More Club Make Up - And My Poorly Made Life Decisions

 So, me and my friends planned a night out which happily coincided with my friend getting a job, so reason to celebrate. I did these lady's make up, as well as my own (obvs) and I think it all turned out rather cool looking. It's a shame the night did not end up cool for myself. Who knew that drinking a bottle and a half of wine in a short space of time was a poor idea? I was snug in bed before midnight, is all I'm saying about it. The other girlie's had a good time, though.

This is Megan, I've introduced her before - for her Prom make up - so you're familiar with my difficulties with her eyes. I feel I've got it down now, though. This look started with the hair. It's all about the hair. I used a teeny tiny (1/2 inch) curling tong and alternated the direction of the curls so they don't 'sit' in each other. I then got Megan to pull her fingers through the curls and rough it up a bit. Thus creating a fun and summery look. This was my inspiration for the make up.

 I primed the eyes using Two Faced Shadow Insurance. I then used a Mac 217 and an Inglot Freedom System Rainbow Eye Shadow (it's three complementing colours in one pan) to buff and orange colour all over the lid and under the eyes. I used the middle shade to do this. I then patted the lightest colour in the centre of the lid and the darkest colour to faintly darken the outer corner and the upper and lower lash lines. I then used Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk on the waterline and inner corners. I used a shimmery white from Sleek in the inner corner and blended it slightly into the lid. I then finished with Bourjois Liquid Liner for a fine cat eye and Loreal Volume Million Lashes on curled lashes. For a Summery look I like a face to be highlighted and bronzed, so I used Topshop's Glow (a lovely golden, liquid highlighter) and Rimmel's Natural Bronzer in Sun Glow.

This is my lovely friend Jordan, who looks ever so hip in a hat. Jordan wanted something fairly simple for make up, but still eye catching. So I thought an extreme cat eye and a red lip would work, and it looks damn cool, if I do say so myself. For the lips I used No 7 Lip Pencil in Fire to line and fill in the lips. I then went over this with Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 01. I used a piece of toilet paper split open (as in it is always two pieces of thin paper stuck together to create a sheet) and Mac's Prep and Prime Finishing Powder to blot and mattify the lips.

 I used Maybelline Gel Eyeliner and the brush that comes with it to do the extreme cat eye. I first made a very fine line across the entire upper lid, extending the line quite a distance from the outer corner. I then thickened the line slightly starting with the other point, but keeping it fairly consistent across the lid. I did not want a '60s cat eye, I wanted something more modern, so I kept the line fairly straight from the outer corner and not too angular in the flick. I then lined under the lower lashes, leaving the waterline clean and I connected it with the upper line at both corners, creating a small point in the inner corner.

 For myself I just did a look I'm rather fond of, which, whilst extreme, I do adore. I used the Maybelline gel liner to outline and fill in the shape and then set it with Urban Decay eye shadow in Prank, from the Vice 2 Palette. I used Nyx pencil in Milk for the waterline. I used Eylure lashes in Dramatic 202. My skin routine is the same as detailed in previous posts (yeah, I'm lazy). For my lips I patted on some Rimmel Kate Moss Lipstick in 20.

So this night was a messy one for me, but my make up looked fabulous, so there's that.

Prom Make Up - Another of my Beautiful Friends

My lovely friend Megan recently had her Year 13 Prom, which is the last year before University. It's an event to say goodbye to your school, your teachers and all those people you intend on un-friending from Facebook once you get to Uni. Most people are over eighteen so everyone drinks, like a whole lot - the teachers more than anyone. Because nothing says goodbye like passionately professing your love for someone you haven't talked to all year.

Megan didn't want anything to extreme, but also something that wasn't too 'prom'. We had a Prom post-GCSE's where everyone wore their satin and bejewelled dresses, this Prom is more inclined towards party dresses. The make up has to be similarly themed. For my GCSE Prom I had a neutral eye with a soft pink lip, for my A level Prom I had blue glitter on my eyes and an orange lip gloss - you get the idea.

So, considering Megan's eye shape which always proves a challenge for me (and I can't nail down exactly why), I wanted something heavy on the eye liner and light on everything else. This make up was a process for me, but I'm happy with how it came out and Megan looks gorgeous (it would be hard for her not to).

I started with lightly brushing Cork by Mac on the outer corners of the eyes, not so much in the crease because of the shape of her eyes. I then patted Inglot's Body Sparkles in 71 all over the lid (I'm overusing this at the moment, so sue me). I then did a cat eye with a liquid liner. Whilst waiting for this to dry, I ran some Cork through her brows, very softly. I then decided what was best was to line underneath the bottom lashes with a liquid liner, giving a very sharp line, versus using a pencil liner. I then completed it by using Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean on the waterline and setting it with a black eye shadow (I used one by Inglot). Now happy with how the eyes looked I piled on mascara - to compete with the heavy eye liner - and applied a pair of simple Eylure lashes.

 Megan's skin is lovely, so I used a light foundation, just to even the skin tone. I then applied Sleek's Blush by 3 in OC to the apple's of her cheeks, with my own cheeks I usually pull the colour up to the sides of my face, but for Megan I kept it central. I then finished with Mac's Prep and Prime Finishing Powder. For the lips I just smudged Rimmel's Kate Moss Lipstick in 22 onto them, just giving a slight hint of colour that can wear off happily and prettily through the night.

 For the hair I used a 1 inch curler (my medium sized one) and alternated the direction of the curls, so that they won't sit in each other and flatten the look. I wanted something fun and flirty. I also added volume to the roots using Tressemé's Plumping Powder and back combing with a tail comb. I then got Megan to run her fingers through the curls to loosen them and messy up the look. This style is one meant to be messed about with.

Overall I was very happy with how the look turned out and I think Megan looked gorgeous. She also made her own Prom dress, how cool is that?

Hair Flairs Color Rub - What to do when you're a commitment-phobe but 'just need' a change

So, back in September I moved to London to go to University. My home town is fairly small and contained, despite having an oddly large population. Throughout my educational career I've been with the same people - I went to sixth form with people I've known from pre-school. University is partly about breaking free from this kind of thing, meeting fascinating, new people from different backgrounds and circumstances. Broadening horizons and all that. I feel like - although I am not the most objective person to ask - that living in London multiplies this experience tenfold - and then some. I love it. Period. However, this is a double edged blade. Because in my home town I felt like an individual, I felt different, and despite having Tyler Durden's words rolling round in my head - 'You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake' - I felt like one. Boy, does living in London - or any city, for that matter - knock that out of you quick. I was one amongst many. Syndrome's sentiment from 'The Incredibles' stands true, when everyone's special, no one is.

So I go to Goldsmiths University. It's an Arts and Humanities Uni, the closest course it does to the sciences is Computing. We're all incredible artistic, and we're all distinct individuals. Stereotypes don't always hold true, but let your imagination run free in regard to the students at Goldsmiths. Everyone's also incredibly fashionable, which meant I had to pick up my fashion game, like, a lot. This included the obligatory Vintage stores and Thrift shops. It also meant my hair game needed to be bettered too, no messy buns for me any more.

My hair is frizzy, thick and not quite curly enough to look nice if I just leave it. I mercilessly dye and heat style my hair. Just straightening my hair is my lazy option now. Whilst my hair horizons have been widened, it still wasn't exactly individual. There is a girl on my course whose hair is half blue, half magenta. It looks incredible. I'm just gonna sit here in a corner with my straight ombre hair with the layers grown out and weep.

So, to finally get to the point. Back home my ombre was cool, creative and - here's that word again - individual. In london every second woman you see has blonde ends, and likely done professionally, whereas mine is out of the box and woefully inferior. I'd been promising myself to dye my hair a silly colour when I got to University, but I just couldn't commit. So I did some research and decided to pick up some hair chalk. This was a risk so I put the low to high price filter on amazon so if I hated it I hadn't sunk £15 of food money down the drain. I found the Hair Flairs, where the postage and packaging was more expensive than the product, but was still cheap when added up - it came to under £10. Score. I got blue and green, because I've always wanted to be a mermaid.

The reviews on amazon were less than happy, people said they were messy, got used up too quickly and weren't that pigmented when you got down to it. I'm gonna level with you - this is all true. But it did not stop me from loving this product.

So, they're messy. OH YEAH. So messy. BUT, this is easily contained and washed off, there are even instructions on the back of the product. No carpets and no white clothing. This is fair enough. I did this in my bathroom with a towel around my shoulders. I had dry, straightened hair. I made sure to hang my hair over the sink as the powder is more easily cleaned off the ceramic than my bathroom tiles. After watching many tutorials on YouTube, I had my technique down. I divided my hair over both shoulders for convenience sake, I then smothered my ends in hair spray. I'm talking full on asphyxiation levels of hair spray. Mainly so all the strands are covered, otherwise the colour will go on more unevenly. I took the pot - I initially used the green - and started rubbing it on my blonde ends. I held the back with my thumb and used my index and middle finger to push the hair into the colour. Your hands will turn green; the instructions advise wearing gloves, I had no gloves so made do - it washed off fine. I did this until all the blonde was covered, using my stained hands to blend the colour upwards in a more pleasant way. I then blitzed it with another round of hair spray. I decided to be creative and throw some blue in there too, focusing on the ends to create a sort of gradient effect. More hair spray. I cleaned up, threw the towel in the wash and was sorted.

I still had quite a bit left of the colours (photo below of what the pots looked like after), and still do after using them both a couple more times. They'll not last you forever, especially if you want to do your whole head, but If you're just doing your ends I'd say they're cost effective. I'd be happy to buy them again.

As for the pigmentation, it's great if you don't brush it, and even if you do it still looks very stylish - and I liked it better that way anyway.

The colour washed out of my hair very easily, but the product states it make take two-three washes for heavily bleached hair.

It looked amazing but felt horrible. This is a warning, you can feel it in your hair. If you're doing this for a one time event you can just leave it and wash it off afterwards. I, however, needed to sleep on this for the next day consisting of college followed by a night out. So I decided to brush it. The colour gets muted and unfortunately the blue blended into the green, but it still looked nice - I honestly preferred it. The process of brushing seemed to bond the colour better with the hair, making it look less like chalk on the hair and more like simply coloured hair. Follow this with more hair spray. I went to bed and woke up with awesome hair and, thankfully, still clean sheets. The colour didn't transfer, but you might still want to be careful. I brushed through again in the morning and it still looked cool. I got quite a few compliments and, most importantly, felt like I held my own in the individuality contest. Sorted.

 Below is the final result in the form of an awkward mirror selfie. I'm a happy camper.