FOTD: Bright lip city gonna set my soul on fire!

I've been going through a bright lip phase at the moment which is something that I never thought I'd be doing.  These colours aren't fantastically bright but they're bright enough to allow me to strike the balance between bright and work appropriate.

My lips are pigmented and the top lip is darker than the bottom.  All three of these products mask that problem and apply uniformly to both lips.  The Korres tub is standard lipbalm size, the ELF tub really is that big. 

The Swatch Files: Stila Noire palette

This is another palette that I tend to use a fair bit.  Stila isn't available "in the flesh" in the UK anymore but you can buy it from many discount makeup stores online.  Just Google Stila and they will come up.

The colours are pigmented and they're easy to blend.  I know the swatches do not show a great deal of pigment but they come up very nicely on my eyelids and can be worn for about three hours sans primer.

They're not chalky and they're not crumbly either.

The packaging is what I like about this, it's very travel friendly.  There is a magnet in the cover which makes sure that when you close it, it stays closed.  I just chuck it into my makeup bag and I'm off.

The Swatch Files: Stila Kajal Eyeliner in Amethyst

On my waterline, it comes out lilacy but when I put it on my lids, it comes out as a darker purple.

Sorry for the crappy photo of the pencil, I had a better photo which Picasa has conveniently lost.

To get a darker colour on you waterline, I suggest warming the pencil up by rubbing it on the back of your hand.

Re. how long the pencil lasts, I've noticed the following:

• It lasts all day on the waterline, it is creamy when you apply it but it sticks around for ages, doesn't smudge or anything.
• If you have brown eyes, it's a really good work-safe colour to use as from a distance, it looks brown but it accentuates your eyes
• I have been using this on a weekly basis for more than a year and I've only had to sharpen it very recently

Perfect Nude Lip for Women of Colour

I have been trying to perfect this look for ages and I think I'm finally happy with it.  I never thought that I'd wear a nude lip to work as I feel that it tends to wash a face out if you haven't balanced it with a statement/dark eye.

I personally think that getting a nude lip for those of us with darker skins is one of the biggest makeup problems we have, alongside finding a decent concealer which doesn't cost the earth.  You want a nice nude lip, not one that looks like you've smeared someone's concealer all over your lips.

As my lips are not uniform in colour and are already quite pigmented, getting a natural (as possible) nude lip is made that little bit more difficult.

A long time ago now, I took the advice of this WOC beauty oracle and she told me that she had recently bought a lipstick which worked as a perfect nude.

I rushed to ebay and bought it.

It has been documented here before and I have used it for a few desi functions when the eye makeup has been heavy.

I have always wondered how people figured out which coloured lipglosses worked over certain lipsticks.  I came across this totally by accident.  I wanted to make my lips glossier but had no clear gloss and grabbed the lightest coloured gloss I could see.  I have never really layered coloured lipgloss over a lipstick before but I am so glad I decided to mix these two as I now have the perfect glossy nude lip.  The colours are strong enough to not vanish the second I put them on my lips.

I've got hand swatches and lip swatches so you can see the colours as they are and how they transform over to my lips.

The top left hand photograph of my lips is how it looks in reality, the rest are just there to show you how it looks when layered. 

Do you think this works as a nude? If you have any tips and tricks re. getting a good nude lip, leave a comment!

EOTD: How I got Stila Smudgepots to work!

I bought a fair bit of Stila back when they had their warehouse sale and I was a noob to the blogging world.

Smudgepots were the one item that confused me, I wasn't sure how to use them.

I'd read that you could use them as an eyeliner and as a cream shadow.   They were priced at a fiver each, I bought two (Jade and Black) and then I found Purple lolling around in the £1 box so I picked it up too.

Look at the little goldeny flecks..handsome!  I must have bought a dodgy one as it doesn't touch the sides like my others, it still works just as well though!  Well actually, how can I say it works just as well when I've never used one was placed properly in the jar? It works PROPERLY is what I should be saying.

The big brush of FAIL was utilised as I'm not ready to give up on it yet and it actually worked quite well.  I also managed to "fix" the bristles after using it, I cleaned the brush on a bog standard tissue and it's back to its fluffy self.

The end result! I'm still working on getting the flick just right but I see improvement because there is no space between the lash line and the eyeliner.

It's quite wearable.  I've worn the liner to work, albeit with a very small flick, it has a slight glittery element to it but it doesn't make you look like a discoball.  I used to think that this smudgepot was terrible but it turns out that you just need to coat your brush properly and away you go.  It spreads across the eyelid with ease and is very creamy. 

As an aside, you don't know how many times I've tried to make this smudgepot work for me.  It always failed.  I couldn't figure out why it was, then I realised that it was probably the brush I was using (this one).  I saw a video by Lisa Eldridge on the 'tube about how to line your eyes, I followed the directions and I came up with this.  She used a thin eyeliner brush, the one I used was clearly fatter but the principles are the same.  Do a thin line practically IN the lashes first and then build up and it looks FAR better.  I've been a good blogger and found the video for you too! Click here to see it.  I know I got the flick wrong but it's a work in progress, if I can figure out liquid lining, I can figure this out too!

If you can find any on ebay or something, I'd say buy them.

The Swatch Files: Stila All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer Shade 1

I'm quite sad that Stila decided to pull out of the UK market as I quite like their products.  You might be thinking "why is she swatching something that is no longer sold here?" Well, you can still buy Stila on ebay and on other discount makeup websites.

I use this highlighter when I've got the time to put a decent face on because you need to blend it in properly or else risk looking like a disco ball.

The design could be a bit better as it reminds me of a Copydex glue bottle.  You need to be careful when using it, I wiped the excess against the side of the neck and still got a heavy swatch.

The fact that you can't see the blended in swatch is a good thing as in the past I've had highlighters which look far too obvious.

What's the point of nude eyeliner?!

When I was younger, I was always very conscious of having small, Ratfink eyes which I was forever trying to enhance.  Life isn't really made easier when you're told that Indian girls have big almond shaped eyes and you're sitting there with the smallest eyes known to man.

I remember reading somewhere that white eyeliner made your eyes look bigger so I went a bit mad (by my standards at the time) and bought two white eyeliners.  One was by No7 and one was by 17.  I applied these religiously to my eyes every single day..and every lunchtime at school when I realised that the pencil had worn off.

Did it make my eyes look any bigger? No.  Did it make me look like a fool? Yes.

Time went on, I grew up (despite views to the contrary) and realised my eyes weren't as small as I thought.

Then I joined Specktra and people were saying how a nude eyeliner did the same thing but was not as harsh on your eyes.

Luckily, this was just around the time that Stila had their warehouse sale on.  I nabbed the Stila Kajal Eyeliner in Topaz which is a nice nudey colour.

I used it a few times and wasn't really sure it was doing much.  The pencil itself is one of the creamiest I have ever used and I think part of the problem lies there, if it was a tiny bit uncreamy (?) I think application would be easier as at the moment, I'm finding it hard to line my waterline without getting some on my lashes.

Anywho, I've figured out the point of nude eyeliner..it not only makes your eyes looks bigger but it also serves as a great tool to make your eye area look tidier and to make you look more naturally awake.

I'm just wearing the pencil and my trusty Colossal mascara and I think my eyes look pretty decent:

I've decided that this is my "your eyes but better" look and now I know what to reach for when I'm running late for work.

Do any of you ladies use a nude eyeliner?  What are your failsafe eye makeup looks?

My Stila "haul"

I went to the Stila sample sale the other day and it was great, stuff was greatly reduced and I cam away with a few bargains. The only thing I'm a bit sad about is the fact that I should have taken more money with me :( I could have gotten so much more but I think I did OK considering the fact that I only spent £37.

So, here's what I got:

• Lip glaze in mocha
• Plumping lip glaze in melon mint
• Smudge pot in black
• Smudge pot in jade
• Smudge pot in purple
• Eyeliner in topaz
• Eyeliner in purple
  
• Pigment in the most perfect copper colour
  
• Highlighter in white

If I had taken more money I would have bought some brushes but my current Ruby and Millie brushes do me ok and I think it's time I bought a MAC brush and so will be picking one up really soon :)

I really wanted to pick up a convertible colour but they only had gladiola and poppy, one which was too orange and one which was too red for desi skin. They had peony but it had been swatched like mad and the case was scratched, plus it was boxless. If it wasn't swatched I would have bought it. I also regret not buying a smudge pot in bronze but oh well, I can always pick it up when I go to America.

So..here's my haul in photo format:
Row 1: Smudgepot in purple, copper pigment, highlighter
Row 2: Lipglaze in mocha
Row 3: Plumping lipglaze in melon mint
Row 4: Eye pencil in topaz
Row 5: Eye pencil in purple (can't remember exact name and am too lazy to check)
Row 6: Palette in noir, smudgepot in black, smudgepot in jade

The highlighter, pigment and smudgepot:
The smudgepot in purple was my steal of the day, it was unboxed and so was only £1.50 (as were the pigment and the highlighter).

I picked up a gift box which I also regret putting back as it had two eyeshadows (including the infamous kitten), a lipglaze and some mascara but ho hum..such is life.

Outside of the palette (all nice and furry aka velvety) and two of the smudgepots:

Inside the palette: