Mini review & Look: Feline Fancy collection by Sugarpill.

It finally arrived!!!
I will share my thoughts and a look I did, so if you're into that, keep reading.

Also, excuse the shift in light. Weather has been terrible here and the sun is being a major pain. It just came out but I'm not going to take new pictures. I'm not happy with you sun!

The collection consists of one Oxblood shimmery/metallic liquid lipstick and a four pan palette. The palette has three foiled shadows and one matte.

The packaging is sturdy and feels great for a cardboard palette. Each shadow is 1.45g/0.05 oz and the lipstick is 5.4 ml/0.18 oz.
Artwork by the talented Brandi Milne.

I decided to swatch these shadows with a brush on bare skin using one of the brushes I used for the look I made using this palette. Brush: Cozzette D225.

Swatches on dry skin in low natural light. I didn't really have the light to do awesome swatches but there are thousands of better ones on the internet.

The liquid lipstick wand.

Alright.
So here are my thoughts.
While I have quite a few similar shadows in my collection which would swatch a lot better I feel like I personally needed this collection. I like the colour payoff, not patchy at all, it's perfect for layering and creating dimensions. It's easy to build over primer and I really wouldn't recommend using it without anyhow. I heard a few complaints about kick up in the pans, I've not experienced that myself. They all look beautiful and for a more intense look you can use a sealing/setting liquid.

To me this is a solid palette, collection even.
The only negative thing I have to say, which might just be a personal preference, is that the lipstick wand isn't great.
I've been using this lipstick since I got it and I love the shade but if I use the wand it takes a really long time to dry, actually hasn't dried ever as I only used the wand once... It was tacky on my lips for a good hour until I wiped it off and reapplied it with a lip brush.
In my experience the best way to apply it is by rolling the wand on the back of your clean hand and use a lip brush to apply two thin coats on your lips. I let each coat dry and I use the Cozzette P370 to apply it.

And here's a few selfies.
Full product details on my Instagram @cynthiaiskillikill.

Look: Wearable Valentine's look.

I wanted to do a look I would personally wear out for a Valentine's date. A look which isn't your average "Instagram" look which is only made to look good in studio lights with skin filters etc. A real look. Something I would not be scared of walking in the rain with, a look I can wipe off my sweat moustache if I wanted to in... Because let's face it, life isn't that glamorous in this part of the world, it's always warm or raining. So here is the look:

A soft smokey look which looks good in every light.

I primed my face with the Hemp Seed & Red Raspberry primer. Dabbed on a bit of mineral concealer in Sunkissed where needed, which is usually under my eyes, along my jawline, nose and cheeks. Finished with Mineral powder in Sunkissed all over. All from Dirty Hippie Cosmetics.


As for shadows I used the following today over primed lids of course.

Swatches of today's shadows, no primer used here. They are much nicer over primer obviously but it slipped my mind.

1. Dirty Hippie Cosmetics Mineral powder in Sunkissed from the inner corner, blending downwards from the brow to the crease all the way to the end of my brow.
2. Dirty Hippie Cosmetics Bronzed Rose Powder in the crease and under my eye.
3. Espionage Cosmetics loose eyeshadow in Mrs.Reynolds on the center of my lid.
4. Shiro Cosmetics A Radical Same Who Likes To Play Games around the previous shadow and blended outwards. Also using whatever is left on the brush under the eye.
5. Notoriously Morbid loose shadow in Nearly Headless Nick in the center close to the lash line and inner corner.
6. Notoriously Morbid pressed highlighter in Diluted Heart along the brow bone, only using the lightest shade from the pan.

Diluted Heart pressed highlighter from Notoriously Morbid. I actually won this baby and it's impossible to capture the beauty of this. It is what I wore all over as my contour, on my cheeks and cheek bones. Pretty awesome dimensions.

The finishing touches: IMAN Cosmetics lip shimmer in Muse, F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics limited edition pressed shadow in The Ghoul (matte black) and NYX Cosmetics Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean which I use on my brows with a slim eye liner brush.

Links to featured companies, no affiliate links:
Notoriously Morbid
Dirty Hippie Cosmetics Just launched their new line!
F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics
Espionage Cosmetics  Use code NMACYNTHIA15 for 15% off your first purchase over $25. (Just a discount code, I don't get anything)
NYX Cosmetics
IMAN Cosmetics  (I can only recommend the lip shimmers)
Shiro Cosmetics

Lip Art: Valentine's inspired, prep to finish.

Yay! Contests!
So it's almost Valentine's and there's quite a few contests going on, I chose to enter one for now and made a look for @ryankellymua who's hosting a Valentine's lip art contest. She does some gorgeous lip pieces herself! So if you're into that go give her a follow!

Today I decided to share what goes into my usual lip project, they take anywhere between 1 - 3 hours and lots of mind over body whispering to calm my forever shaking hands. I'm always so amazed with the results myself as I'm not only shaky but really clumsy!

So here's what I always prep my station with:
Three sheets of tissue: One for the brushes to rest on once I start using them, one to place the products I'll be using as I spill (a lot) and finally one to wipe/dab my brushes from excess or simply lightly swirl clean when I've used dried products.
Q-tips: For blending, cleaning and a small helping hand.
Make-up wipe: for cleaning my mixing palette (the back of my hand), wiping brushes when changing colours, cleaning up messes.

Notoriously Morbid Slumber salve and
CometComforts plumbing balm (LE).

Before starting to put any make-up on my face I always brush my teeth, floss, wash my face and moisturize!

Following that I exfoliate my lips, use a plumping balm and top with a moisturising balm.

Brushes used L to R: Some cheap narrow lip brush I bought way back when, Real Techniques (RT) Deluxe Crease Brush, RT Accent Brush, RT Fine Liner Brush, Cozzette D240 Fusion Brush and P375 Stylist Eyeliner Brush.

For my face base I used NYX cosmetics Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (Thank you @samshineart for this!), I lined around my mouth and drew some circular shapes outwards which I then blended into my skin with the RT Crease brush for an even colour. I did struggle blending a bit as I forgot to prime my skin... I would recommend doing that anytime you want to cover your face with anything cream based, eye liners. Once I was happy with the coverage I went in with Concrete Minerals loose shadow in Confession all over it to set and avoid shine.

My second step in this look was to do my faded, overdrawn lips.
For that I used the following colours, starting on the centre of the lips blending outwards using the fusion brush: Espionage Cosmetics Mrs.Reynolds, Tokyo Rose, Sakura, Athena and from F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics Blazing Unicorn which was applied on the most elevated parts of my lips. I added the black last, not seen here, to balance the look rather then let it dictate how deep the rest of the look was going to be. (that's BS I didn't know I was doing it, winging it!)

With a white eyeliner pencil, here from Neve Cosmetics, I outline a base heart in the center of my lips. Using Espionage Cosmetics Kiss of Death Lip Serum in Fatality I make a thick mix of black gloss with F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics limited edition matte black shadow The Ghoul. I use this mix with my slim lip brush to follow the heart outline. I mixed the silver (Kraken) with a bit of gloss as well for the following step.

Used a Q-tip to clean out a bit of the centre of the black heart and  makeup wipe to clean the brush. Mixing a tiny bit of the gloss and Sugarpill loose eyeshadow in Goldilux I slowly and very carefully filled the black heart with gold. I used the same mix with the narrow lip brush to make wings outside the heart. Once happy with the wings I went back to the Kraken mix to give a little dimension and help the "feathers" pop using the Stylist Eyeliner Brush.

Reds!
Starting again with a Q-tip, I cleaned the center of the heart and went in with the RT accent brush loaded with Concrete Minerals loose shadow Risqué to make a red base heart. Following that step with House of Beauty's lip hybrid in Siren, this product didn't need it for opacity, I just rather fail a dry product than a glossy one as it would have mixed itself with the other colours much easier if I would have done a mistake. Luckily, everything went well. I would however recommend leaving this step til last as glosses do like to mingle and once I was done with what was to follow I had lost the crisp heart lines.

With the product left on the brush I started making swirls as bases for my roses, which at this point I didn't even know I was doing. Using the RT liner brush I did a few more detailed petals, or rather dimensions using the shadows.

For the stalks of the roses (that's what they're called right?) I used Zodiac Killer Cosmetics liquid lipstick in Pluto. I let it dry a little on the back of my hand for a more opaque colour. I used the RT fine liner for this bit.

To finish the look and tie it all together I used the Cozzette eyeliner brush and the black gloss mix to do all the lines seen.
Once that was done I did the gamble of adding black shadow with the Fusion Brush along my lower lip line. Really stupid looking back at it as it could have ruined the complete look if I would have had fallout or even a random spazy hand.

More pictures can be seen on my Instagram @cynthiaiskillikill
All brands mentioned are tagged on the pictures there for easy shopping and also have a discount code for Espionage Cosmetics! (Not affiliate code, just saving you some pennies)

Lipstick play, mixing and amping.

I don't know what happened but sometime halfway through 2016 I developed a love for lipsticks. In my whole life up to that point I probably only owned a handful of lipsticks. I now have a decent sized collection and keep leaning towards lip safe shadows which gives me endless possibilities! So I thought I would share a few ways to spice up lipsticks which might be gathering dust, which happens as seasons pass and we get new ones... I love being comfortable, obviously, so I tend to use a hydrating lip product in the center of my lips and line the outer part with a matte lipstick or even a lip safe shadow. Some of my favorite combinations:

Nude Orange: For my face today I had to use a little foundation on the lower part of my face... I used Jordana Oil-free foundation in Natural and on the rest of my face Dirty Hippie Cosmetics Mineral powder in Sunkissed. NYX cosmetics Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black bean as eyeliner topped with F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics pressed shadow in The Ghoul (Matte Black) which I also used lightly over my brows, also used Halloween Delight as highlighter today, both unfortunately no longer available as they were Limited editions for Halloween.

Nude Orange: I painted my lips using my favorite lip brush, P370 from Cozzette, with IMAN Cosmetics lipstick in IMAN Nude as a base then I added Zodiac Killer Cosmetics matte lipstick in Mars along the edges and blended it inwards with the same brush. Super comfortable combined.

Green Wine.

Green Wine: Base colour is Terra Firma from Dirty Hippie Cosmetics topped with F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics Hydra's Wrath along the edges which is a brown based green shifting duochrome. 

Cherry Coke.

Cherry Coke: Base lipstick is Hipster by IMAN Cosmetics topped with Fouke Monster from Notoriously Morbid.

Companies mentioned:
Dirty Hippie Cosmetics
Jordana Cosmetics
NYX Cosmetics
Zodiac Killer Cosmetics
F.A.I.R. Beauty Cosmetics
Notoriously Morbid

(No affiliate links)

Haul: Moonbabyshop & AccioLove.

My first orders of the year arrived!

So here's what I got:

Moonbabyshop: This wrapping! I'm a savage and tore the paper as I was opening the box... But how cute is this?! There was even some cute stickers on, just look at that sneaky owl saying "Kiss"! Click picture to get to Moonbabyshop Etsy store!

Moonbabyshop: What I ordered.

 I really loved the Pumpkin mask so decided to order two other ones, this time I got The Pineapple Enzyme one and The Rose Bright Mask (these are huge!), got myself a Lavender Chamomile soap which smells amazing and also got some Bath Teas in Lavender & Chamomile. They used to only be Lavender but I welcome this change.
And finally I got two samples: I got a piece of the Absinthe soap, which is one of my all time favorites (together with the Green Tea and Tobacco) and something I'm really excited about! A bath truffle! Happiness all round.


I finally, FINALLY, got round to placing an order from the lovely Fay who runs a shop on Etsy called AccioLove. I've been putting all her decals in and out of my trolley for about a year and now I got them! (Some, will absolutely have to get a few others)

Here's what I got:

AccioLove: Everything came well wrapped and with a sweet note. Always makes me smile seeing handwritten notes.
Click picture to visit AccioLove on Etsy.

AccioLove: Harry Potter Quotes. 

AccioLove: Star Wars!!!

AccioLove: Alphabet.

AccioLove: Tiny Diamonds.

AccioLove: Butterflies! Which were an unexpected extra. That k you so very much Fay! Excited to use these!

And that concludes this haul, as usual I'll be posting randomly on my Instagram story about things I'm trying.
Don't forget to give these lovely companies a follow on social media and have a lurk around their shops!
Take care! I'm off to do my nails! Yay!