THE ANSWERS...

Click to embiggen!

I'm not in my house at the moment! But this post is scheduled to go off at 12 noon Adelaide time, meaning the contest is officially OVER. And in the greatest bout of fail my blog has seen, as of 10:30pm on the 26th, I've received zero entries. Sucks for you, apparently none of you get free stuff! Where's your makeup knowledge? :P
But maybe I'll check my gmail later when I get back from everything that is life. Maybe one of you has won some form of something you don't have to pay for idek. Or maybe I'll compile ALL ZE PRIZES into a grand prize for something that requires a lot more effort... I don't even know. But here you go.

tutorial time: glitterati

Um I wrote this before I left for holiday this is awkward why didn't it post properly

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So I stopped by The Face Shop when I was on break yesterday. Then proceeded to spend $26 of my money on a glitter liner lol why I need that money to spend overseas what am I doing look at your life look at your choices

SO I'M BACK

and I'm angrier than JPMetz in her BAD WEEK MAKEUP TUTORIAL because Malaysia Airlines left my damn luggage in KL or something because they delayed my flight from Penang by like two hours so we had to practically run to the next damn flight which doesn't give them enough time to transfer my luggage with has a buttload of new expensive things in it so I can't have all my nice new things to put on my face and show you since this is a BEAUTY BLOG and it has to do with THINGS THAT MAKE YOU LOOK GOOD AND I DONT LOOK GOOD COZ MY BRUSHES ARE ALSO IN MY LUGGAGE other than that the trip was pretty good up until this point

anyway that giant black stripe on my new camera has also turned into a LARGE CIRCLE for some reason and I've only had it for ten damn days and my warranty card and receipt is still in MY SUITCASE

on another note nobody has entered my contest apparently nobody wants to work for free stuff ok i get to keep my money COOL!
or you can take that as an opportunity to easily win things

maybe i'll airbrush some pink blush so i can superficially be happy

 i got purple contacts, they don't really show unless its bright.

Hello hello...

Checking in from KLIA, waiting for the flight to penang and watching my boyfriend cheat at blackjack.
Going to get my hair and nails done super cute and awesome too n_____n also just a reminder- you can search for all hints to my contest by going to my twitter and searching for # twitterhint. Send me your best guesses, woooooooo!
Here's some craptastic phone pictures from the trip, including my new broken camera wtf

Hello blogosphere

As you are all aware, of course i'm off on holiday. Since I don't have a laptop I can't update the blog with decent posts it's going to be temporarily on hold. Keep an eye on my twitter though for contest hints as I can update that via my android, and send through your entries! Good luck everyone, I can still check my emails and catch you on the flipside! xoxo

contest time! inglot, lime crime and sugarpill prizes to be won...

 As you guys know, I'm heading to Malaysia and Indonesia on Saturday- yippee! And with travel comes packing and with packing comes a little regulation pouch of creams, aerosols, gels and liquids. This is my carry-on makeup pouch (the rest I'm taking in my proper luggage) and I thought hey... why not a proper contest? Read on...

galaxy nails, again

I love galactic, shiny, glittery nails. I really do. Here is another post on them. And, of course, galactic sparkles are my total go to nail design for reasons I can't really fathom...

Zoya Trixie, OPI Catch Me In Your Net/Let Me Entertain You and China Glaze Fairy Dust are my best friends this week. Lay down a base coat, 2 coats of Trixie, sponge on some CMIYN and LMET with a sponge tip applicator in random nebulaic (is that a word?) splotches and finish with Fairy Dust stars and you got it. Super easy.

xoxo k

illamasqua glister precision ink review, swatches

Ooh, baby, this stuff is amazing. Sets fast, waterproof and long wearing, what more could you want in a liner? Glister is an anti liner, a nude brown with opalescent glitter bits that reflect mainly pink. I LOVE this on the bottom lashline as a bit of a kick, and it draws on easily, survived the dry rub test, withstands running water and a long day. It removes quite easily as well, with Estee Lauder Take It Away cleaning it up nicely. I also found that under a hot shower, it tended to ball up and lift away when rubbed, so be careful when crying up a storm or anything, haha. With all glittery products, of course, it does tend to leave a bit of shimmer behind. I can't really think of a bad thing to say about this. I love it. Good for drawing little forest fairy swirlies too, haha!

 

on the eye

thin, thick, whatever's left over on the brush after a very thick swoop

I suck at packing...

So I'm leaving for malaysia on saturday but have to be packed by tomorrow (working thursday, busy on friday!) and all I have is an extremely impractical velvety dress, a fitted shirt and a pair of extremely impractical pink glitter heels... No surprise that I don't know how to pack lightly, I always end up with a suitcase full of stuff I'll never need. Any travel veterans out there to give me a hand?? Also I plan to do an absolute ton of shopping... Shoot me your travel essentials xoxo

illamasqua cream pigment review, swatches

I gotta admit, the first time I read or saw about this stuff I was a bit like this:

Illamasqua Cream Pigments boast an extremely rich, pigmented, water resistant formula. I received Mould (very deep grape purple), Emerge (peach), Dab (lilac), Delirium (medium rose taupe) and Hollow (toffee). Look, I figured out how to do the 'read more' thing! Hit it, kittens! less internet nommin

tutorial time: super easy wearable with a kick!

Because I'm all like HELL NO to neutrals, but we gotta keep it socially acceptable sometimes :( But to add a little colour I added a but of sparkle and blue sheen! Also, the eye were done with pretty much one brush, sooo quick! Also for some weird reason my camera focused on my lips on the above picturebut idk my mouth looks good now

FACE: Clinique Anti Blemish Solutions, Benefit Hello Flawless! to set, Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment to lightly contour, Benefit Coralista for blush, some sort of idek Estee Lauder GWP highlight powder in Gold Pearl

LIPS: Blot on Illamasqua Atomic, line and contour with Estee Lauder DoubleWear Liner in Spice and top with clear lip balm to sheer out the colour. I just used a Lip Smacker. Keepin' it 90's, yo

EYES: Brows filled in as usual with Benefit Brow Zings and topped with Sugarpill Dollipop with Poison Plum in a very thin line under the bulk of the shape. Benefit It Stick and Benefit Get Even 01 underneath to highlight.

Prep and prime- you want a sticky base for this look coz we're using loose shadows. Using a very thin angled brush, pick up a bit of Lime Crime Dragon Scales and apply this on the outer two thirds of the lower lashline, winging it out sideways at the outer corner andslightly fading it downwards. With the same brush, apply Sugarpill Lumi thinly to the inner third and blend.

Apply Illamasqua Precision Ink in Glister thickly on the top lashline, extending it out again to meet with the Dragon Scales wing. Line a thin strip of Inglot Gel Liner in 77 very close to the lashline, winging between Glister and Dragon Scales and set with Lime Crime Medusa.
If you have more lidspace, do your black liner first then carefully trace Glister over the top, I experienced a bit of tugging when applying gel liner over the dried Precision Ink.

Finish with 2 heavy coats of mascara and you're done!

illamasqua stagnate nail varnish review, swatches

I think it's time for a review after I've given it enough time for a trial run! Illamasqua's Stagnate is a warm, purplish brown taupe, lighter in the bottle than on the nail. The label suggests "two coats for intensity" but I found it looks best at three as most standard nail polishes do. The nail varnish survived the dishwashing test (full set of dinner dishes, warm soapy water, washed by hand), the full work day test (self explanatory) but didn't go quite so well in the shower test. OPI creme finish lacquers fail miserably at this- if I can peel the nail polish completely off my nail in a clean sheet while in hot humid conditions ie the shower, that's not so great especially for someone like me who picks at their polish when bored. But Stagnate held up pretty well, peeling off in small/medium chunks. What, it's a test applicable to me!

l-r 1,2,3 coats

I did not wear any base or top coat with this polish during testing/swatching. Tip wear isn't shabby at all and the colour is somehow so deliciously murky and disgusting, yet wearable. I love it. xx

freshly opened! mecca cosmetica gift bags

So in case you haven't already heard, Mecca Cosmetica has finally hit in the easily accessible place of City Cross, Adelaide. Featuring brands like Stila, NARS, Kiehls, Philosophy (!!!), Chantecaille and more, I would definitely go dig your fingers into everything you can find there, the Stila smudge sticks and eyeshadows are worth 500 million swatches and the Philosophy shower gels smell DIVINE (can't wait till they get the whole line!)
It only opened up about one and a half weeks ago so not everything is set up and there's a few gaps in the tester units but have a little peeks around. I went last week and picked up a birthday gift for my friend and received this bag of goodies...

Perricone MD Cold Plasma, Dr Brandt pores no more vacuum cleaner, NUDE Cleansing Oil, MALIN+GOETZ detox face mask.

The pores no more has indeed been opened, I couldnt help but give it a go straight away. I dried quickly and washed off easily but I couldnt really see much of a difference between before and after (for reference, I have oily-normal skin, however prone to dryness as it heads towards winter). The NUDE cleansing oil isn't the greatest as an all over cleanser used the way it suggests but I adore it on a cotton bud as an eye makeup remover. Perricone MD Cold Plasma is the weirdest stuff. It claims to adjust to your skin's needs and fight your problem areas and I can swear its doing SOMETHING to fade my scarring/pigmentation, but oh god the smell. It smells like smoked salmon on your face! Granted, the smell does fade after a while but I'll let you know if I find it effective enough for a purchase at roughly $300 a jar...

Anyone else had a peek at Mecca? Or any other beauty gurus got any recommendations for me? xoxo K

woo hoo! the unboxing of: illamasqua toxic nature

Finally! After some complications (the cream pigments weren't confirmed in the original email although i received email notifications for them then incorrect postage meant the parcel got sent back to Illamasqua HQ first time around) the Toxic Nature collection has finally arrived on my doorstep! :D so I present: the unboxing. Swatches and review to come when I have more of a chance to play around, it arrived literally half an hour ago! n____n

Also as you can see most of the nail varnishes (Bacterium, Purity and Radium) have not arrived though in the original email (see here) but I am chasing that up! xx

PS: Got a new phone which has better recording capabilities than my actual camera, woo hoo! No autofocus while recording though but more moving picture goodness to come on the blog n____n