THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Wigspiration

Clockwise from top left: The Joker, Oompa Loompa, Lady Gaga, Gothic Lolita

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE! 

We are so excited even though our Halloween party is tomorrow, I will basically be spending all of tomorrow getting ready... Anyway today we have a final, bonus Halloween post, but more of an inspiration post rather than detailed tutorial. Basically I have a blue-green bobbed wig, I can't remember why I bought it, but I would really like some more use out of it so I went on a little internet hunt for some costume ideas and actually found quite a few, so I put together this little post of super-quick looks (I did them all one after the other in an hour or two including taking pictures).

THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Broken Doll

It’s the end of our Halloween tutorial EXTRAVAGANZA and the day itself is almost upon us, so I might just wet myself with excitement. Let’s all hope not.

This look is my absolute favourite, and I’m pretty sure it’s also the one I’ll be wearing on Halloween itself (or, actually, November 1^st, when we’re off to a party), so it’s dear to my little heart. Horrifying dolls that murder people appear in all sorts of films, most recently in the UK one called Annabelle (look at it RUN), and they are very disturbing and creepy and therefore perfect for this time of year.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Witch!

I have to admit, I am not entirely sure what this look is. I was planning on doing a Morticia Addams look (there will be a little sneak peak on Friday) but I realised that it was pretty similar to Poison Ivy, just using different colours, so I tried again the next day to make it more dramatic and came up with this. I think I will go for witch, but it has a touch of the zombie about it too.

I apologise for how patchy the skin is - note to self (and all of you guys), use proper face paint (I have heard good things about Snazaroo).

THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra

It’s the fourth look in our week of Halloween madness! This time I attempted, wisely or not, to emulate two of the most beautiful ladies the world has ever seen. Both at once. Because I’m super brave.

Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra is a great costume if you want to glam it up this year, and if anyone tries to suggest you’re not scary, sweetly offer to stab them through the stomach. Or star in a lot of major motion pictures while you’re still underage. Or something.

REVIEWSDAY: L'Oréal Paris True Match Touche Magique Concealer

There comes a moment in your life where you just have to step back, look at the world around you and say "I want nothing more than to find the perfect under-eye concealer, and then I will be happy forever."

I'm reasonably confident that's not just me. I love L'Oréal foundations, and their True Match range has been good to me in the past, so I thought I'd give the Touche Magique concealer (£8.19 from Boots) a go too, in the hope that it would match up (see what I did there?). In the end, though, that wasn't quite to be.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Poison Ivy

I just redid my hair recently and am back to red all over, which basically to me meant that this makeup look was a no-brainer. A lot of you might know Kim Kardashian and Uma Therman's Poison Ivy's, but I am going off the comic (via Google Images shh), which is why I have green lips and not red. 
Just for a little background if people aren't sure who she is, Poison Ivy is from the Batman comics, she is one of his enemies, and she is a super-cool eco-warrior. You may not know but I did Zoology at university, so this is my nod to that!

THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Tippi Hedren in The Birds

This is my first Halloween look! How exciting! I will actually be uploading two today so check back this evening for my second one, which I am even more excited by. Anyway onto this one and first things first, I should admit that this is inspired very heavily by Lisa Eldridge's tutorial. But I don't mean I stole the actual techniques in the tutorial, just the idea. I watched hers and then a few months later (i.e. now) remembered it had been a good look and created my own off the film (Hitchcock's The Birds), with a little help from Google Images, without watching her tutorial again or anything. I think that lets me off the hook. I am obsessed with her tutorials though, they are SO good.

STORY TIME: Sali Hughes' Pretty Honest

It's our very first book review! I was very, very excited when I heard about Sali Hughes’ Pretty Honest. I love and adore Sali Hughes, because she always talks about makeup and beauty eloquently and intelligently, and now she’s packed up all that intelligence and eloquence into a lovely pretty pink book to read.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Tiger

GUYS, IT’S ALMOST HALLOWEEN. I AM A BIT EXCITED.

We’ve got a whole bunch of pretty, scary (or ‘pretty scary’? I’ll show myself out.) makeup looks to help you out with planning your outfit for the most fun fancy dress night of the year. And this year, it’s even on a FRIDAY.

I’m kicking off our Halloween extravaganza with a classic (and it’s not at all childish, what are you talking about?): an INCREDIBLY FRIGHTENING AND IMPOSING tiger. I mean. Well. It’s a tiger, at least.

REVIEWSDAY: Superdrug Aloe Vera De-Stressing Mask

I have seen a few reviews of the Superdrug own-brand masks floating around the internet recently (notably Miss Budget Beauty and The Sunday Girl) but hey what's an extra one?
I did a huge Halloween look on Sunday (omg I am so excited to show you!) and I had to pop to Superdrug to pick up some extra make-up, but while I was there I thought maybe it would be a good idea to do a mask afterwards to help my skin recover a little, and because for £2.59 why wouldn't you?

One Face One Palette

This is a sort of tutorial/review post today, because I recently discovered the Benefit 10 palette hidden away in a bag of stuff and wanted to do something with it. It contains two eyeshadows, two lips tints and a highlighter-bronzer duo, so I thought it might be interesting to see if it is possible to create a decent look using just what is in the palette, brushes included.

THANK GOD IT'S FAVOURITES: Body Shop Camomile Sumptuous Cleansing Butter

This is a first for me in the Favourites feature (fffff) in that it’s a relatively new discovery, but I’m definitely, definitely going to be repurchasing in the future and I love it so much I just couldn’t relegate it to a Reviewsday post.

The Unboxing: Glossybox October 2014

It’s that time of the month again! Glossybox time, or, as my little sister calls it ‘you know, when you get the surprise boxes in the post.’ This month was the Pop Art Collector’s Edition box, and it’s so cute I just want to keep it forever. One of Glossybox’s huge selling points for me is the art on their boxes – they are gorgeous and I keep nail varnishes in them – and the products inside were a pretty nice surprise too.

Winter is Coming

Today I thought I would do an exciting non-beauty post and take a look instead at some of the shoes I will be wearing this winter (or fall, if you're into that kind of thing). This is also a reason for me to feel less bad about having bought yet another pair of shoes after saying I wouldn't buy anymore.

REVIEWSDAY: John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Liquid Shine Illuminating Shampoo

First things first (Iggy Azalea has really ruined that phrase for me), the name of this product is an enormous mouthful. I felt like I had to draw breath after typing the title of this post.I love the John Frieda Brilliant Brunette range – it just feels like luxury to me, even though it’s technically speaking only a mid-range product, and so my hopes were pretty high when I tried this incarnation. 

Who's Got A Match?

Matching lips and nails has been A Thing in beauty since roundabout the twenties (History Lessons With Noll!), and yet, because of my general nervousness with lip colour, it’s not something I’ve ever really played around with. There is an excellent woman at my work who always matches her eyes and lips, or eyes and nails, or all three – sometimes even her cardigans get involved. I think she is fabulous and I love her, so, armed with my extensive collection of eyeshadows and nail varnish and paltry collection of lipsticks (and, eventually, backed up by Poppy’s), I thought I’d give matching a shot too.

THANK GOD IT'S FAVOURITES: Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

This is my favourite lip balm ever. Tin, tube, I don't care, it's the best.
It is super moisturising, it's not shiny, it's not sticky, and it tingles, what more could you want? This is actually a pretty good rulebook for any kind of moisturiser, for face or body, as well as lips. The only thing I like to be shiny is my hair.

HOT FOR TEACHER: To Infinity & Beyond

Plaits of all shapes and sizes have been part of my hairstyle arsenal since I was very young, generally because of my abject refusal to ever have my hair cut. Once my mother had had enough, I took it upon myself to learn to do as many different ones as I could find, because I was a super exciting child. That said, it felt appropriate to crack out an old favourite for my second ever tutorial.

This one is called the Infinity Plait (or braid if you like), because of the shape you make while plaiting. The end result is not far off from a fishtail plait visually, but it’s a bit more structured and the weave is horizontal as opposed to vertical, so it ends up looking thicker and rounder (rather than flat and smooth like fishtail or normal plaits). It is awesome. Here’s how you do it.

REVIEWSDAY: Maybelline Color Drama Intense Velvet Lip Pencil

Yay Reviewsday. This is my favourite feature we do, because it means I get to buy new things. I had a list forever long of products I already own to review today but I have wanted one of these lip crayons ever since I heard about them, so instead I bought a new thing.

PACK WITH US: Five Go Mad in Wales.

WE’RE GOING ON HOLIDAY. This never happens. We haven't been on holiday together in fact, since we went on a super romantic Paris trip when we were nineteen. Memories.
We are going to Wales (#jetsetters) so we thought it might be useful to do a post on what we're packing, beauty-wise, for our trip. Although we are going to the middle of nowhere (the train station is a request stop, who even knew those were a thing??), we are hoping to do a bunch of blog stuff, so while everyday makeup may be minimal we are taking a whole lot of makeup to do some exciting looks! 

THANK GOD IT'S FAVOURITES: Benefit Cha Cha Tint

Blush is really, really important to me. It appeared shamefully late in my makeup game, because I was too busy making every eyeliner mistake it’s possible to make, but it’s here to stay. Without it, I look like I have no blood in my face. I love it all forms: powder, cream, liquid, reappropriated lipstick, etc etc, but in my daily makeup routine I reach for one product, and that’s Benefit Cha Cha Tint.

SAVING PLACES: Snowflake Gelato

Bonus post! Lucky you. This is also our first review of somewhere, which we are going to try to do more often now because basically every week we have a blog meeting, otherwise known as an hour of gossiping, and we usually try to go somewhere fun.

Yesterday we went to Snowflake Gelato in Soho, which is supposed to be one of the best in London and has won a ton of Great Taste awards for various flavours.

HOT FOR TEACHER: Back to the Future

My first tutorial! How exciting. Now you can all look as pretty as me (see above...). I was originally going to do some sort of helpful gentle smokey eye look for if you have smaller eyes and/or are scared of eyeshadow but then my friends suggested going to an eighties-themed bar tomorrow evening so this happened.