Swatches: IMATS haul

It's swatch time! I just did these quickly, so forgive me if they're a little crap. Some of the colour accuracy is a bit off, too. So I've got picture of what I bought and then the swatches at the end. The first thing I've got is my 10-pan Inglot palette.

Top row: AMC 62, 340 Matte, 325 Matte, 434 Pearl, AMC Shine 32 (bah, I already have this one!).

Bottom row: 339 Matte, 636 Matte, DS 494, 454 Pearl, 104R Rainbow.

Eyeshadow: new IMATS goodies

I'm going to do my IMATS swatch post next, so I'll just do the looks I wore yesterday and today. I was desperate to get into my new goodies and try them out, so this is what I came up with.

It's all purple! I used MUFE and Inglot here.

Overview: IMATS & haul

So yesterday I went to IMATS (http://www.imats.net/index.php). It's on today as well, but I only went for the one day.  I ended up spending quite a bit of money (oops), which I was trying not to do since I'm going overseas in two days. I had some fun and a lot of stress, too. This post is very picture-heavy, you've been warned! First, this is the makeup I wore for the day.

I used Urban Decay's Virgin as a brow highlight, The Body Needs' Smoked Green on the lid, Morgana's Skeletons In Your Closet in the crease, About Face's Beyond The Grape Abyss along the lower lashline and a touch of The Body Needs' Iced Pink on the inner corner.

Eyeshadow: Tokidoki

I decided to whip out something I haven't used in a while: the Tokidoki Robbery Palette; specifically, the Arlecchino palette. I used all four eyeshadows as well as the blush (I neglected to take a photo of that, though). It's a pretty full-on look, but I really should have taken photos out in the sun to show you the hidden sparkle and the full brightness. Oh well.

The Arlecchino palette from the Tokidoki Robbery Palette.

Eyeshadow: inspired look

Today's look is fairly simple and inspired by a look Madame B Fatale did a little while ago. There's very minimal eyeshadow, as the focus is on the red eyeliner. I actually have none of the products she used, so I've improvised with what I had in my stash. I also didn't bother with lashes because I'm lazy.

Apart from the Naked palette, I used Pure Luxe's Molten eyeshadow and UD's Whiskey liner.

Oops: old blog award

I feel absolutely terrible because I'm stupid and can't read. I was just given a blog award and there are rules about what you have to do in return. About a month ago (yes, I'm that dumb), one of my favourite bloggers, Sparkling Luna, gave me my very first award and because I was so overwhelmed (and dumb, remember), I never posted anything on my blog to recognise her awesomeness. As I said, it was my first award, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. So, in the spirit of 'better late than never', I'm going to do what I was supposed to a month ago.

Rules of the Top 10 Award
1.  Thank the person who tagged you and link to their blog.
2.  Put the Top 10 Award logo on your blog.
3.  List your Top 10 cosmetics.
4.  Choose 10 bloggers to tag, link to their blogs, and let them know.

Thank you Luna and apologies for the lateness of this. If you've never visited Sparkling Luna's blog, go there now. She does the loveliest looks and shows you everything she's used. Now, on to my top 10 cosmetics.

Surprise: blog award

The stunning Jyz (http://makeupbyjyz.blogspot.com/) received the Liebster Blog award and she tagged me! She always leaves lovely, flattering comments that are really good for the ego. Thanks Jyz!

The Liebster Blog award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers, all in spirit of fostering new connections. I would like to pay this forward and recognise some of my favorite blogs that fit this criteria below.

Personal note: not everyone has their followers listed on their sites, so I actually have no idea if they all meet this criteria. Please don't be insulted if you have more than 200 followers and I list you here; it's just that I really like your blog!

Liber Vix

Makeup by Hilary

Toxid Lotus

Make-up by Bextacy

Roxy Rouge

Award recipients, don't forget to:
* Show thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
* Reveal your top 5 picks by leaving a comment on their blog.
* Post the award to your blog.

Update: overseas trip & IMATS

This is just a quick post to update you guys on what I'm going to be doing over the next few weeks. First of all, this Saturday I'm going to IMATS (http://www.imats.net/index.php) in Sydney. I'm most excited about checking out Ingot, Illamasqua and Make Up For Ever, Ben Nye, Crown Brush and Naked Cosmetics. It's probably going to be swarming with excited ladies, so wish me luck getting some good stuff!

In a week (next Tuesday), I'm going on holidays. The boyfriend and I are off to Cambodia for three days and then Hong Kong for a week. I'm so excited! I've never been to either country before, so it's going to be a whole new world to look forward to. Of course, Hong Kong means bargain cosmetics, so I'm hoping to get some makeup cheap, as well as give a few Asian brands a go, depending on what I find.

This means I won't be posting as often, but I plan to post photos to give you all a sneak peek at the goodies I've found. Have any of you been to Hong Kong before? Is there anywhere in particular I should go for makeup, nail polish and other goodies?

Review: September 2011 Beauty Box

It's been a little over a week since since I received my first Beauty Box (www.beauty-box.com.au), so I thought I'd let you all know how I was faring. I'm fairly pleased with it, as there's a couple of products I'll definitely be buying in the future. I've gone into a fair amount of detail here, so be prepared to slog through some text! I've also mentioned what's involved in the review process on the Beauty Box web site at the end.

 The contents of the September Beauty Box.

Eyeshadow: smoked pink

Today's look is using more of my The Body Needs (www.thebodyneeds2.com) eyeshadows. There's one each from the Iced, Smoked and Blackened Collections. Not every colour has an equivalent in each of the collections, so this one is a bit different to the other looks I've done most recently.

Left to right: Iced Pink, Smoked Pink and Blackened Maroon.

Nails: A England Galahad

This week I'm wearing a new nail polish from A England (www.a-england.co.uk). I recently did an order and got Galahad, Elaine and Perceval. First up is Galahad. It's a turquoise creme polish. Each polish sells for £9 (free shipping, too!).

Galahad: lovely turquoise creme.

Eyeshadow: blue on blue

My green on green look proved popular, so I did a similar look with blues this time. These eyeshadows are all from The Body Needs (www.thebodyneeds2.com). My Iced Collection has now arrived, so I've used one of those colours as well as some from the Smoked and Blackened Collections.

Left to right: Smoked Teal, Blackened Turquoise, Iced Teal.

Eyeshadow: golds

This week I'm continuing with my theme of using eyeshadows from The Body Needs (www.thebodyneeds2.com). I'm teaming a colour from the Smoked Collection with its equivalent from the Blackened Collection. I have the Iced Collection coming soon, so I'll be able to add that to the mix, too. Today I've gone for golds.

Left: Smoked Gold. Right: Blackened Gold.

Eyeshadow: green on green

I had a hankering for green eyeshadow today, so I decided to bust out the green eyeshadow in the Smoked Collection from The Body Needs (www.thebodyneeds2.com). I've been using the Blackened Collection a fair bit, but I'm yet to use any of the Smoked shadows. I also used a Blackened green as my eyeliner for this look.

Left: Smoked Jade. Right: Blackened Emerald.

Sneak peek: Beauty Box #1

At last! Australia has a deluxe beauty sample service! In the same vein as the US Birchbox or UK GlossyBox, Beauty Box (www.beauty-box.com.au) is $14.95 a month for 4-5 deluxe beauty samples. There are actually a few of these services around now, but I decided to sign up with Beauty Box.

What lovely packaging. I was so excited to open it!

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay purples

Today I gave myself a little more time to get ready for work, so I decided to play with purple. All of the eyeshadows here are from Urban Decay. Sorry, this is another photo taken after work, so I'm not looking quite so fresh-faced.

Hooray for four kinds of purple!

I first applied UD's 24/7 Glide-On Eyeshadow Pencil in Morphine all over the lid and along the lower lashline and then Asphyxia eyeshadow all over the lid. I used Virgin from the Naked palette as my brow highlight. The rest is from the Book of Shadows Vol III: Ransom eyeliner along the lower lashline with a mixture of Psychedelic Sister and Rockstar in the crease. I finished it off with a dab of Uzi in the inner corner.

Eyeshadow: Naked palette looks

I'm back in the city for the next two weeks, so posting won't be as often. So, today I'm going to post three looks I did using the Urban Decay Naked palette. I can't remember all the colours I used, since I've mixed about three of them in the crease for each look, and sometimes even on the lid. I'll do my best, though. I used Virgin as the inner corner highlight and on my brow bone for each look (I love it!). So let's get this happening.

The first look is shimmery neutrals with no eyeliner on top. Weird, I know!

I remember using Sin on the inner third of the lid and then Half-Baked on the rest of the lid. I used Naked, Buck and a hint of Dark Horse in the crease. I'm not really sure about the rest. It looks like there might be Hustle along the lower lashline.

Review: Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil

By now, everyone's seen these eyeshadow pencils from Urban Decay (www.urbandecay.com). As is always the case with UD, I was only able to get these because I ordered them from overseas from Look Fantastic (www.lookfantastic.com). The pencils retail for US$20 and I paid £14, which is roughly AUD$21. I've read heaps of great reviews, so I was sure I wasn't going to regret spending that much. I got Morphine (pinkish purple with blue sheen) and Midnight Cowboy (beige with silver glitter). I haven't worn Midnight Cowboy yet, so this review is based on my experience with Morphine.

Left: swatched on the back of my hand in the sun. Right: after 5 hours, 2 hours of which involved heavy sweating.

Nails: Bloom Las Vegas

So I finally did my nails again (I had A-England Tristam on for well over a week). I decided on Las Vegas from Bloom (www.bcollection.com.au) today. I think it's Las Vegas because the sticker from the bottom seems to have fallen off, but I'm pretty sure that's what it's called. I actually bought this from Target, so it's not from Bloom's regular range, it's from B Collection by Bloom, which is exclusive to Target in Australia, I believe. They retail for $14.95, although I got mine on sale.

It's a lovely burgundy colour.

Sharing the blog love

So this is my first attempt at joining the Beauty Blog Hop. I first saw this on Sarah's The Science of Beauty blog (http://sarah-thescienceofbeauty.blogspot.com/) and thought it was a great way to discover new blogs.

The following description is also from Sarah's blog.

What is a blog hop?
A blog hop is a linky list that is SHARED ON MULTIPLE BLOGS. When several blogs put the same linky list code on their blog, the exact same list appears on each blog.Blog visitors can submit their entries on any blog that contains the list. The entries will appear on each blog where the list resides. Blog readers see the same list on each blog, and can "HOP" from blog to blog seeing the same list of links to follow: BLOG HOP!

Eyeshadow: Fyrinnae sunset

I know I said I would post this yesterday (I wore this a couple of days ago), but work dramas ensured I didn't have time to and then I only had 10 minutes to get my gear together for my martial arts class afterwards. Anyway, this is the last of my Fyrinnae (www.fyrinnae.com) eyeshadows from this latest order. I used three colours to create a sunset-type look that I've been seeing a lot of lately.

Rapunzel Had Extensions, Sugar Skulls, Samhain Spirits.