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

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

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

From make-up disaster to the best night ever...

Well, the wait was over last night. Finally went to see Adore again!

Unfortunately, the lead up to leaving was almost a total disaster. My original plan was to do a step by step on my eye make-up but the shit hit the fan and it didn't turn out as I'd hoped. Honestly, I wish I'd had time to remove it and start again but threw some glitter over the top of it and worked it as best as I could lol. Went for the Urban Decay Vice4 palette and Jeffree Star's I'm Royalty liquid lipstick. Thankfully in the photos we got, it actually looks pretty good. Clearly I'm photogenic but look atrocious in real life!!

After hunting around for ages for a parking space, we finally made it to the venue in time for the meet and greet. Cue anxiety appearance...

We got inside and were queueing on the stairs waiting for the M&G when I started getting a bit shaky and nauseous. Thankfully, it was nothing compared to the first time where I actually almost walked out because I was freaking out so badly (but being a stubborn cow, I hate running away when the going gets tough lol). We were moved into a booth inside the club and sat waiting "patiently" to be shown through. 15 or so minutes later we were moved to the queue on the dancefloor and she was within viewing distance. Cue further anxiety. Mixed with excitement, it made for a very nauseating wait lol!

Once we got right up to the stage and it was my turn to go up, I started shaking again and walked up to her pretty much vibrating with anxiety. I nearly peed my pants when she went "Oh my god, hello, it's you!" so she either remembers me from last time (aaaaaargh!) or thought I was someone else 😂😂😂 , I'm sticking with the first option!! So I got a cuddle and I apologised for the shaking and she was so sweet as always. Then I got her to autograph my tattoo so I could get it tattooed over. I actually got overly excited over a Sharpie pen. I went in with eyeliner and she asked if I wanted it done in permenant marker because she had a Sharpie & I was like "OH MY GOD YEAH, DO YOU HAVE ONE?" I'm such a weird one... But anyway, I can't get it done for a while so I've taken a picture of the positioning and autograph for when I get a chance to go back to the tattooist and I've just to get her arm tattoo added in and it'll be complete!! Ended up talking about my lipstick which amused me to no end because I actually was able to keep calm by this point! Got another cuddle, which I wished could never have ended 😂 Did photos and then we went to wait for the show to start. I think it's wonderful that even though she's such a star, she's so humble and sweet and you can see she really does make an effort to have time for her fans! We were due to get a signed copy of the album but the release date was moved so we all received a signed cover of the album and part of our ticket refunded so we're able to pre-order the album anyway so I'm so excited for that to come out. The songs we've heard so far from the album are amazing and I can see it ended up on repeat like it did with her first album (links for albums at the bottom, definitely a worthwhile investment!)

Photo from last night 05/03/16

The show started a while later and we had Davina De Campo up first who was just fabulous! They did a lipsynch battle between 4 of the audience which was quite entertaining and then we "patiently" waited on Adore to come back on. As per the last 2 times we saw her perform live, she was amazing. I've been sorely disappointed in the past hearing artists sing live but every single time Adore totally slays it!! It was just pure perfection. Between the stunning vocals, showering the crowd in water and crowd surfing, she definitely knows how to work one hell of a performance 😂! Got a few pics from the AXM Glasgow's Facebook page. 😂

It was a wonderful evening and we had a blast! Definitely going to keep watch for the next time she's back. Unfortunately the tickets for RPDR Battle of the Seasons (where she's due to appear again in Glasgow) in a few weeks are sold out so we're going to miss out there but holding onto hope that it won't be too long after that she's back!

Thought I'd just chuck in past photos of times we went to see her before just because, well, why not?

These were from the first time we saw her in August when she did an album tour. She was amazing. This was probably one of the times that my anxiety was at nuclear meltdown level but she made me feel really relaxed and it gave me a fuckton of confidence after that night to actually go ahead and do things that scared me because I did that one thing that really caused me so much fear and panic. It was a life changing experience as cheesy and ridiculous as it sounds!

This was from the second time when we went to see her in November. Was a much calmer experience, I have to say which was totally out of character for me. Again, an amazing show even with technical faults with the sound system in the club. I'm so glad she even came back after that to be honest!

All in all, it's always a fantastic experience and I hope that we have a repeat pretty soon <3

x M x

Amazon: Adore Delano - 'Til Death Do Us Party

Amazon: Adore Delano - Afterparty