Photoshoot by the River - Beautiful Friends and Beautiful London

 Last week I had a couple of my friends over to do their make up and get some cool photos in our beautiful city. We went to Hungerford Bridge and the South Bank, also known as some of the most beautiful places in London. Waterloo Bridge is my personal favourite for views - you can see the Shard, St Paul's, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, the City - it's damn amazing and never ceases to astound me. However it tends to be busy and I didn't want to embarrass my friends too much, as it was they got quite a few funny looks. I'm not sorry, though, I got some damn good photos.
Hungerford Bridge is the next bridge along from Waterloo Bridge and has pretty good views itself. It is also near a brilliant Mexican restaurant - Wahaca if you're interested - which we went to after we were done. The South Bank is also lovely, and there are always book stalls there if you want to get books for cheap, or just want to browse and look very cultured while doing so.

 This is my friend Kimberly, she only dresses in monochrome, so for the make up I couldn't help but oblige. I wanted something vampiric and gothic, but also so very stylish - hence the rhinestones, I'm a sucker for rhinestones.

 I used a gel eye liner to draw the shape, a Black Glitter Eye Crayon by Barry M over the top as it has really chunky silver glitter in it, I then set that with a sparkly black eye shadow - Lovesick in the Vice 2 Palette by Urban Decay. In the centre of the lid I patted some Inglot Body Sparkles in 71, which is the most amazing glitter, it has a pinky-brown base colour with green and blue glitter. It is probably my favourite piece of make up. Because of the black base, only the blue and green come across, still hella pretty.

 I then put medium a sized rhinestone on the inner corner of each eye. The lashes are Eylure in LP6. For the lips I used a Rimmel lipstick in Starry-Eyed. I used a brush to blend the colour in the inside of the lips to give the feel of a red wine stain - or a just fed vampire.

 My friend Meiri is almost the opposite of Kim, loving colour and lots of it. It was typically raining on the day so she brought her incredible yellow umbrella. I couldn't help but utilise it.

Subtle was not a word within my register when I was creating this look. When I do colour I don't do half measures. I used the Ultra Matte V1 Palette by Sleek, which is everything you could want for a bright look. I used the yellow in the first third of the lid, the pink in the centre third, and the blue in the last third. I then used Nyx Glitter on the Go in the shades Cool Blue and Hot Yellow and a Stargazer Glitter Shaker in Pink over the top of their respective colours. For the crease I returned to the Sleek Palette, I used the purple for the entire crease and the blended a little orange into it on the outer edge and a little pale green on the inner edge. I used the yellow, pink and blue on the lower lash line to reflect the lid. I then finished with a shimmery white in the inner corners.

 To finish I created a wing with a liquid liner, I also did a thin line on the lower lash line. I uses Eylure lashes in 141. For the cheeks I blended the same pink from the eyes in an upward movement up the cheek. I used a Barry M lipstick in 52.

I was really happy with how these looks came out and I think both Kim and Meiri look amazing.

I thought I'd finish with my favourite photo from the bunch, pouts are all well and good, but you can't beat a smile, especially if it's caused by funny looks from strangers. All those poor tourists wondering who these two women who were being photographed were. We'll all be famous one day, I'm sure.

Face of the Day - Gold Glitter and a Broken Heart

Last night the latest episode of Game of Thrones aired - episode eight - the one with the fight between my beloved Oberyn and The Mountain. Without wanting to spoil too much, the ending was not a happy one, in fact, it broke my heart.

As per tradition my friends and I gathered in my friend's living room - the only one of us with Sky - and had a Game of Thrones night. This consists of much wine drinking, eating good food, and, of course, watching the show, followed by us consoling each other about whoever has been killed this episode.

I decided to show my support for The Red Viper by wearing make-up inspired by his colours - it definitely had nothing to do with the new glitter I bought. The Martell sigil is a red sun pierced by a golden spear, so I opted for sparkly golden eyes and a red lip.

 The glitter is UFO by Make Up Store, in the crease is Cork by Mac and 329 by Inglot to darken it.

 The lashes are LP6 by Eylure.

The Lipstick is 01 of the Kate Moss collection for Rimmel. An amazing blood red with a very forgiving texture.

I may be smiling here but I'm dying inside. Oberyn will live forever in my heart. At least I have fabulous lipstick to help me get by.

BH Cosmetics Galaxy Chic Palette - Be still my beating heart...

Until recently I thought I had only three true loves - Shakespeare, Oberyn Martell from Games of Thrones and Batman - and then this beauty came into my life. I bought it from the website 'Beauty Store 4 U', which delivered to the UK for free, it was also quick and well packaged. 'This' is BH Cosmetics' Galaxy Chic Palette, with 18 glorious baked eye shadows based on, you guessed it, the galaxy. It is £19.95 on the website.

 The packaging is sleek and lightweight and cute as a friggin' button. Just look at those stylish lady astronauts. I also love that it's purple; this is just a personal preference really, as all my containers for holding makeup are purple and pink. It looks super handsome nestled against my Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette, too. It's unfortunately not very sturdy, so I'd be careful if travelling with it. The mirror is small and not worth using as the top just flaps open.


The shadows themselves are smooth and well pigmented, but boy is there fallout. If you're using these shadows make sure to do your foundation last because you will have some cleaning up to do under the eyes. The shadows blend beautifully, however.
Being baked shadows, they're all shimmery. It usually irks me if all the shadows in a palette are shimmery - mattes own my heart - but I could not care less when it comes to this palette. I usually dislike using shimmers in the crease - it tends to look a little odd - but these looked just fine.
I also tend to be disappointed with baked shadows; their swirly complexions lure me in every time, but they never follow through with their promises. This palette does. I don't know how BH did it, but they did and I am so happy for it.

I also adore how the names genuinely fit the shadows. They actually look like planets. I mean, Prometheus and Aphrodite don't looks like their respective Ancient Greek deities, but I'll let it slide.

Sun Eye Shadow

Jupiter Eye Shadow

Prometheus Eye Shadow

Aphrodite (Lady seashell bikini) Eye Shadow

Milky Way Eye Shadow

Cosmic Eye Shadow

Saturn Eye Shadow

Venus Eye Shadow

Meteor Eye Shadow

Comet Eye Shadow

Earth Eye Shadow

Neptune Eye Shadow

Mercury Eye Shadow

Mars Eye Shadow

Asteroid Eye Shadow

Uranus (Don't you know my ass is famous) Eye Shadow

Moon Eye Shadow

Eclipse Eye Shadow

I'd say my favourite shadows are 'Moon', 'Jupiter' and 'Aphrodite', but let's be honest, they're all fairly stupendous. This palette gets a standing ovation from me.

Here are two looks I created using the shadows.

I created this look using 'Moon' on the lid, 'Eclipse' in the crease, 'Asteroid' on the lower lash line and the outer corner and 'Cosmic' in the inner corner.

For this look I used 'Prometheus' in the centre of the lid, 'Jupiter' on the outer thirds of the lid, 'Aphrodite' in the crease, 'Mars' on the lower lash line and to darken the crease and 'Meteor' in the inner corner.

For both of these looks I primed my eyes using Two Faced Shadow Insurance and had Nyx's Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk on the lid.