Throwback Thursday: Halloween

I absolutely love to dress in fancy dress, particularly for Halloween. Unfortunately this year I had to work late and have not had the opportunity to go to any Halloween events! As Thursdays are usually an excuse to dig up a 'throwback' picture from the past, I thought I would show you some of my dress ups I have done before.

In all my pictures is my best friend and fellow dress up accomplice, Nicola. This first picture is a throwback from 2010. This was my second year at uni and Halloween was a guaranteed night out with a good dress up compulsory.

Nicola and I went as bats this year and do to this, we went to a fabric shop and picked up some black stretchy material and spent hours sewing it to black dresses. Mine was from American Apparel and had a low swooping back. The wings are still attached to the dress as I don't have the heart to remove them.

For my hair, I furiously back combed it and then clipped it to the back of my head (I was growing out a pixie crop at the time so couldn't do anything to dramatic) The eye makeup was smokey and the red noses were done with lipstick. The fangs were drawn with black eyeliner and filled in with face paint. The ears were bought from Claire's accessories.

 My next throwback is from the following year, 2011 my third and final year of University, where myself and Nicola decided to go out dressed as spiders. This was a simple outfit of a black top and leggings with just some tights stuffed with newspaper pinned to the waist band. The spiders web was just bought from a dress up or decoration shop.

The makeup this year was more natural, but we used liquid eyeliner to draw various spider webs on any flesh showing. Our eye makeup was smokey again, and I used a purple lipstick from Rimmel in the Kate Moss range in colour number 4.

I did these nails last year by just applying a black colour with matte over the top, and then heavily dripping red paint over the tips. It forever to dry but I think it looked really effective.

This year unfortunately I am without my best friend Nicola and without any events to go to this Halloween! As I had to go to work I couldn't do anything too dramatic, but I thought a smokey eye for the day would be acceptable. 

For this look, I used the Benefit Smokin' eyes kit. I have had this kit for years and years (hence the dirtiness) and probably used it for the other two looks as well. It is such a great kit to give you the perfect smokey eye and I swear by it! I also used my Maybelline gel liner for the flicks.

 The kit contains a pink highlighter, a smokey grey base colour, a dark black shadow for the drama, and the brushes needed to create the look. It also has a brown paste to colour eye brows, and also a pink paste for highlighting the inner eyes. The tweezers are also perfect! I love them so much, (should probably love them a bit more though as my eyebrows are pretty out of control in this post!) and they are perfect travel size.

Sorry this hasn't been a usual post, but thought I'd try something a bit different. 

Happy Halloween everyone!

Recent Shopping Haul

I haven't done a post on any products recently so thought I would show you some of the things I have been buying recently.

This colour is from the Jessica limited edition collection and is a very lary green which I love! I thought it would be perfect for Halloween so bought it the other day. The Jessica polishes are £9.75 but I think I will get a lot of use out of this colour! 

For my post on the whole summer collection I did a while ago, click here

This lip balm is a wonderous little product from Dior. 'Lip Glow' cleverly adapts itself to your lips, to make them look a more natural brighter redder colour, to a shade that would suit your skin. It does add a lovely colour and a slight gloss but doesn't have any of the stickiness of a gloss. It is also highly moisturising! It is around £22.00.

I have had my eye on the Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Mascara for a very long time. I haven't heard the best stories about this mascara, such as its lasting power and that it dries up quite quickly, but I was desperate to try it. The reason? Because my favourite model of the moment Cara Delivigne is the face of this mascara. I wish this was not the reason I spent £24.00 on a mascara that I've been told not to buy, but it really is. I will do a follow up post to let you know how it goes!

What a babe. Picture from www.fashiongonerogue.com

 I recently stocked up on my must have moisturiser for the winter. I have written about this moisturiser before (here), but I really must stress just how amazing it is! Once again at this time of year, the dreaded dry skin around my nose has returned. This is the ONLY moistursier that can reduce the redness and stop it being painful. I absolutely swear by this product and recommend it to anyone who has and skin problems or complaints. At £7.00 this is such a bargain and my life saver product.

This cuticle butter from Burt's Bees is really zesty smelling and lovely. It soaks into the skin quite quickly and isn't as messy as a cuticle oil. The bees wax helps to soften the cuticles and it has an fresh lemon scent. It's a great product to keep in your handbag as it comes in a handy tin. Considering I work for a nail brand, I would recommend this cuticle butter to everyone!

Eve Lom is famous for it's cleanser, and I understand why. This cleanser is the definition of luxury. At £55.00 for 100ml or £85.00 for 200ml, I haven't actually bought one, but got this brilliant sample. It's a very generous sample that comes with a sachet of about 3 uses of the cleanser and a muslin cloth. The cleanser turns into a oil when it reaches skin temperature and its melts away all the dirt and makeup you have on your face. The muslin cloth allows you to pat the cleanser into the skin and penetrate into the deeper layers of skin. Vogue has described it as the best cleanser in the world, and do you know what? I think I agree.

Halloween Nails 2

I thought I would try somthing really fun for these nails. When I reviewed the Ciate Emerald Collection, I said that with the crushed velvet, I would try a fluff effect. This sparked the idea of doing monster nails for Halloween. As I was doing real 3D fur, I thought I should add to the madness of these nails and add some 3D eyes aswell.

The base coat was 'Speed Dial' by Ciate again

The green dots were done with 'Ditch the Heels' by Ciate

The claws were done with 'Lychee' from the Barry M Gelly collection.

All detailing was done with black and white nail art pens.

For the 'fur' effect I painted on a clear coat and sprinkled over the velvet and cleaned up with the brush.

The eyes were applied onto the wet clear coat too, and I bought these from Hobbycraft for £1.00 for a pack of 100.

The googly eyes didn't stay on too long but they are good fun so I'll forgive them! Let me know what you think of these nails!

Halloween Nails 1

It is that time of year! Its nearly Halloween and the autumn is very much upon us now in the UK. Originally, I wanted to do a nail art design that I had never seen anywhere before. Pretty much all of my nail art has been inspired from somthing else I have seen elsewhere, so I thought I would try something completely original. As Autumn is my favourite season due to the colours of all the fallen leaves and bare trees, I thought I would try and transfer that into my nail art, and put some fallen leaves onto my nails. I searched on the internet and I couldn't find the design done by anyone anywhere, so as far as I know, it hasn't been done by anyone yet. Perfect. 

After work last week, I walked home picking up all the most interesting leaves I could find. When I got home I dried them out on the radiator. Last night I decided that it was time to try my design out. My plan of action was to paint my colour base coat, apply a tacky clear coat, and set about placing the leaf onto my nail. Whilst in place, I would file down the edge to remove the excess leaf, and then give it another clear coat of polish to stick it down and voila. This is the technique used when you do feather nail art so I thought it couldn't be too hard. Wrong. 

The leaf would slip and slide about the nail plate because of its uneven surface, smudging the paint underneath. It was also very thick at the stem, so was quite hard to file down. I also found the only part of the leaf I could use, was the tip in order to make sure no part of the leaf went over any skin. Sticking it down also required a good few layers of top coat making it hard to dry. Overall, it was a pretty terrible experience, and I can see why I couldn't find it on the internet. It also looked pretty rubbish to be honest. The image I had made up in my head is certainly not what I saw on my nail. My plan B was to paint on the leaf and then use my Mo You stamper to get the skeleton pattern of the leaf. Again, that didn't work, so I just decided to stick to good old nail varnish and tools and just do it myself! The effect I got with the polish is how I envisioned the leaves to look. Ha!

After all my efforts, I couldn't bare to remove the one leaf I succesfully (kind of) managed to attach to my nail. It looks pretty pathetic really, but I thought it would be a let down if I didn't show what it looked like! I also added a Halloween pumpkin, as the orange theme seemed perfect.

The orange base is 'Speed Dial' by Ciate.

The dark brown is 'Espresso' from the sublime collection by Mavala I reviewed a few days ago.

The green is the 'Ditch the heels' that came in my emerald collection kit by Ciate (see review here)

And the gold is 'Foil' by Barry M.

I simply dotted each colour over the nail and then outlined the leaf shapes and drew in the creases.

For the pumpkin, I blobbed some green on the tip of my nail and used a black nail art pen to do the detailing, and facial features. I then did the creases to add a more 3D effect using a gold nail art pen, as it was more subtle.

My first attempt at trying to be original was a big fail, but at least I have finally started my Halloween art work ideas now.

Mavala Sublime Collection

Ivory Beige

This is a beautiful brown nude colour which makes the nails look flawless. I don't usually got for nudes but this makes hands look so sophisticated. 

Poetic Rose

This is a dusty red colour that hovers on pink. It is a very cute colour and reminds me of winter berries. I have been told that it looks lovely on toes!

Amethyst

At the Mavala stand at work, this has absolutely flown off the shelves! I personally think it looks better with one coat as the vampy purple colour shines through more, and two coats dampens the purple. It is a really lovely colour though. Perfect for this season.

Espresso

As I said earlier, I don't really do brown shades but this is absolutely to die for. It has such a deep brown tone and looks really effective and beautiful just on its own. I added glitter on top and it really popped!

Twilight Blue

This is one of those colours that doesn't look all that in the bottle, but when its on it really shines. When I wore this I got so many compliments on the colour, and it really is like nothing else out there. Its a lovely matte deep blue.

Warm Grey

This is another colour that looked quite bland in the bottle, but again, once it was on, people really started to notice it. Its lighter than my favourite Mavala shade 'Elle' but has warm hues to warm up the skin a bit like the 'Ivory Beige' does. This colour reminds me of some big chunky knitwear.

I thought I'd do some autumnal nail art to go with this collection as the browns really inspired me to do somthing special. Below, I used the 'Ivory Beige' and 'Espresso' on the accent nails. For the gold glitter, I used the Mavala 'Gold Diamond' which is a lovely fine glitter, that has a soft effect. The Brown french tips were done with 'Espresso' also. For someone who stears aways from browns, I was quite happy with these and felt I had captured the golden autumnal season. 

Jessica A/W Collection - A Night at the Opera

Jessica's new Autumn/Winter nail collection, 'A Night at the Opera' represents the glamour and sparkle that the more wintery months can hold. The collection is to be worn at the night time events where we dress up to impress. This collection is perfect for the Christmas party season, as each colour is wearable with a touch of sparkle. As I have said before, pearl and iridescent finishes are not my preference as I prefer a matte finish, but this collection has opened up my inner sparkle for the Christmas period that is fast approaching.

From Left to Right: Velvet and Pearls, Primma Donna, Overture

From Left to Right: Opening Night, Blue Aria, Standing Ovation

Velvet & Pearls

'Velvet and Pearls' is a very dark deep jet black. A very versatile colour than can be worn plain or have some glitter and sparkle added for the more festive months. Jessica describes this as 'Tuxedo Black' which adds the glamour the line is trying to evoke.

Prima Donna

'Primma Donna' is such a gorgeous colour as it is a cross between electric blue and sparkly violet.This is my favourite one from the collection as the way it catches the light is amazing, and the hues of blue, purple, and sometimes pink are my favourite colours.

Overture

When in the bottle, 'Overture' really didn't wow me, but out of the bottle it really changed my mind. 'Overture' is a lovely copper colour, but it has slight pink and orange hues that make it look expensive and not brassy.

Opening Night

'Opening Night' is another colour that looks better out of the bottle. Its soft fushia and bluey tones make it another favourite of mine from the collection. It is very pretty but also very chic.

Blue Aria

'Blue Aria' does not contain a pearly shimmer finish, but is a very deep navy blue that is very glamorous. This colour is a very under stated way to dress up a evening dress.

Standing Ovation

 Finally, 'Standing Ovation' which is a greeny emerald colour that will be a hit in all the press as it is an emerald colour that is going to be huge this season. The colour looks completely different out of the bottle, as in the bottle it has that 'oil spill' rainbow effect, but out of the bottle, its shimmery green is unmistakable.