make-up Archives - Page 19 of 29 - This Second's Obsession

This is a bit behind the times, as I’ve been really busy recently, but hopefully some of you will still be interested though it has last year’s date on it!

My absolute favourite new product of last year was the Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm in Gothic. After Sarah at SillyGrrl mentioned it several times, I tested it out in a shop and was smitten by its bright red stain. I love lipstains. They are lighter and more comfortable to wear everyday, and don’t come off on mugs and boyfriends. I also like to apply them before lipstick so when the lipstick wears off, I still have colour underneath and it’s not so obvious. I put this product on my Christmas list for 2011 and luckily I got one. It’s not perfect – the drier skin on my lips absorbs more pigment from the pen so if I get lazy about lip care it can look really patchy, and the lid on the balm has slid off a couple of times in my make-up bag – but the bright red colour is just what I was hoping for. I wear this at least once a week, it’s become my go-to lip colour.

I started using tea tree oil this year to battle my spots. The bottle pictured is the Superdrug blend, but I’ve also tried one from The Body Shop. They each have their own pros and cons. The Body Shop one has a much higher concentration of tea tree oil and works better applied to individual spots as its quite drying. The Superdrug one is less drying (despite containing alcohol) and I can use it on large areas. Confusingly, the Superdrug one says it is a blended oil, and it certainly feels oily, refusing to dry, but the only oil listed in the ingredients is tea tree, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. I think that I might try buying the pure essential oil, which Superdrug also sell, and adding a few drops into the blended oil, but I also want to repurchase The Body Shop one as it dries properly and feels a lot better under makeup.

I recently started using Lush’s Cosmetic Lad because the skin of my face was getting a bit dry with all the central heating and cold winds. I usually use Vanishing Cream but I felt it wasn’t thick enough. I did try buying a cheap moisturiser from Simple, the Clear Skin Oil Balancing Moisturiser, but it was a disaster. Blackheads on my cheeks. Seriously. I have never in my life had blackheads on my cheeks before. On my nose and forehead, yes, but never on my cheeks! I do not have blackheads on my cheeks now that I’ve stopped using it (just a lot of tiny whiteheads). I don’t think Cosmetic Lad is doing anything for my spots (I’m going to buy some Vanishing Cream to use at least some of the time) but it has really helped soothe my skin. I had a cold a few weeks ago and usually this means red nose and cheeks for at least a few days, if not a week afterwards, but I put on some Cosmetic Lad before going to bed and when I woke up my face looked normal! I was really impressed as this has never happened before, and I have tried all sorts to avoid the Rudolph look – olive oil, Savlon, layers of my usual moisturiser.

The Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Shadow Pencil in Sin is basically an portable version of one of my favourite eyeshadows that I can apply without a brush. It also makes a great base for the Sin eyeshadow when I want to give it a bit more oomph and works as an inner corner highlight. The downside is that these set really quickly so I have to do one eye at a time, which means that I usually put a bit more on one than the other.

The Ecotools Shade Brush (from the eye brush kit) is my brush of the year. I don’t use most of the Ecotools brushes for their intended purpose. I like to use this one to apply highlight shades under the brow or in the inner corner. It’s the ideal size for me.

The Benefit Bad Gal Lash is a mini that was free with Glamour magazine some time last year. I decided to try it after a friend recommended it and I was delighted. I don’t know if I’ll buy the full size because the brush on the mini is massive enough (though not as long as the brush for Revlon Grow Luscious, which is ridiculous) and I think Benefit test on animals, but it is a really nice mascara. I can apply multiple coats without any clumping at all, even if I leave several hours between coats (ie. if I put one on in the morning for work and then want to amp it up for the evening).

You can’t really see the name in the picture, but that’s Lush’s Karma perfume. I love this stuff. It’s so fresh and bright and spicy and delicious. It’s such a strong scent that I can still smell it on me the next day. I also have the soap and body lotion (Karma Kream), plus a bubble bar in my stash. Yes, it’s hippieish and laden with patchouli like an old goth but I think it is one of the nicest smells in the world and sometimes reach for my pot of Karma Kream just to sniff it!

Finally, I started buying the Barry M Base Coat, Top Coat and Hardener this year after getting fed up with Rimmel base coats drying out before the end of the bottle as they have no ball bearings. The only reason I stuck with Rimmel for so long was because I kept buying their base coat in sets or getting it as a gift. So much happier with the Barry M one. It dries fairly quickly, has TWO ball bearings, and was made in the UK.

Special mentions go to the products that have been my favourites for multiple years now: Lily Lolo foundation and concealer, Aromaleigh eyeshadows, Urban Decay eyeshadows (especially Sin), Bourjois eye pencils and The Body Shop lip balms. I particularly love Bourjois’ liquid eyeliner Liner Pinceau, which I abandoned for a little while this year, but the much raved about Rimmel liquid eyeliners just do not compare!

This year, I was feeling lazy. I went to a party as Helena Bonham Carter. This dress + £20 M&S sale ‘corset’ + this hat + the jacket I got for my circus ringleader costume in 2008 + a face that resembles HBC’s, according to that drunk guy on a train one time = costume. My boyfriend wore a beret and a suit jacket and was Tim Burton. I tend to get Costume Block when faced with a Halloween to dress up for (that’ll be every year then), so here are a few ideas, for my future reference, and your present need.

Witch

For many years, this was my favoured Halloween costume. I’d pile on the gothy clothes and top it all off with a pointy hat. Maybe I’d carry a broom, or a wand. It’s still pretty easy – you can even buy a witch’s hat and some stripy tights in the Co-Op. Your witch doesn’t have to be traditional – check out my Glamorous Witches post for a variety of ideas. However, if you have some black fabric or old black clothing lying around, you can tear it up and paint a wart on your nose for the old-fashioned look.

Here is a ‘sexy witch’ green make-up tutorial by MissChevious, but if you want to go the glamorous route without also going green, search a combo of the following words on YouTube: dramatic, purple, witch, make-up. What? I always recommend purple.

Cat

I’ve done this one a few times as well. Let’s face it, all you really need is a cat mask, which you can find pretty easily, or to grab an eyeliner pencil and draw whiskers on your cheeks and a triangle on the end of your nose. You can easily glam it up or go superhero and be Catwoman. You really don’t need a tutorial, but if you want to vamp it up a notch, here’s stephbusta:

Ghost

There are two main options. You can use the old cut-eyes-out-of-a-sheet method, or put on foundation a couple of shades too pale and plenty of pressed powder, wear some torn clothes, and put so much talcum powder in your hair that it goes grey. A bit of hairspray should stop too much falling out.

Vampire

I have never worn a vampire costume, apart from when I was in the vampire choir in my primary school production of Dracula! I’ve considered it several times, but I think that I’d need fangs, otherwise I’d just look like I was wearing my regular clothes. And supermarket fangs don’t seem to fit me.

This is another excuse to dress like a big goth, therefore I love it. But I also like the fact that although blood-red lips are a must, you can do what you like with your eye makeup. This Pixiwoo tutorial is fabulous if you’re going for the decadent vampire look, but if you want to look like a lost soul haunted by the ghosts of everyone you’ve eaten, give yourself some grey shadows underneath your eyes and make sure your backcombed hair is messy.

Zombie

I think next year I might be a zombie flapper. What? It’s too early to start thinking of next year’s costume? Nonsense. It would give me a great excuse to do the unflattering authentic 1920’s make-up, with a little extra green. As Jennine at The Coveted pointed out last year, you can zombify anything. I think that’s why the zombie walks are so popular – you can wear your own clothes and just do the make-up.

Lauren Luke’s zombie make-up tutorial:

Other ideas

There have been some great ideas posted on xojane this year. The creepy doll look is very easy, and Cleopatra requires a little more work, but looks great. If you’re not concerned about the longevity of the outfit you can make cardboard accessories. I do have a toy snake, and I like thick eyeliner, so perhaps it’s a potential rival to ‘zombie flapper’ for next year.

I also like the Evil Queen idea, but I’d happily dress like that every day. It’s not really flamboyant enough for a Halloween costume, and so I’ve started daydreaming about a Maleficent or Ursula ensemble.

If you don’t want to dress as something spooky, check out Jennine’s Halloween In My Closet series. I am clinging onto the idea that Halloween isn’t just costume day and that it is supposed to be creepy, but you don’t have to.

2012 Make-up/Skincare Favourites