Emerald Vampire Halloween Tutorial

Hi Guys,

I have been a bit of a Vampire fan for many years now and its always one of my favourites to dress up as for Halloween. They're an easy one to do and great if you need an idea last minute, throw on a black dress and a bit of fake blood and you're sorted! 

Unfortunately I had a black wig but as I'm so pale, turns out it looks awful on! So if you don't have a wig, you can also just mess up your hair a bit like I did, as a last minute solution. 

I also quickly want to apologise for the state my brows are in, nothing tells you that they're in worse shape than I thought. Than a very strong light and a DSLR camera! 

 To create the look I used...

• Illamasqua Skin Base
• Illamasqua Sculpting Palette
• Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel in Strike
• Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner in Infinity 
• Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow
• Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Beguile 
• Illamasqua Intense Lip Gloss in Hermetic
• Illamasqua Powder Shadows in Burst, Fient, Obsidian and Cascade
• Topshop Smoke Stick in Magic Garden
• Lord and Berry Lip Crayon in Kiss
• Maybelline Lash Sensational Mascara

 Firstly I went over the entire lid with the Topshop Smoke Pencil, buffying it out with a fluffy brush into the crease. I then used feint in the crease to darken it up and to create less of a harsh line between Magic Garden. Though I focoused a lot of the colour to the inner portion of the eye.

  To build up the green tone on the lid, I pressed Burst all over the lid and again with the same brush as before, buffed it into the feint colour. I had to then build feint up more, so that the two were blended well together and there was still that depth in the eye. 

For the brows I used Strike as normal, but made the shape harsher and elongated the end of the brow. Also trying to curve the arch up higher, to create more of a sinister look. (My brows didn't cooperate, hopefully yours will!) Then to highlight the brown bone, I used Cascade on a thinner brush, to create a harsh defined highlight. 

I also used Cascade in the inner corner of the eye, as well as slightly under. Once you apply all the liner it will make the eye appear smaller, so this step just opens the eye up and who doesn't love a bit of a dramatic sparkle. 

Finally shadow wise, I took obsidian ever so slightly through the crease of the eye, angling up towards the brow when I got to the inner corner. Again this will give the illusion of bigger eyes, but it's really quite subtle. I also ran it under the eye, to create a softer base for the liner. 

When it comes to the liner, I started by doing a small winged top liner, but in the inner corner, I brought it to a point. You then need to connect the point to the bottom portion of your inner eye, to get the really pointed inner corner. Then run the gel liner, under all of the eye, the softer black shadow will make the liner appear less harsh. To finish the eye liner, I just ran it through the bottom and top water line, so there was no fleshy tones peeking through. You can actually use the Illamasqua Gel liner on the waterline, which is fantastic as it lasts so well. I finally applied a good coat of mascara to finish the eyes.  

  On the cheeks, I used Hollow to contour to begin with. I didn't want any warmer tones, which makes Hollow fantastic as it has the grey undertone. I then went over the cream contour with Heroine from the Sculpting Palette, to deepen the colour. As well as highlighting with the matte cream shade, on the tops of the cheek bones and brought into the centre of the face.

You can leave it as a matte highlight, but I also later went over the highlight with Beguile. As its a really subtle sparkle, it's not too harsh, but still doesn't change the shade of your original highlight too. 

For the lips I lined the whole lip with Kiss Lip Crayon, then apply a little in the centre of the lip. I followed this by taking the gel liner, finely round the lip line, not joining in the centre and adding more to the inner corners of the mouth for depth. I finished it off by applying Hermetic all over the lip, which darkens it up, but you still have the different tones underneath from the lighter red and the black. 

Eloise x

Top 10 Under £10

Hi Guys,

As much as I am a fan of the higher end makeup, there are also so many fantastic products available on the high street and some higher priced treats still under £10, being quite the beauty bargain! I've actually found myself using so many of these regularly over the past month or so, as well as a couple of long standing favourites, that need to be raved about!

The high street really has some hidden gems inside their ranges and quite a few really are actually worth the hype. I cant see any of these products disappearing from my favourite bits and pieces in a very long time. The lip products are definitely the ones to watch, as more and more new launches are winning my heart.

I am obsessed with the Fleur De Force Eyeshadow Quad, not only is it fantastically well priced at £7.99. The pigmentation is beautiful and quality wise, each shadow blends effortlessly, making it a dream to work with. I did a full review of it HERE, as well as swatches too!

I could rave all day about the Topshop Chameleon Glow Shadow's. If you want something sparkly, or something new and interesting to add to your makeup bag, then this is it. The duo chrome finish to these is just as pretty layered over other eye shadows, as it is just by itself. Topshop Makeup overall is well worth the pennies, plus it comes in at £9.

Dare I say it, I had never tried a single Maybelline mascara until the Lash Sensational Mascara came along. Im not a huge fan of paying a lot for mascara, as there are so many fantastic ones on the High Street. If only I had tried Maybelline sooner though, if the rest of the mascaras are anything like this one... then I need them all! It adds so much volume, without being clumpy, but still also adds that bit of length. Plus my favourite part is the curl, it's a triple threat and one I cant help but keep repurchasing at £7.99.

One thing I do think that you get what you pay for is a base. I have tried so many drugstore foundations I just couldn't love. But the Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation is one that is so far from being included in that group. For £7.99 it's amazing for the price, if you can get a shade match, as sadly theres a limited choice! It sits beautifully on the skin, without slipping once set, it can last for a good 10 hours on me. As well as offering a nice coverage that is build able, as well as having an SPF of 20 too.

Possibly the best value for money product in this list is the Makeup Revolution Ultra Blush Palette, for only £6 you get 8 shades. Six of them being matte and two frosted shades, making it versatile and a great one to travel with. You have so many options, especially with the Warm Spice Palette. If you can get away with it, as the shades are quite warm, you could use a couple as a contour, then you have your blush and highlighters too. If you'd like to see full swatches and a pink version too, they're available HERE.

The Sugarpill Heavenly Creatures Nail Laquer's are finally in the UK! Sugarpill is more of a higher end brand, which is so worth the money. However their nail polishes are only £8.95 and are fantastic if you'd like something a little different. If you love a bit of sparkle, pastels and adorable names, then this is the brand to go for. Plus they're also a vegan and cruelty free brand too. 

NYX has hit the UK, not only newly launched in Feel Unique but also Boots too! I would always hunt down the Soft Matte Lip Cream's at IMATS and the Pro Beauty Show, they were so worth queueing for an hour for. Just as the name suggests they're just like a velvety, matte cream. Being one of the most comfortable lip products I've ever worn, especially for a matte product. As well as being in a huge shade range, I would probably collect them all for £5.50.

The Nuxe Reve De Miel is definitely worth the £9.50 price tag. A product that is now glued to me during these colder months, as it's highly moisturising. I prefer to wear it to bed as its a very thick balm, but going to sleep with the taste of chocolate orange isn't something to complain about.

Lip Liners are actually sort of difficult to find on the high street, although many companies do them, the stands seem to barely stock many shades. I love the Gosh Velvet Touch Lip Pencil's for their wide range, ease of application (the glide on with no pulling!) and pigmentation. You can apply it all over the lip and it'll happily hold your lipstick in place for hours, very comfortably and not too hard for the bank at £4.99.

Of course the Tanya Burr Lip Glosses had to be added to the list, I rarely use lip gloss as I find most of them to be sticky and uncomfortable, apart from a select few. Tanya's are perfect for being shiny and so far from a sticky mess. As well as packing a punch pigmentation wise and having a large colour range, just for £4.99. Swatches are available HERE, adorable shade names are also included.

Eloise x

Quick and Easy Special Effects for Halloween!

Hi Guys,

During my course last year, I studied special effects, which is perfect for Halloween. Also perfect for Halloween, was a little cheaper but effective trick to recreate cuts and burns for Halloween, all from the kitchen cupboard! 

It's also fantastic for a safer way to recreate these special effects, as a lot of special effect products use Liquid Latex, which is very common to have an allergy to. But of course be careful with this way too, avoiding the eyes and testing for allergies and skin sensitivity to products at least 48 hours before. (WARNING) Though if you're a tad squeamish, you might not want to carry on scrolling down this post.

You will need:

Strawberry Jelly

Cereal of your Choice

Blueberry or Raspberry Jam

MUA Matte Red Lipstick

Urban Decay Naked Palette (or any black shadow)

The Burn

To start off the burn, dabbing on the lipstick lightly to create redness, gives a great base for a fresher burn. The MUA lipstick is fantastic because its waxy, which means if you apply anything over the top it is less likely to move. You can leave it like this, but to give it more depth, adding a black shadow around the edges and/or in small patches dotted all over works the best. 

The Cut

The Cut basically consists of drawing a thick wonky line of lipstick as the base, you can then leave it like that if you want to create a brighter and shallower cut. However if you want to create the illusion that its deeper, you can add the black shadow down the centre of the cut. 

The Burn

For both of these steps you want to melt a cube of jelly in the microwave, it usually takes around 10 seconds at most. But make sure to watch it constantly and stop the microwave as soon as its melted. Also don't add any water to the cube before melting. Once its melted you want to wait for it to cool, it will be really hot and you don't want to actually burn yourself, while trying to give yourself a fake one! 

Once the jelly has cooled enough to apply to the skin and also still tacky, just using your fingers to apply it works the best. This means that you can tap the jelly all over the skin, which makes it sticky and pulls apart easily. Giving the effect of larger patches and very thin ones. Plus it makes the distribution completely random and not uniformed. 

The Cut

For the cut, I started by applying the jelly around the outline already created. This is actually easier as it sounds, as the jelly cools, it goes sort of stringy, letting you apply it precisely. I then tapped round the edges, spreading it outwards so that its thinner. The other great thing about the jelly is that you can build it up, so after the first coat, I repeated the process on top, but just without it being blended. 

The Burn

You can finish this one at this step, to have a fresh burn and to do this all you need is jam! Blueberry Jam works fantastically well to darken it up, or you could also use Raspberry too, this will just make it appear brighter. If you really want to get gory though, you can also use marmalade too. All you need to do with the jam is dot it around the burn and thats it, such a quick step and adds the best finishing touch.

The Cut

Blueberry Jam works the best for this one, it looks realistic and any others really won't give the same effect. As its darker it just makes the cut appear deeper. Just fill in the middle part, inside the jelly wall and you're all done! 

If you want to go all out on the burn, you can also add crushed cereal, to recreate scabbing. Lovely! But it is actually really effective, to make it look the most realistic though, you want to group bits together. 

Now youre all set for Halloween! You can also lightly powder the top of these, as they do feel slightly sticky, but they work fantastically well to finish off a gory outfit or as a quick fix for a last minute costume!

Eloise x

A Bit of Halloween Nail Art

Hi Guys,

With Halloween fast approaching, I always think that a bit of nail art can give you such a quick look for Halloween. No need for that day before run to the supermarket to sift through the mess for a last minute costume, or maybe you just want something thats subtle or can be worn on the run up to Saturday! 

I will admit just now though that maybe the skull design isn't the best one to recreate, I don't know how I thought it looked right and not like a strange little alien thing! Instead you could also do a plain white nail with red drips from the tip of the nail, to look like trickling blood, if you don't fancy that alien skull hybrid haha. 

The bits and pieces and colours I used for this were mainly all by Barry M and a lot cross over for each nail. I specifically used...

• Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Watermelon
• Barry M Matte Nail Paint in Vanilla
• Barry M Nail Paint in Red Wine and White 
• Barry M Nail Art Pens in Black, Silver and White
• Illamasqua Nail Polish in Gamma
• Hair Pin 

The Pumpkin

These three are probably the more simple designs to do, for the pumpkin you just need to apply two coats of Gamma all over the nail. Once dry draw two triangles on their sides, next to each other for the eyes, near the cuticle of the nail. For the mouth you can do any type of zig zag design that you like, just don't forget to colour it in. I used the Nail Art Pen in Black to do so. 

The Ghost

The Ghost is extremely similar, you want to apply two coats of the white nail paint and again when dry, draw a large oval for the mouth, with the black pen, near the edge of the nail. For the eyes you want two more ovals, but in the top left corner of each eye, leave a round gap, to create the whites of the eyes. 

Frankenstien

Frankenstein required two coats of Watermelon, which I then drew on the jagged line near the cuticle to create the hair. I also drew the two ovals for the eyes slightly lower down and a straight line for the mouth, colouring them in with the Black Nail Art Pen. To finish him off I also added two "T's" on their sides, with the Silver Nail Art Pen, for the bolts at the side of head. 

The Vampire

I love vampires so of course they needed a nail, I started with two layers of Vanilla. Once dry I drew in the widows peak hair line at the cuticle of the nail. Followed by a simple straight line for the mouth using the Black Nail Art Pen. I then swapped over to the White Nail Art Pen, to create two triangles for the teeth and two little ovals for the whites of the eyes. 

The Skull

For the Skull/Alien/Mutant Thing... You need two coats of White Nail Paint. The with the Black Nail Art Pen, I started drawing a balloon like shape for the head, branching off into four sticks, rounded off by a three like shape, to create the bones. I then coloured in two ovals for eyes and added a mouth, in the shape of a line. 

The Vampire

To finish off the Vampire, using the hair grip, add a little bit of the Red Wine Polish to the ends and simply dot onto the end of the teeth. To add a touch of blood to the design!

The Skull

To finish off the Skull I filled in any of the outer edged white with the black Nail Art Pen, however mine are getting a little old now and have started to add more of a crackle effect. So I would recommend filling in the rest with a Black Nail Paint instead. Although the crackle works well for other little bits for the other designs, all over the nail for the skull just made it look a bit too messy. 

Hopefully this has inspired a little bit of Halloween Nail Art, which I always love scrolling through Instagram to find! Though again sorry about my sorry excuse for a skull... haha. 

Eloise x