Creepy Doll | Halloween Countdown #1

Hi everyone,
Last year I posted a different hair and makeup tutorial every day for the five days leading up to Halloween and this year I decided I'd do it again, starting with this creepy doll tutorial. I hope you enjoy :)

For this look you will need:

• Base makeup (foundation, concealer, powder)
• Pink blusher
• Blue eyeliner and eyeshadow
• Black liquid eyeliner
• Mascara
• A lipliner
• Red/pink lipstick
• Two hair bobbins
• Ribbons

Makeup

• To begin, apply your base makeup. It looks best to use a very pale foundation, but if you don't have one and aren't prepared to buy it, you can always do what I did and mix a bit of moisturiser in with your foundation. It kinda worked. Kinda.
• Also, don't be afraid to be heavy-handed with your powder in order to create that matte, perfect doll complexion.

• Next apply some blusher to the apples of your cheeks, just underneath your eyes. Again, use much more than you would normally to create a rosy-cheeked effect.

• For eyes, begin by using an eyeliner or eyeshadow and brush (whichever you're more comfortable with) to draw a semi-circle over you eye, using it's natural shape as a guide. Don't worry if it's not particularly neat, you'll be filling it in.

• Using your eyeshadow, fill in the semi-circle

• Using liquid-liner, line your upper lashline and lower waterline.

• Apply your mascara and once again, don't be afraid to lay it on thick. You could probably go down the false eyelashes route if you wanted to, but I have a bit of a phobia of them, so I didn't.

• The next thing you need to do is use concealer to cover up your lips which, as you can see, will look hella weird.

• Using a lipliner (any colour will do) draw the shape of a small doll's mouth over the middle of your own lips (the photo isn't very clear, I'm sorry)

• Apply your lipstick over the lipliner, and that is the completed makeup look!

Hair

• Divide your hair into two sections

• Using your ear as a guide, grab a section from the front of one side.

• Divide this piece into three sections, and start plaiting.

• Continue plaiting, adding pieces from underneath until all your hair is used up. 

• Secure your plait with a bobbin, add a pretty bow and repeat the process on the other side.

• And that's it! Go forth and stare creepily at people...

New In: L'Oréal Color Riche Pure Red Lipsticks

Hi everyone,
My feelings about red lipstick have been well documented on this blog, so when I saw that L'Oréal had released a collection of red lipsticks, my interest was piqued. All it took was a 3 for 2 offer on L'Oréal products and now...here we are.
I got three out of the four lipsticks from the collection, Julianne's Red, Eva's Red, and Liya's Red.

Juliane's Red is a very pink red, Eva's red is more brown-red, while Liya's is what I would describe as  classic red.

The one I didn't get, Blake's Red, was similar to Liya's Red but with a lot more pink in it. It reminded me a lot of Revlon Red and the Wet'n'Wild lipsticks that I already own, hence why I decided to give it a miss.

Top to bottom: Julianne's Red, Eva's Red. Liya's Red

My first impressions of these lipsticks are that I really like them. All the colours are great, I think they'd suit a lot of different skin tones, and are very pigmented. I particularly like Eva's Red, it's not as bright and bold as the other two, and perfect for everyday wear.

They also last a long time, and don't smudge off, which is always a plus with bright lipsticks.

Liya's Red

Eva's Red

Julianne's Red

*(Sorry about the slightly washed out photos, the light was not cooperating with me.)

Overall first impressions; these lipsticks get a big thumbs up from me :)

Makeup of the Day| 16/10/14

Products Used:

• Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation in '100 Ivory'
• Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in '01 Fair'
• Rimmel Match Perfection Translucent Powder
• Natural Collection Bronzer in 'Sun-Shine'
• Maybelline Colour Tattoo in 'On and On Bronze'
• Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara
• L'Oréal Colour Riche Lipstick in 'Julianne's Pure Red'

Review: Sephora Lip Last Colour in 'Wanted Red'

I bought this lipstick over the summer while I was on holidays in Portugal (unfortunately we don't have Sephora in Ireland) but because of it's darker colour I've only started to try it out recently. Here are my thoughts.

The formulation if this lipstick is very different to anything else I've tried. The best way I can describe it is like paint; it's very thin and just sort of glides on. Even it's design reminds me of a paintbrush or marker, it's much thinner than your average lipstick (for comparison you can look at the Lip Lineup).It's also insanely pigmented, even one small swipe will give you a really bright red lip.

 

The lipstick is also very matte; it really reminds me of that 1940s, Hollywood type looks. Unfortunately, this leads me to the downside...

You really need to use a lip liner with this lipstick. And that's coming from someone that never uses lipliner. Because it's so pigmented and matte (and possibly something to do with the round bullet too) it's hard to apply it perfectly without some sort of guideline (I tried, and as you can probably tell, failed). Similarly, if you wear it with a lip balm underneath, it tends to move around a lot, and smudge off. On it's own, it seems to dry in and isn't nearly as bad, but it can be slightly drying, so again, I'd recommend a lip liner to hold it in place.

Overall, I did really like this lipstick. It has an interesting formulation, and is amazingly matte and pigmented. I think it's a must for anyone that likes their '40s inspired makeup. Just make sure to get yourself a red lipliner too :)

10 Favourite Things I've Discovered This Year

Hi everyone,
First off, apologies for the lack of midweek post. Last week was a crazy busy week, and this post just kept getting put off and put off until, whoops, it's Sunday again. To make it up to you, next week I will have not one, but two midweek posts.
About a week ago one of my favourite blogger/vloggers; Anna of ViviannaDoesMakeup made a list of ten of her favourite beauty items that she discovered so far this year. Because I'm sorely lacking in inspiration this week, I thought I'd do the same. So here are ten of my favourite makeup things that I've discovered this year.

Natural Collection Bronzer in 'Sun Shine': It's long lasting, suits my skin tone perfectly, and has just the right amountof shimmer in it. I've literally wore it all summer.

Elizabeth Arden Powder Brush: Aka what I apply my bronzer with. And it does it well. I've been converted to high end brushes.

Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara: Full review here. Gives great length, volume, and once it's on does not budge. Not to mention the beautiful packaging. One of my all time favourite mascaras.

MUA Glamour Days Palette: MUA eyeshadows are just generally great; really pigmented and long lasting, but this particular palette has the perfect balance of neutrals and colours, and matte and shimmery shadows.

Wet'n'Wild Colouricon Eyeliner in 'Turquoise': It's super cheap, and the colour is beautiful. Also, it's so big that I'll never have to buy another one as long as I live.

Elizabeth Arden Eye Pencil in 'Smoky Black': Reviewed here. This converted me to pencil eyeliners. It's very pigmented, very easy to apply, and just generally very good.

Essence Liquid Ink Eyeliner: This stuff does not budge.

Sephora Cream Lip Stain in '01': Quite possibly the best matte lip cream ever made.

MAC Cremesheen Lipsticks: In 'Mythical' (from the alluring aquatic collection) and 'Crosswires' (la review). I just really like this forumlation of lipstick. They're very moisturising and comfortable to wear, while still being very pigmented.

Wet'n'Wild Mega Last Lipsticks: I sorta kinda went a bit crazy for these when they came out. I was going though a matte lipstick phase, and they're so cheap and...one thing just sort of led to another. They are very good though; the shade range is great (favourite colours include Rosebud, Coral-line, and Sugar Plum Fairy, pictured above) they're very pigmented (this is apparently my phrase of the day) and last a long time. Here is my full review.

The Lip Lineup| October

Hi everyone,
Here is the October installment of the lip lineup. This month I have six products to show you instead of my usual five, because, as you will be able to see in the next photo, one of them only has a little bit left in it and I'm trying desperately to get it finished. Because we are well into autumn (if anyone knows where time is going, please let me know) I've been getting into some darker reds and berry colours.

 Revlon Colourburst Matte Balm in 'Sultry', Wet'n'Wild Megalast Lip Colour in 'Sugar Plum Fairy', Natural Collection Lipstick in 'Raspberry', MUA Lipstick, Kate Moss for Rimmel Lipstick in '08', Sephora Lip Last Lipstick in 'No. 20'

Sultry, Sugar Plum Fairy, Raspberry, MUA, 08, and No. 20

September Favourites

Hi everyone,
So it's October. I don't know how it happened, but it is. And that means it's time for my September Favourites. I didn't actually have a lot of makeup favourites this month, I've basically just been using the same things as last month, but I do have some fashion and other random things to show you.

Kate Moss for Rimmel Lipstick in '08'

My sole makeup item for the month. The Kate Moss lipsticks are some of my favourites, but I've always been a bit on the fence with this colour. There are times I think it looks too brown on me, or washes me out. This month however, I can't get enough of it. I wore it a lot and used it in my Dianna Agron tutorial. It's a really nice for when you went to have a bit of colour on your lips, but nothing too crazy.

Boots Cocoa Butter Body Wash

I mentioned the body lotion from this line a few months ago, and the body wash is equally as good. It lathers up really nicely, smells amazing and is just generally very nice. This is a miniature version from a giftset, but I may have to go and buy a full sized one.

Penneys Long Necklaces

After a statement necklace phase that spanned several months, I have suddenly done a complete u-turn and gotten back into long necklaces. These two are my most worn, I got them in Penneys a few years ago. I just think they're a really nice addition to an outfit, without being too in your face.

Tesco Black Handbag

I had never really bought anything in Tesco until I found this bag in the January sales, and have started using it for college recently. It's a very big bag, which I love because I'm that person that seems to carry their whole life around with them; and is also very sturdy and well-made. I also feel like it looks expense, when actually it cost me €10!

Penneys Converse

Speaking of bargains, I picked these babies up in Penneys last year for a grand total of €3. Considering how cheap they were, they've actually held up pretty well. They're comfortable and good for those days when I'm just feeling a bit more relaxed.

Vikings

I think we should just make 'Ciara's Monthly Television Recommendation' a thing, because every month I seem to have a new one. Vikings has always been something I meant to watch; it was advertised everywhere when it first started showing last year (it's a Canadian/Irish co production that's filmed here) but I just never got around to it until now. And I'm very glad I have. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but once I did it was one of those 'OhmyGodwhat'sgoingtohappennextmusthavethenextepisodenowGodIlovethisshow' type situations. All the characters are so complex and interesting, the women are really strong...it's just really good. I'm currently halfway through the second series, and I don't know what I'm going to do when I get to the end.