a rush.

I got the liquid eyeliner in shades 2 and 3. The liners are really bright and colourful but my only issue is with just how wet they are. It might just be because of the sheer amount of eyeliner that I actually were but I could feel it running as I applied it. The brush is superfine as well which is great for getting up close to the lash line but not so good if you want to go for thick wings at the side. I find the brush is a bit too long and thin to be able to do my wing properly. It stays on all day but washes off really easily when it's time to come off.

Next up was the pencil eyeliners in 'Royal Blue' and 'Turquoise'. What I love about the MUA eyeliner pencils is that they're soft enough that they apply really easily across the lid but they're not that soft that they start to crumble as you use them. Now, I saw something that I've never seen before. I'm not sure if other brands do it but there's a SHARPENER IN THE LID ZOMFGICANTBELIEVEIT!!! Aherm... sorry about that but I totally freaked out when I noticed. Ages spent hunting for sharpeners and giving up because I couldn't find one. NEVER AGAIN!! Like the liquid liners, the colours are so bright and don't rub off too easily.

Now for the lipsticks. MUA lipsticks are £1. Yes, £1. And they're bloody fantastic. There's so many different shades. Matte and shimmery. I got  shades 1, 2 and 15. They're so creamy and shimmery and they look great on. The only thing I have an issue with, and I'm probably being hideously picky, is the packaging. The little coloured bits at the end showing the colour seem to always pop off. I know it's not a an actual issue with the product itself but just be wary that you might need to scramble around on the floor looking for one so be careful when using if you want your packaging in the one piece.

Now, the last, but by no means least is the Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder in 'Opalescent Amber'. I have never used any sort of highlighter. Cream, powder or otherwise. I just didn't see the point. But I took a chance to test it out. It's only £3 and there's loads of it! Rookie mistake, the first time I tried using it, I put far too much on and ended up looking ridiculous. Being slightly more careful the second time around I just swept a small amount under my eyes, just across the top of my cheekbones. It's such a slight change but the highlight really sets my make up off. There's just enough shimmer there but not too much that I look like I'm at a 90s school disco (Yes it's a good look but there's a time and a place, know what I mean?). I wish you could see from the photograph just how lovely and shimmery it is. I'll get some photos of it on my actual face with some half decent lighting.

As usual MUA is a win. Yay! Links to all the products on Superdrug are below and also, the link to the MUA website.

MUA Liquid Eyeliner - 3/5 simply because of how runny it is (although that's personal preference) and the brush,

MUA Intense Colour Eyeliner Pencil - 5/5

MUA Lipstick - 4.5/5 - Losing a half point as I have to reapply quite often. Although this could be because I eat and talk so much!!

MUA Highlighter - 5/5

x M x

MUA Store - Make Up Academy

Superdrug - MUA Liquid Eyeliner

Superdrug - MUA Undressed Highlighting Powder

Superdrug - MUA £1 Lipsticks

Superdrug - MUA Intense Colour Eyeliner Pencils

Maybelline Superstay 24 Hour Lip Colour review

Wow, been a bit busy lately with the kids all on holiday from school that I almost forgot about the blog. Bought make-up to review and a mini-haul still to post. So I thought I'd start with the quickest first and it's a review of the Maybelline Superstay 24 Hour Dual Ended Lip Colour. Links to the Maybelline website and Superdrug will be down at the bottom of the page.

I'll start by saying that I hate longwear lipstick. It dries your lips out, most of the time I find it tastes funny and it never really lasts the length of time promised. But as Maybelline is one of my favourite brands, I thought the Superstay was worth trying. I got mine from Superdrug and it was £8.99. They have an offer on at the moment on Maybelline, buy one get one half price. I opted for the colourway Absolute Plum.

It's a double ended lip colour (well, you can tell that from the name lol) with the colour at one end (which has a stander gloss wand applicator) and the other is a glossy moisturising balm. Their site boasts that the 24 Superstay lasts UP TO 24 hours, doesn't crumble, fade, transfer, smudge and is is non-drying. It comes in 18 (lovely) colours so there's quite a bit of variety there. Although Maybelline is one of my favourite brands, seeing as I'm not keen on longwear, I was still a bit skeptical.

Set up is obvious, apply colour and allow it to dry a little and then apply the balm over the top of it. Pretty simple. I was expecting it to be pretty dry before applying the balm but was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't. I only needed one coat of the colour and it dried within a few seconds and then applied the balm which was really moisturising and left a lovely sheen. Then came the waiting. Now, I applied it straight onto my natural lip, normally I would be putting over foundation and powder. I figured I can wash my face around my lips and go to bed with it on to test the full 24 hours.

After 2 hours, the colour had stayed put, there was absolutely no fading and my lips still felt quite soft.

After 6 hours, still no fading. I had already eaten lunch and dinner plus brushed my teeth again.

At the 12 hour mark, it STILL looked almost fresh. I had been snacking and had a few drinks at this point.

At 18 hours, you could see that it was starting to fade but not by much (the lighting didn't help at this point as it was dark so I wasn't in natural light anymore so it looked darker than it does in the photograph), colour was still there on my lips. So I went to bed at this point.

At the 24 hour mark, the lipcolour had pretty much gone *but* there *was* still colour around the outside of my lips so it would've been interesting to see just how it would've faded had I not brushed my teeth again and gone to bed.

Overall, considering there was still colour around the outsides of my lips the lipcolour DOES last 24 hours. Admittedly, there was a lot of fading post 18 hours but realistically, it's not really likely that you're going to be awake for 24 hours straight and expect your make-up to stay 100% the whole time. I applied the balm at the 2, 6 and 18 hour mark, more out of habit as I was checking my make-up in the mirror than because it was drying my lips out.

The next day, I put the colour on with full make-up and the colour held even better throughout the course of the day. I'm really impressed and will definitely be buying in more colours. It's a great lipcolour to use if you're going out to work our on a day or night out and you don't want to be reapplying your lipstick every 2-3 hours (even less depending on the brand) and don't want your lips to end up really dry.

Pros

Colour lasts all day.
Doesn't dry out.
Doesn't smear or transfer onto clothes or skin.
No bleeding so no need to use lipliner.

Cons

None

Overall, I'm giving the 24 Hour Superstay Lip Colour a 5/5

x M x

MUA mini-haul to follow at some point tomorrow. Also, I've been thinking of starting a vlog on YouTube alongside the blog but still working on it as the house is so busy all the time, I don't know if it's feasible.

Maybelline UK - Superstay 24 Hour Lipcolor

Superdrug - Maybelline Superstay 24 Hour Lipcolour