Halloween Look : Little Dead Riding Hood

With only a few days left until Halloween, I wanted to create a look that would only require items that you wouldn't need to go out and buy specially for the occasion. This look was perfect for that.

This look was super easy to recreate and only took around 10 minutes to do. As I have a bit of a tan at the minute due to my holiday, creating slightly paler skin was easy as I just used my regular foundation, but I also added a touch of matte grey eyeshadow lightly over the contours of my face, just to add a slightly more lifeless look. The eyes were pretty simple as it was just two eyehadows. A bright red and a deep black. The ones that I used were Illamasqua pure pigment in Berber and Zeitgeist, lightly blended together and brought up to just above the crease. I also run some black eyeshadow through my eyebrows and added the illusion of stray hairs. Finally, its my favorite part... the lips. I first tried a deep berry shade, but I wasn't happy with it. In the end I used a matte red lipstick and applied a black eyeshadow over the top then moved my lips around so that it would marble together. Simple. All that's left is to add the red hood, and you're done.

I'm super pleased with how this turned out. What will you be dressing up as on Halloween? 

Illamasqua Illuminator in Glimmer

Illamasqua are fast becoming one of my favourite brands. I love everything they stand for, the amazing quality of their products, and the fantastic, imaginative colours that they incorporate into everyday products. I also love how you can achieve a neutral everyday look, or you can go wild and theatrical with some of the weird and wonderful shades available. A good all rounder I'd say.

In their recent sale, Illamasqua had some amazing products and I could all ready hear my bank account

crying in the background. I picked up quite a few items, two of them being their Illuminators. The shade that I'm going to be showing you today is Glimmer but I did also pick up another in the shade Fondle, which I shall be sharing with you soon. 

First, the packaging is so simple but is actually pretty great. With it's squared shape and clear plastic appearance, it's not too dissimilar to a lipgloss, and it makes it easy to see what shade you are picking up when it's in your collection. The casing is also a solid plastic which makes it great for travelling purposes as it's not going to bend and split in your bag. The applicator is a small, sturdy brush which makes application easy and precise, and picks up just the right amount of product.

On to the shade, Glimmer is a beautiful warm, golden tan which really warms up my complexion. It is packed full of shimmer but when applied it doesn't look over the top which is definitely a bonus. I like to apply this to the tops of my cheekbones when I have applied some bronzer. Once blended out this gives the most natural sunkissed look I have ever had without actually having a tan. I have also used this on my eyes and it looks beautiful, so it really is a multi-use product. 

I love this product and it just shows why Illamasqua are fast making their way to the top of my favourites. I would definitely recommend this product if your looking something that is easy and effective, but with the best quality.

This is currently available on the Illamasqua sale here, for £5.00 with an RRP of £13.50.

Top 10 Summer Lipsticks

Here in the UK we have had a whole two days of sunshine, and so summer has been officially declared! No doubt it is going to rain twice as much as we have sun, because lets face it, that's British weather for you. However, it is definitely time to grab your favourite summer products and wear them like there's no tomorrow!

The first of my favourite summer products is Lipsticks. I do like to wear them all year round but lipsticks look really special in summer in my opinion. So here are my favourite summer lipsticks. 

1: 17 Beehive. A simple neutral glossy shade that looks lovely against any skin tone.

2: Topshop Brighton Rock. A bright coral/pink that has a semi matte finish. Looks lovely with simple eyes and a tan.

3: Look Beauty Double Lip Hit in Pink Punch. The brightest pink ever. Wear Matte or glossy due to the double ended function (gloss over lipstick shown here)

4: Rimmel Apocalips Luna. A perfect peach glossy shade that will last all day, even after a few a lot of cocktails.

5: Illamasqua Flare. A bright semi matte orange that goes amazing with bronzed skin.

6: Maybelline Fuchsia Flash. A glossy, neon, blue toned pink. Need I say more?

7: NYC Blue Rose. Another blue toned pink that would suit pale toned lovelies.

8: MAC Morange: The. Best. Orange. Ever!

9: MAC Lady Danger. An orangey red that stands out so much its almost illegal!

10: MUA Sealed With A Kiss. This liquid lipstick has a lovely raspberry glossy tone that is ultimately girly.

I hope you've enjoyed my 10 favourite lipsticks for the summer. I'll be sharing my other favourite summer products in the next few weeks so keep an eye out for those. 

What is your favourite summer lip colour?

Illamasqua Pure Pigments

For a long time now I've had my beady little eye on Illamasquas pure pigment in Beguiled. After seeing that they had a sale on this month I was having a little nosey whilst my debit card wept in my purse, and lo and behold Beguiled was in the sale! 

I automatically added it to my basket along with 2 other shades Berber and Zeitgeist. Here's what I thought of them...

 Firstly the packaging is amazing. A sturdy plastic casing with sleek black lid. It's not your conventional square/round product, it has a curved edge to it, typical of Illamasquas other products.  I love the packaging as it sets it aside from the rest of the products in my collection.

Each of the pigments are extremely soft and blendable, whilst being some of the most pigmented products I've ever come across. 

Beguiled is a hi shine pigment that has no base colour. It has iridescent pink and green sparkles that look lovely placed on the inner corner of the eye for a really subtle highlight, or added over the top of an eyeshadow for a glamorous look.

Berber is just beautiful.Its a bright brick red with gold flecks n that really catch the light. When this is blended , it does loose some of its metallic sparkle but this can easily be solved by adding a little at a time.

Zeitgeist is a black based pigment with the sparkle of Beguiled thrown in for good measure. At first this disappointed me as it wasn't very pigmented but after playing around with it, it's quickly become my smokey eye staple. 

Here are the swatches below:

No base/primer

On a white base (NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk)

Over a black base (NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Black Bean)

I really, really love these pigments and can't wait to add more of these to my collection. 

I bought these for £5.00 in the Illamasqua sale, unfortunately this is no longer running but these are available at full price for £15.50.

Do you have any of these pigments? What's your favourite shade?