I spy with my little eye.....

Spotted this in New Look the ther day.
And I'm now regretting not buying it as I seem to remember it was the last on display and it's nowhere to be seen on the website.
*sob sob*

FOTD: Cut with fairy lights

pupa eyebrow pencil
collection 2000 eye pencil in rown for the brows
UDPP
NYC white eye pencil as a base on the lid
Sleek iDivine The Original palette - the lemoney goldey colour for the inner corner and under the sharp outer line
88 matte palette for the silvery grey in the crease
MAC Carbon in the crease
random dark grey and white eye shadows I depotted ages ago and are now nameless
Rimmel Day 2 Night mascara
Maybelline pen liquid liner
KIKO limited edition Gold palette - light and blue sparkles but the camera didn't really pick the colours up

( the big "block" of black it's because my eye decided to start tearing up so mascara, liner and Carbon decided to have a wonder down)

Oooohhh who's "copying" me?!

I was just having a look on Big Fashionista, one of my fave blogs, and her post covering the Matalan High Summer launch press day, when something caught my eye:


Don't those wedge sandals in the middle look familiar?!
Oh yes they do!!!!
ET VOILA!


As seen on this OOTD from last August.
Except.....my wedge is funkier!
I've had these for close to 3 years now...
Ah....I'm too cool for school! haha

Lil

A little randomness

...as provided by the lovely Lisa


1.) Mood: frustrated/stressed

2.) What is your favorite flower?: blue roses, colourful gerbera daisies and sun flowers

3.) What sound is the alarm you wake up to in the morning?: usually The Script "the man who can't be moved" or Westlife "us against the world" as I NEED to wake up gently or I'll be tired and grumpy all day long

4.) Current nail polish: see here

5.) Would you rather have a huge closet or a spacious bathroom (implying that the other would be tiny)? a HUGE closet!! I do like a nice big airy bathroom but I now got used to this
A few months ago we painted the whole apartment and this is now a much nicer deeper baby blue. My bedroom is basically a prison cell. I can only have seasonal clothes in the wardrobe or packed in the chest of drawers, the rest is in a suitcase on top of the wardrobe. Most of the clothes are in the drawers so I can never have EVERYTHING in front of me, and in the wardrobe each hanger has 2 or 3 items on it.

6.) If you could relive one year of your life, which would it be?: either 1998 or 2002. In 1998 I went from middle to high school with the best of grades, and during the summer I had the most amazing of experiences! Aged 14 I went for 3 weeks to Germany on an exchange/work experience type of holiday. A group of about 70 kids aged 14-18 from different European Countries "shoved" in a gorgeous youth hostel in the lovely city of Aalen. We were taken on daily sports activity, trips to Munich and other places, and in return we helped at the hostel: cleaning, washing the dishes, setting and clearing tables for meals etc etc. I was one of the few 14 year olds, the youngest in the Italian group, the only one who couldn't speak a word of German.....but in those 3 weeks I was SO happy and healthy that I grew about 6 cms in height and lost about 8kilos!
As for 2002 it was a pretty big year as well: I came into the year fighting skin cancer(you can read about it here) , I turned 18 in January which to me meant freedom of travelling with friends, going to gigs and generally having chances to have fun. In April came my first visit to the UK: the big smoke of London! I went with a group of people from the languages school I was studying English at. I felt great because I paid for it, the whole of it with my own money! London was a BIG shock to me! I'd visited other European Capitals before but London was different, I felt my brain go on over load pretty much every 5 minutes!
Then in the summer I realised the dream of a life time: my first EVER trip to Ireland! I came over with a friend of mine and for 10 days we travelled on coaches, slept in hostels and had a complete ball! Again it felt so great because it was my present to myself for turning 18, working hard for 2 summers for it and overcoming cancer the previous winter.

7.) Current outfit: purple track suit bottoms and a black long sleeve Tinkerbell top

8.) What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?: Halloween wasn't popular in Italy when I was a kid so I never got to dress up. However Carnival in February in Italy is probably bigger than Halloween in the States. I've had SO many costumes, all made and designed by me and my grandma. My faves were Pocahontas, A Star and Peter Pan.

9.) Have you ever been able to talk your way out of a speeding ticket?: I wish I could actually get the chance to get a speeding ticket?! Unofortunately my eye sight does not allow me to drive. *sad face* which is a big shame and cause of frustration because I am a complete petrol head weither it's cars or motorbikes.

10.) Weekly goals: get a job, try not to die of boredome when I go visit my boyfriend's parents at the weekend

My "walking" face

Very recently myself and a bunch of Dublin based people came up with the idea of weekly meetings, but to make it more interesting and fun, we threw in "long walks". The other day we did the first official one: 8k in and around Phoenix Park. If you are based in Dublin and interested to join in, just look up the tag #twalkup . It's not always the same day every week and we'll sometimes have 2 a week, as it's got to fit around people's various commitments.
So this is the face I had on the other day, just a touch of Rimmel Day 2 Night mascara and a bit of brow pencil. Everything else is au naturel.

Lil

ELF nail polish in Mint Cream: swatches & review

€1.70/£1.50 on eyeslipsface.co.uk
$1.50 on eyeslipsface.com

I have to be honest, I have a 50/50 relationship with this polish.
This polish is from the new Spring collection, I also got another metallic purple one from the same, I'll be reviewing/swatching that soon.
Now, ELF I really like you, but you need to sort out your polish swatches, and I know I'm not the first one to notice that. Hell, I'd do it for free?!
The photo you see above is the one on the polish colours/selection page(I'm talking about the .co.uk website here). and THAT is what I based my choice on, it's got a very slight blue hue.
However, this
is the photo you get shown on the home page when you get presented when all the new 4 Spring colours.

And this is what it actually looks like, which is neither of the 2 above:

first 4 images without flash, in natural light outdoors, last 2 with flash indoors

This is 2 coats and let me tell you I did have to fight for those 2 coats! It is a nightmare to apply! The brush is yes short, but it's fat and floppy, picking up a lot of quite runny product, and it's REALLY hard to use as it's got a mind of its own. It takes well over an hour to dry and it doesn't have the smoothest of finishes. Also DON'T try the "under the cold water tap" trick, it'll ruin the application and look of it.
Having said that I REALLY like the colour even though I was expecting more of a China Glaze For Audrey kind of colour, it has a nice coverage with 2 coats and you get a ton of product for the little price.


*** without a top coat this lasted TEN days without chipping nor tip wear, and I do use my hands a lot, especially for house chores, washing the dishes etc

Lil

Sowwy...

I haven't posted much the last couple of weeks...

Last week-end two friends of mine came over from England for this



We went to see The Script twice at the O2 here in Dublin and we were out and about all week-end.
Here's a few photos I ruined with my mug

(I know, my jeans are way too big on me, and the belt has no more holes...)

(having a warming up/energising drink)

(at the second gig, after a whole day my make-up was CLEARLY failing me)

(the lovely Glen from The Script: such a genuine chap!)

Then on monday I woke up with a pretty bad head cold which 2 days later was so bad I could barely stand up for 5 minutes as the pressure on my head was too much. I couldn't sit in front of the pc for longer than 2 minutes as it would make the migraines a lot worse. Thankfully I did not get a temperature but it is some monster of a cold! I feel a lot better now, although I still blow my nose every 10 seconds, cough a lot and sound funny when I talk.

I have a pretty big ELF haul and mini reviews to do but I'm waiting for my voice to get better so I can do a video about it instead of just a typed review. It will feature nail polishes, brushes, a tinted moisturiser, a concealer and an eye shadow quad. Most of it will be extremely positive, although with some pretty big negatives.

Lil

Roc Calmance Soothing Moisturiser

Redness calming/erasing products is one of the kinds of products I get asked about the most on YouTube, here, Twitter and e-mails.
This is my second attempt at calmin moisturiser, you can read about the first here.

First of what is so cool about this is that it's NOT GREEN!!
This RoC product really does its job of reducing redness, I LOVE IT! However it doesn't do that if you're spending most of your day outdoors, after 10 hours redness will sstart to show. But that's totally ok to me, I can re-apply if necessary.
So the getting rid of redness side gets the thumbs up.
As for the moisturising side of it I am 50/50, only because I have dry skin. Other people with less dry skin say it's totally fine as a moisturiser. Personally I have to add a bit of my face cream to it to get some nice moisturising.
I have been using this for 3 weeks and when I don't use it, the reduction of redness is noticeable, although not greatly.
When I first apply it I definitely feel the soothing sensation, my face feels cool and soothed.
The fragrance is fresh and doesn't bother me, although it is easily covered if you're using perfume, hairspray or foundation.
Unfortunately I can't give you a retail price as I bought mine off Amazon UK for about €10, but I'm pretty sure there's a chemist near you that sells RoC...or do like me and buy it on-line.
This gets the complete thumbs up from me !!!

Let me know if you've tried this before or if you are going to and what do you think.

Lil

Dear Debenhams....you get a big fat ZERO

A few weeks ago I decided to try and dip my toes in the world of falsies, fake lashes to you and me.
I've always been kind of scared about trying them: what if my eyes have a mega reaction to the glue or the lashes themselves, what if they're too heavy, what if they make my small eyes look even smaller etc etc blah-de-blah...

I researched it a bit and asked for advice to the looooooooovely Liloo from "Le petit jardin de Liloo" (@tsunimee on Twitter): she is just the most lovely of bloggers and people, I ADORE her! And if you wanna know anything about falsies, she's The One to ask!
Together we picked out what I should have tried first as a beginner. I remembered from looking at their prices in shops(Boots and Debenhams) before and found them quite pricey, so I decided to go for the on-line shopping option.
I was especially happy about going for this as Debenhams Ireland have free 4-5 working days(it USED to be 3 days up until Christmas) and they had in stock the items I had picked plus a lovely inexpensive lash/brow tint. I was very excited about the lash tint as it's the only treatment I get done at a salon for obvious reasons. Although I don't get my lashes tinted religiously, the price of this item was basically the same as a one treatment in a salon, and it contains about 10 treatments: bargain!
So I placed my order and got my confirmation e-mail which at the bottom read "We'll send another email to acknowledge that we are processing your order.".

Four days passed and no sign of the parcel nor of some sort of e-mail, a whole week passed and still nothing.
Two weeks later I still hadn't received my order nor an e-mail. I decided to look into it.
I tried to track my order on the web site but when I did, it took me to their "delivery information" page. Was my order a ghost?! Inexistent?!
I tweeted Debenhams and they gave me an e-mail and a UK phone number, I asked if it was the right one for an order on Debenhams Ireland? They said it was a "Republic of Ireland orders dedicated line". Excuse me? I place an order from Ireland, to Debenhams IRELAND.....and I have to phone a UK number?! Does not make much sense to me....
I tried calling the number on the web site, the ONLY way of getting in touch with Debenhams Ireland, and they gave me the same number I had gotten on Twitter.
Seeing as I'm not particularly keen on humongous phone bills, I decided to e-mail them with the order details and everything.
Their response

Thank you for your enquiry which has now been passed to our Customer Service Team for investigation & response.
Your enquiry is important to us and the team will endeavour to reply within 3 working days.
This email is for information only please do not send a response.

...so important that it deserves an automated e-mail...

The day after I got the following e-mail:

Thank you for your email. We can confirm that your order has been cancelled due to failing our internal security checks. If you would like to replace the order, please revisit the debenhams.ie site and ensure all billing details are correct and/or use an alternative method of payment if possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Kind Regards

This e-mail contains so many issues it's not even funny:
- my order was cancelled? where was my notification e-mail?!
- I am not a millionaire, I don't own multiple cards. The one I used is the one I've used for dozens of on-line orders for the last couple of years, and it has ALWAYS worked!
- it forced me to go out and buy SOME of the items I had ordered: the lash tint is nowhere to be found in shops, and obviously as it was more expensive I only ended up buying one third of the items I had ordered on-line.
- I did not hesitate in contacting them, but do you think I got a reply?
I sent an e-mail pointing out how I never got a notification e-mail telling me my order was cancelled, and had I not contacted them, they weren't going to, and also pointed out that it would have cost a lot more to go out and buy these items from shops.
Two weeks on I am still waiting for that e-mail....

Lil

20 questions TAG

What do you order at Starbucks?
one thing from your wardrobe you can't live without?
what's one food you can't live without?
what's one thing that most people don't know about you?
two pet peeves?
what's one thing you want to do before you die?
what do you and dislike about the YouTube community?
one thing you can't live the house without?
favourite brand of make-up?
what are your favourite flowers?
favourite colour?
do you drink energy drinks?
do you drink fruit juices?
do you like swimming?
do you eat fries with a fork?
do you want to get married later on in life?
do you get mad easily?
do you bite your nails?
have you ever had a near death experience?
do you drink coffee?

What's in my bag TAG

Better stick some pasta on

...and feed these!!!




These are from this week end's Irish Buzz!, I'm not sure if it's the same as the Brit edition.

Just look at those legs! Not to mention the inexistant arms and shoulders: eewww eeewww eeeewwww !!!!!

THIS IS WRONG !!!

SS11 Illamasqua The Toxic Nature Collection

Unpredictable, uncharted and unnat­ural, Illamasqua unleashes Toxic Nature for Spring/Summer 2011, a colour collection born from a visionary concept of nature fighting back against the genetically modified society that plunders it. Illamasqua has created the Toxic Nature collection through a palette of lurid shades, corrupted hues and glistening muted tones that offer intoxicating versions of their original selves.

“Having an artist background highly influenced this collection. The medium of paint when it is in various states [mixed on a palette, on a canvas, the colours mutating when you wash your brushes] inspired the product colours of Toxic Nature. Blends, washes, dabs, drips, daubs and splashes of colour are evident in the imagery of the collection.” Alex Box, Illamasqua Creative Director.

Like nature itself, it’s not all sweetness and light. Shades of mint, mushroom, plum, orange and rose are distorted with rich textures and pops of acid-infused brightness that command attention and draw you in…

Products

Cream Pigment - £17.00

A new matt formula that can either neutralise or dominate. Create the ultimate in textures whether it’s on your face, eyes, or body, bringing a flash of colour to a subtle contour.

“The power of the products in this collection is evident in the intensity of the Cream Pigments – they are intense, raw colour but blend down easily exactly like an artists paint palette.” Alex Box.

Emerge – Peach [EU only]

Bedaub - Mint

Dab - Lilac

Hollow - Toffee

Delirium – Rose Taupe [EU only]

Mould – Grape

Precision Ink in ‘Glister’ - £17.00

Create looks with attitude with this glistening opalescent nude. It dries within seconds and stays true for hours, so whatever you scrawl on your skin, you know your creation will last until dawn.

Lipstick - £15.50

Intense Lipstick with a highly pigmented formula that glides on smoothly, creating a statement.

Atomic – Fuchsia violet

Flare – Bright orange

Sheer Lipgloss - £13.00

Come out of the shadows with a high-shine punch of colour. Glossy, intense, and highly pigmented, Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss is long-lasting, both on the lips and in the mind.

Torture – Coral Peach

Divine – Fuchsia Pink

Nail Varnish - £13.50

Leave your mark with an unexpected claw. Choose from either toxic pastels or unmissable neons. Hardwearing and chip-resistant.

Purity – Peach

Bacterium – Pearlescent Ash Ochre

Radium – Acidic Lime Shimmer

Stagnate – Grey Mauve

Gamma – Neon orange

Toxic Claw - £35.00

Illamasqua are proud to present the second collaboration with visionary manicurist, Mike Pocock. A beautifully presented set of two false thumb nails, these have been designed and individually hand made by Mike. ‘The mutated aesthetic of the nail was inspired by the corrupted hues present in the Toxic Nature collection’.

NEW: Cream Pigments

We have supplied you with an artist’s palette so that you can experiment with mixing and matching your new Cream Pigments!

Apply with fingers or a brush for a buildable, matt and water resistant finish.

“I don’t think we have ever created a product that is as hard working as Cream Pigment. They can correct or enhance, disguise or reveal. I am obsessed with their versatility; blush, lips, eyes, contouring … they are absolutely my favourite product right now. Super-blendable, they can be pressed and blended into skin or slicked on for graphic shapes. Education is key with the pigments. Once you have learnt how to master them, you can control their impact.” – Alex Box, Creative Director

“The versatile and multitasking formula has an intense colour payoff that provides additional adhesion and intensification when applied before Powder Eye Shadows and Pure Pigments. The product can be used as a sheer wash or built to full coverage.” – David Horne, Director of New Product Development

Apparently the Irish market is not "worthy" of Illamasqua as they recently pulled out of it, so if you fancy any of these wonders, you'll have to order online, take a little trip up north or nicely ask someone in the UK to send them to you.
You can find a list of retailers here

Water Decal nail art tutorial

sponsored by Vivalanails

My boots search is over

This past few months my tootsies have NOT been happy! Why? Because they were brutally separated from my 2 most loved pairs of boots!
You can see one of them here



The other pair was similar, in suede as well(I LOVE suede!), with a wedge, but black.
And then because I've lived in them for four years and I've lost a considerable amount of weight, they didn't fit anymore, I needed about 4 pairs of socks to wear them.
So since September I have been on the look out for a replacement...but with no luck! They would be ankle boots, or the decor would be a bit too OTT, or they didn't have my size, or they were over €50...
Until now!!!!
Yesterday I went for a walk and wondered into Debenhams for a look around, I usually never buy anything there because of their prices, and there they were.....a pair of boots that went closest to what I was looking for!!!
And then dilemma creeped in....do I get them in black or in brown?! I pondered over it and this morning I went in and got them!!!
Their initial price was €75, reduced to €55 and I took advantage of the 3 day 25%, so they came in at €44 !
And here they are...




If they'd had a dark/black wedge it would have been amazing but hey, nothing is ever perfect, is it?!
I simply love them!!!

Do you like them?

Lil