EB Samples - Bright Spring Blues

Today is hot. As in, 27C in the shade hot. In a country that doesn't believe in aircon, windows that open all the way, fans, eaves, or any real form of ventilation or shade, this is actually very warm. I would really not want to take the Tube today, that's for sure.

This is, of course, a perfect day to wear a full face of makeup over sunscreen. 

Oh well, at least I was sensible enough to wear a sleeveless top - under the jacket I needed to keep the sun off. 

These colours aren't bad - maybe not my ideal blues, but not awful. I did notice that the pale colour (Party Animal) looked quite green on its own, which is odd, because it's a pale baby blue pigment - albeit quite a warm one. 

Eyes - 

Base: Party Animal

Midshade and lower lashline: Conscientious

Dark bits: Mediatrix

Lashes: Collection Colour Lash All Day Mascara in 5 Electric Blue

Eyebrows: Illamasqua Eyebrow cake in Stark

Lips: L'oreal 6hr Glam Shine in 110 Addictive Peach

Face - 

Sunscreen: SunSense Sport Milk SPF 50+

Primer: Illamasqua Hydra Veil

Foundation: Illamasqua Rich Liquid 105 & Nude by Nature Liquid Mineral Foundation in Fair

No blush, because I was flushed and sweaty enough from the weather!

Nail Art: Marble swirl and Half-moon

I admit it - I got ambitious. I tried to do no-water marble swirling on my nails. The first attempt was a disaster. The second attempt was ... okay, I suppose. I used Illamasqua Hemlock for the base colour, and tried to use Illamasqua Geist and Max Factor Dazzling Blue for the swirls.



What went wrong? I think I may have used too much polish, and also the wrong swirling tool - I kept gouging a hole in the base layer. I maybe try this again, when I have time, patience, and steady hands available.

I still wasn't happy with it, though, so I took it off and tried to do a half-moon mani. It sort of worked. But there's room for improvement here too, that's for sure. The highlight colour is OPI Significant Other; a lovely warm light lilac with a green shimmer that I unfortunately couldn't capture well in the photo. The darker colour is Illamasqua Poke.




The technique needs work, but I love the colours on this. I'm such a sucker for purples.

Nails: Revlon Moon Candy in 210 Galactic

I was in Boots again today, taking advantage of their 3-for-2 on skin stuff and 10 points per pound offers, and I accidentally went past the nail varnish.

Well, sort of accidentally.

Anyway, I've been hoping this range would be in stock for a while so I picked up a couple of shades, and it being a Do My Nails day, decided to try one out.

The instructions say to apply two coats of the dark base colour, a single coat of the glittery bit, and a top coat. The base colour was surprisingly dark - a blue that's almost black. It was also a bit challenging to work with. It didn't really want to go on smoothly, unless I used quite a lot of it. It is really opaque with two coats. I decided to do my cleanup at this point, and discovered that it's a pain in the posterior to tidy up. That's why my nails are still a bit of a mess - I ran out of patience and care factor a bit. Then came the glitter layer. I kind of dolloped it on instead of how I would normally apply nail varnish - otherwise I ended up with the glitter bits just at the tips of my nails. I have no idea if that's How You Are Supposed To Do It. I finished with a coat of Illamasqua's Geist (UV reactive top coat), and a coat of Save The Nail 45 second top coat, and it's still uneven, which is annoying me. Grr.

Colourwise, it is a bit darker than I was expecting. The glittery bits are quite bright, though. I'm not sure if I like it or not yet - I'm used to having lighter colours on my nails. On the upside, I strongly suspect I'm not going to be able to tell if I dent or smudge it, unless it's really bad. On the downside, chips are probably going to be obvious. I'll definitely be giving this another go at a later date.

EB samples galore - Bright Spring greens

I tested some of my Elea Blake samples again today. I wasn't feeling particularly energetic, so I went for something very simple. A single colour all over the lid, with a darker colour along the lashline, and some sparkly pigment dusted over a clear mascara. I didn't bother with foundation or blusher today. So my skin is there in all its uncorrected, natural glory. Warts and all, as they say. Although in my case it's freckles, wrinkles, and bumps.

Eyes:
Shade: Superfluous
Lashline: Manipulative
Lashes: Collection Colourlash in Clear + Illamasqua pigment in Chasm.

Lips: L'oreal Glam Shine 6hr in 110 Addictive Peach.

So - good or bad? I think it's a fun, fresh colour set, although I'll try a different technique to make my lashes more vivid next time. And I think it could do with a bit of shimmer on the inner corner and just under the brows. Possibly a teal tightline. Thoughts, suggestions, opinions?