Nail of the Day ~ new year nails.

 Used:

Urban Outfitters W.I.P in Twinkie

Accessorize in Aztec

I'm not sure how I feel about these nails but in the end it doesn't matter much since about 5 minutes after taking these photos I ruined half of them by putting shoes on, sometimes you think your nails have dried and then they just stab you in the back. I didn't have time to clean up the messy edges as well. Also, I know it's every girls' dream to have long nails but this is pretty much the limit for me, typing is hard and it just feels a bit weird.

I've been wanting to use Twinkie for ages, I mean, pink and blue holographic stars with silver holographic glitter - what isn't there to love? However, I've found it a challenge to find a base colour that works well. Aztec is one of my favourite duochromes and it needed some love, so I decided to force them together, like an arranged marriage. I found that the stars in Twinkie don't follow the curve of my nail which means that the points bent, but I'm guessing if I used a thicker top coat that might have stuck them down a bit better.

I am currently blogging from France, having just coming back from skiing, I am so exhausted! I hope everyone else is enjoying the festive season and has some good plans for tomorrow!

Face of the Day ~ Snow Maiden.

First of all, Merry Christmas! I expect you're all about to dig into some amazing food and then veg out for many hours, hopefully this will be perfect material to browse whilst digesting copious amounts of food. Onto the makeup!
This look was just so much fun. It is the first of a bi-weekly makeup tag challenge that my gorgeous friends Bekki, Charley and I are beginning together. This week's theme was (obviously) Christmas! To see everyone else's looks go here. It was kind of rushed, I did it at the same time as I was packing my bags (I'm spending Christmas and New Year's with family in France this year, along with the boyfriend) so I would have liked to have spent maybe a bit more time on it, but all in all I'm pretty pleased. I wanted to an ice queen style look, because snow is one of my favourite aspects of the Christmas season. It was my first attempt at coloured eyebrows, although usually I wouldn't go so light. It was hard to actually get rid of as much of my black hair as possible, as you can see, it's still visible, even after eyeliner, pout paint and glitter. I will definitely be experimenting with this in the future, probably in dark purple or blue to match my hair. Lips match the eyes, so there's not much to say about that, other than I'm glad I could put my Sweetpea & Fay blue grey lipstick to good use.
The swirls on the eyes are loosely inspired by the patterns made by the ice fairies from Fantasia, which I watched the other day (I absolutely love the mythology and fairy sections, so pretty). Although I'm pretty embarrassed at my horrendously wonky eye lining, but like I said, I was in a pretty big hurry.
I hope you like it! Let me know if you've seen any good snow/ice inspired looks!

 Face:

Illamasqua ~ Rich Liquid Foundation in RF133

Eyes:

MUA ~ Professional Eye Primer

Sleek ~ Jubliee from Glory I-Divine 2012 palette

Sleek ~ Pillow Talk from I-Divine Ultra Matte V2 Darks palette

Colortrend ~ liquid eyeliner in Baby Doll Blue

Sweetpea & Fay ~ Liquid lipstick in Nordic 

Illamasqua ~ Precision Ink in Scribe

The Body Shop ~ Eye Shimmer in 01

Soap & Glory ~ Thick & Fast mascara

+ anonymous shimmer palette, various glitters and craft pearls

Eyebrows:

Rimmel ~ Soft Kohl Kajal eye pencil in Pure White
Sleek ~ Pout Paint in Cloud 9

Lips:

Barry M ~ Kohl Pencil in White

Sweetpea & Fay ~ Liquid lipstick in Nordic

   Collection 2000 ~ Dazzle Me in Magical

Nail of the Day ~ ruby slippers.

These are the ultimate, quick and easy festive/Christmas nails. Seriously, even if you don't have glitter nail varnish if you have some red glitter hanging around, or any glitter for that matter, just paint your nails and then dip them in, whack on a top coat and you're sorted! Specifically for this I used Barry M in Red Glitter and 17 Lasting Fix in Chateau. Unfortunately they started chipping pretty much the day I painted them, which is disappointing. But they do look really nice, and they are so easy.
I am also so pleased to say that I have another post coming in 2 days! I am almost ahead of myself, however I have so much revision to do this glory might be short lived.

Outfit of the Day ~ winter warmer.

Hood ~ JeSuis Hoods

Cardigan ~ New Look

Moon vest top ~ Camden

Floral maxi skirt ~ New Look

Boots ~ New Look
Coat ~ Cotton Club

Finally! I have finally done an outfit! It's been ages, but pretty much every time I go out, this is what I wear, it's too cold for anything else and because I am lacking in a blank wall I don't have an indoor option for outfits at the moment. Unfortunately I've had a cold these past few days and today was the first day I've been out, so no makeup, red nose and my hair is a massive mess. Apologies for that. I really love that skirt, but it's really hard to walk in, so the other day I cut a slit into it (on the train as well, classy lady, I know) but I haven't hemmed it, so now it's just fraying a whole lot.

I am slowly but surely get back on top of the blog, I'm wanting to make sure that I do a few more fashion related things since recently things have been a bit makeup heavy. My friends Bekki and Charley and I are starting a little makeup tag together as well, which is super exciting because having friends who started blogs (partially) due to you is awesome, and it's even more awesome just to have friends who blog. However, for Christmas I am going to see family in France, hopefully I will schedule some posts and not get behind again. I'm also really excited to share with you some stuff I (and friends) bought from Lime Crime and also a Sugarpill palette that the wonderful Bekki got me. So much exciting makeup. 
So, that's about it really. I'm pretty bad at recapping life after a big gap in proper blogging. Hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season! I know I am (genuinely love it)!

Christmas craft ~ homemade cards.

Even though we have a stack of shop bought cards my mum insists on buying but never using, I always make Christmas cards, if you've been with me that long then you might remember last year's efforts. I thought I'd share with you some of this year's lot. Simple. They're a mixed batch, but overall I am pleased.
Also, just to let everyone know, I know I haven't been posting very much recently but last week I was hella busy with a lot of very stressful uni deadlines and now I'm catching up on life and getting ready for Christmas. Doesn't help that the weather is crappy and dark so doing outfits is hard.

 (the stars are actually red and gold in this one)

So, does anyone else make homemade Christmas cards or is it just me?

Puple Lipstick ~ Part 2: Plum & Dark

In part one I was looking at pastel and lilac coloured lipsticks and this time I'm looking at the darker, vampy shades, which I feel are more appropriate and wearable for this time of year.

Revlon ~ Va Va Violet

A dark purple

Price: £7.49
This was the most expensive of the darker lipsticks and second most expensive out of all the the swatched ones. The application was a bit patchy and not as opaque as I like my lipsticks. Duration was a bit disappointing as well, it lasted about 3 hours but during that time the fade was pretty bad (and it didn't fade nicely either). It started to dry my lips a bit as well, and then clung to the dry skin. I'd say this is the most wearable of the darker shades, it definitely less extreme than the rest but in terms of quality it isn't great.

Stargazer ~ 133 *

A slightly metallic middle purple

Price: £3.50
I found the pigmentation a bit disappointing, I tried layering it up but still couldn't get very opaque colour, in reality the colour can get a little darker than this swatch if you layer it up a bit more (for an alternative swatch look here). On the plus side application wasn't patchy which is pretty common with sheerer shades (e.g. Va Va Violet). After about 3 hours the fade really started to be obvious, however, it fades fairly evenly which means it isn't obvious or ugly. That is a pretty good duration time, and there is no feathering, which is always a bonus and for that price I can forgive it for some of it's downfalls.

Rimmel ~ Kate 04

An opaque dark purple

Price: £5.49
This has been a favourite lipstick of mine for a while (you can see me wearing here and here), although excuse the messy application. The pigmentation is really good and the formula is nice and creamy, a lot better than Va Va Violet even though they're similar colours and it smells so nice as well. Duration is really good, definitely one of the longer lasting shades and when it does fade it is a lot less obvious that the other lipsticks mentioned.
 

PBLC ~ Artificial Amethyst *

An opaque metallic red purple

 Price: £5.68 ($9.00)

Again, like Chinchilla in the last post, I think this colour is pretty unique. I also applied this one pretty hurriedly, so excuse that. I like how dark it is, and also the hints of red in it, which is more obvious in the product photo. The formula is great and so is duration and wear. I think one of the great things about this lipstick is that after the initial blot there is very little transfer, and no feathering.

CeeYourself Cosmetics ~  Gothica *

A sheer, dark purple

Price: £2.29 ($4.50) 

The formula definitely needs a lot of a work, which is a shame because I really liked the colour. This swatch is after a few layers and in terms of pigmentation is was pretty disappointing, I did try to apply it more thickly but that did not work out. It also felt quite greasy on my lips, but not drying, which is a plus. Duration was about 2/3 hours, but the fade (like Va Va Violet) wasn't very pretty. However, it is insanely cheap, and hopefully with a slight change in formula this could be a really great product.

(L-R) Gothica (when applied thickly), Artificial Amethyst, Va Va Violet, Kate 04, 133

And here's just a swatch with the light and darker colours all together:
(L-R) Gothica, Artificial Amethyst, Kate 04, Va Va Violet, 133, Chinchilla, Glitter Violet, The Purple Cloud, Unicorn

So that's it for the swatches! In the next post I have compiled a list (including any swatches I could find) of as many purple lipsticks as possible - there is definitely a shade for everyone! It took so long to put together but there are some really gorgeous shades.
And finally, what is your favourite darker purple lipstick?

Disclaimer: products marked with * were given to me as PR samples, but this does not affect my opinion.  

Gift Idea ~ my wonderful world of fashion.

My lovely boyfriend bought me this as well as it's sequel: My Even More Wonderful World of Fashion for my birthday this year after he saw me drooling over them at a cute shop in Brighton. I thought I'd feature here because actually, they are such a great Christmas gift idea for anyone remotely fashion or art orientated.
My Wonderful World of Fashion is sort of like an activity book for adults (although, really, it's good for all ages). It's full of DIY ideas, fashion history lessons including iconic designers, typical period pieces and even hairstyles, but mostly it is full of tasks, encouraging you to be creative in a multitude of ways. On one page it'll ask you to draw a pattern on a pair of tights and on another to design a hat for a face.
Not only is the content wonderful, the presentation is lovely too. The books feel nice and is pretty hefty - there are a lot of pages, the paper is lovely and I'm almost afraid to draw on it because it's just a beautiful book. The second book; My Even More Wonderful World of Fashion, is just as good as the first, with more fresh ideas and things to do.
So all in all, an inspiring, unique, imaginative and interesting gift that I would personally definitely recommend. Great for if you're having an fashion/artist's block and for around £6.50 on Amazon, they're amazing value for money.
So, what do you think? Do you own either of them - if so, do you love them as much as I do?