So this is a sad day. Maria and I have decided that we can’t keep updating this blog as we would both like. Life is busy for both of us and I think make-up isn’t as big a priority anymore. (Well, it probably is but neither of us have time to apply it and take pictures and update enough about it to justify a blog.)

We have certainly enjoyed our run and will remember this blog fondly. No doubt we will both add make-up categories to our regular blogs, which you can find here:

D-Dawg’s blog
M-Train’s blog

Wowza, I really suck at updating this, and I am sorry for that. I guess I have no excuse except for life is hectic! But I do post 2-3 videos a week on my youtube, so you should definitely head over there and subscribe. (I would post each of them here but… that is a lot of work.)

Anyways! Since I cut my hair recently (another thing I didn’t update about… for shame!) I have stopped doing my hair curly. A) It was too much work and B) It didn’t go with my bangs and C) I just wanted a change. But I will explain the different ways I did it.

Hot Rollers: I used the Babyliss Pro 30 Piece Ceramic Roller Set, which has all different sizes. I would use the smallest two rollers (white and yellow) for the front of my face and the bigger (blue and red) for the very top and back of my hair to create volume. It worked alright, but they didn’t create the most sturdy of perfect curls I have ever had. I have to say I wouldn’t recommend this technique on a daily basis. Been there, did that and now my hair is a mess of dry crispy critters. Even though I used a heat protector, there is only so much that can do – it ain’t magic. I try to stay away from heat as much as possible now.

Pin Curls: Now this folks. This is the way to go. I can’t list the number of pros that go along with using this technique. Firstly – if you want an authentic vintage curl, why not just do it the authentic way? There is no heat. No product. No damage. It is easy, faster than hot rollers, quicker in the morning (as you sleep on them) It is just.. the way to go. Now the cons are that it is tricky to get the technique right. It took me probably 50 sets before I did a set I was totally happy with. There is a lot of jargon to learn like: Setting Pattern, Wet Set, Dry Set, Forward Curl, Clockwise Curl, Counterclockwise Curl, Standing Pincurl, etc, etc. And that takes some learning to get down. Then you have things you might need with it. Some people use setting lotions (I never did) Pin curl clips and bobby pins. If you are starting out, by all means, use bobby pins – I did. It won’t give you a perfect curl but it will get your technique rolling. There are a lot of videos that explain all the technical stuff much much better than I can, and I will post a few of my favorites below.

A few last tips it took me some trial and error to learn that I would like to share with you!

1. Best results will come if your hair is shoulder length or longer. Any shorter than that, and it will be difficult to maneuver the curls the way you want them to go. You need length to work with.
2. For you first try, DO YOUR SETS ON DRY HAIR. ALWAYS. If that doesn’t work, THEN try a wet set. But 90% hair that needs dry setting to avoid unbrushable frizz monster problems.
3. If you do a pin curl set and it just frizzes out everywhere when you start brush, don’t worry – it ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS looks somewhat frizzy at first, even when you do a dry set. Just the nature of curls. Pin curls need to be brushed brushed brushed within an inch of their life, and then molded into a shape. It is misleading, because pin curling isn’t really about getting curly hair – it is more of a wavy look technique.
4. If you sleep in your curls, you need to wear a scarf. Otherwise, you curls will get really messy and you won’t get a good result (hey it doesn’t look great, but that is the price of pin curling. Unless you get up at 3 in the morning to leave your curls in for 4-5 hours to set. But yeah, just get a nice silk scarf that wont make your head really warm at night. Haha.)

Helpful Videos (Most of these have part 2 videos, so be sure to check them out! Just didn’t want to make this too much of a monster post.

My personal favorite setting pattern

I hope that was helpful to… someone, haha

D

I got this lipstick last week, and dear god. I love it so. so. so. much. It is a matte red lipstick from Inglot, and cost £8. By the way, I feel so damn lucky to have an Inglot near me. Cheaper and better than MAC (dang, this blog is a regular MAC bashing place lately!) I think I have found my new favorite brand!

Oh, and the icing on the cake is that this lipstick has the best lasting power I have ever, ever found in a lipstick. Hands down.

D

For this look I used the colour Honey from the Urban Decay Shadow Box and the lipstick is from Barry M in the shade 53.

Let me tell you a little bit about Urban Decay deluxe eye shadows. They are the softest eyeshadows ever. They stay on all day. They work great by themselves, they work beautiful as a compliment to the 24/7 eye pencils. If I had to choose one brand for eyeshadows for the rest of my life it would be the Urban Decay deluxe eye shadows. They don’t have a crazy big range of colours but the ones I have tried all are amazing. every single one of them.

I have their Deluxe Shadow Box and it wasn’t too expensive. If you compare it to something like MAC I am pretty sure you will get two or three colours to the same price. And MAC eyeshadows? Naahhh, not for me. A few of them seem nice but I have said it before and I will say it again - overhyped, overpriced and so so uninspiring.

Just for fun, here is another photo from earlier this week when I wore Scratch from the same UD shadow box. It is my all time favourite UD eyeshadow and it is almost used up *pain in my heart*. The lipstick is from MAC (hey! I never said I hate MAC, I still wear the few stuff I have from them) and it is called Hot Gossip. The reason why I didn’t post a photo of the box is because it looks grosse and it wouldn’t inspire anyone to go check it out. Here is a press photo insead:

M

I have to preface this with a rant about L’oreal Crème Gloss Color. It is supposed to be a temporary color, but since I dyed my hair very dark brown a few months ago, it has completely STAINED my hair. Now I am stuck with dark hair and non-dark roots, so every color I throw on over it looks uneven. I dyed my hair red the other day with Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL (color 43 Red Passion) and while that was a really nice hair dye, the fact that my roots look exactly the color I wanted and the rest of my hair is still really dark just bugs me. And the fact that L’OREAL HAS RUINED MY RED HAIR FOR ME makes me bitter. Understandably. My first act as a paid graphic designer will be to go to a salon and have the color stripped from my hair and then dyed a red that I can keep up with with box dyes.

Oh well, my hair still looks decent. Onto photos!

D

This is a photo from a few month ago but I saw it just now and thought I had to put it on the blog. The pretty girl is Laney and this is from a photshoot I did of her for a make up book I did for my final year at University. She looks amazing. Unfortunately I do not remember all the products I used but the glossy eyeliner is from Isadora and it is my all time favourite eyeliner, it is also waterproof which is essential for me because I have oily eyelids.

I can’t take pride on the hair, Deniz is responsible for that awesomeness.

M

After watching a PixiWoo tutorial I really wanted to do a 60s make up look. I experimented for a bit,it was a bit of a catastrophe but I feel like I got somewhere in the end. I love this look because I think it suits the shape of my face perfectly. I wouldn’t wear it to work or anything, but definitely on a night out! My advice to anyone trying this out is use a really good eye pencil, and not one that is too smooth - you want the shape to very precise. if you have that line as your base then it makes it much easier to paint over it with a shadow and then blend it to make it look natural but still with definition.

Here are the products I used. My 88 warm palette. A Clinique double eye pencil. The foundstion is from Maybelline called Dream Matte Mousse Foundation #040 The bronzer is Isadora 21 Mocca Blush and the blush is also from Maybelline #07 . It is not in the picture but I used the BadGal Lash from Benefit as my mascara (I have no false lashes on simple because I do not own any).

Here is a link to the tutorial.

M

Weleda is a Swedish brand and I just recently found out about it because it was all the hype on the beauty blogs. I was super excited to try this scrub that everyone seemed to love. And yes, it is friggin amazing. This is from now on my favourite body scrub.

In Sweden you can find it at KICKS and Åhléns and I think it costs like 130kr.

M

I have used these products for about two months now and I have to tell you that I really really like them. It is an American brand and I have not seen them in England and I do not think you can get them there (?) but I could be wrong. I reacted on the really nice branding of them and also, they do a lot of products for oily skin which is awesome. I use the day creme and the scrub and I am super happy with them! This is the perfect alternative for me after moving back to Sweden and paying full price for the Body Shop Seaweed series is just not realistic.

In Sweden you can find them at Kicks and each product is around 100kr.

I often do my friends make up before going out, so I thought I would introduce a new feauture in the blog - make up on others. I love doing other people’s make up (as long as it is before I have started drinking my wine because then other things are more important…like poring a second glass of wine). I like it because it allows me to try looks that I wouldn’t pull off.

Last night I did Jenny’s make up and when I saw her dress I knew exactly how I wanted her make up to look.

On her eyes I have used All That Glitters and Antiqed from MAC and the lipstick is from Isadora and is called Chelsea Red and I think she looks friggin amazing.

M