SPOTLIGHT: Multicoloured Bling!

A quickie post to share another of my passions - bling-rings! And the sparklier the better ha ha. I used to buy cheapie ones from places like Lovisa or Colette, but found the gold or silver finish always came off after a few wears and they looked tatty, so these days I only go for Sterling Silver settings - my budget unfortunately doesn't stretch to anything gold. I also have a self-imposed limit of $50 per item so that I can maintain my makeup addiction (whoops!), but fortunately there are a few stores where I can indulge my love of finger ornaments, and stay within my budget. All the rings below were purchased from Goldmark sales over the last 12 months, and all were under $40...

I'm crazy in love with them - the stones are Swarovski crystals, they're so colourful and bright, and you know how I love to match my outfits ♥ I keep hoping they'll release a purple or emerald green variety (hint hint Goldmark!). They glimmer and gleam like mad, and so far none of the stones have fallen out - mind you I always remove them when washing my hands, so that helps keep them intact...

The RRP of these is $69.95, and the trick with Goldmark is to regularly check their displays - there's usually one corner of the front window where they put their "specials", and I just wait till they appear there on sale, and then pounce!

Sizes are limited, and I'm lucky all these fit on my middle finger, but sometimes they have a few to choose from. My local store always puts them into a pretty purple velvet pouch too - such a girlie treat, and makes me feel like a princess ♥

Happy Spring everyone!

Take care of you,

kats xxx

EOTD: Yellow, Orange, Red & Green...

My how time flies when you have a day job that starts becoming a night job as well - boo! June is almost over and I've only posted four EOTD's!  Will have to get a wriggle on - I always try to post eight looks per month, so I have some serious catching up to do over the next few days. So here's a colour combo I've done before, but not with mainly mattes...

Haven't used my Pomegranate Punk Maybelline Color Tattoo as a base in a while, but it was perfect for this look as I wanted to tone down the bright colours from the bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette, to make the whole effect more subdued (and appropriate) for winter...

I applied the yellow, orange and red from inner to outer corner with a dry angled liner brush, blending as I added each shade. On the lower lashline I decided to liven things up a little by using the sparkly gold, and added Physician's Formula Green Shimmer Strips Gel Liner on the waterline...

To frame the eye, I added the black from the same palette in the crease and smoked the outer corner using a fine push brush - one with flat even bristles that are dead straight. It's so rare for me to use all shadows from the same palette, but this one is so wonderfully versatile - an inspired mix of matte's and shimmers, and of course, all the colours of the rainbow...

This look is especially for chunky.monkeys over at bh - she requested a rainbow EOTD a couple of weeks ago, and while this is only a half rainbow, this will have to do until I can get up a bit earlier in the morning (but that's not going to happen any time soon lol)...

Hope you like it chunky, and hope all the rest of you gorgeous gals are having a great week ♥

Take care of you,

kats xxx

COME PLAY WITH ME: Bright & Bold...

Woohoo! The divine Miss H over at The Beauty in Life was the theme chooser for this round of IndieAna's Come Play With Me series - Hailey went for Bright & Bold, and what a show she turned on! An absolutely fabulous use of colour and creativity, and an inspiration to us all...

Bless you hon - Bright and Bold is SO incredibly dear to my heart, but it's also something I do almost every day, so I had to stir up a few hitherto inactive brain neurones to come up with something a bit different to my usual, and here's the result...

So Bright & Bold it is, but with a wee bit of softness too :-) Here's what I used - the shadows are all from the bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette, all mattes, because using this much colour in one look can be somewhat overwhelming with a shimmery or sparkly finish...

Old faithful essence white kajal was my base in order to bring out the intensity of the hues. After laying down the orange, yellow & green in reasonably equal segments, I placed a dollop of the Dark Fuchsia Nabi lip liner in the centre of each colour, and pressed the hot pink from the same palette over the top to set it...

To stop the whole thing looking too clownish, I gently blended all the colours into each other, and then lined the crease with the aqua shade for some added definition...

On the waterline went Green PF Shimmer Strips Gel Liner...

As always when doing a multi-coloured creation, it's a challenge to get both eyes to match, so don't look too closely at the both eyes pics lol...

I had so much fun putting this look together - thanks Hailes for coming up with this brilliant theme! Gemma & Indie will be posting their creations any day now, and as always, would so love it if some more of you lovelies were to join in ♥

Hailey

Gemma

IndieAna

Take care of you,

kats xxx

EOTD: Smashbox Autumn mix...

Well last Wednesday was an interesting day - I woke up with a severe case of Autumn-itis, and was compelled to create something earthy...

Sure I've done quite a few Autumnal looks of late, but I don't believe I've EVER used brown on my waterline before - I'd kind of categorised it along with grey as a totally unsuitable shade to apply here due to it not being bright and bold, but I kinda like this muddy touch...

This Smashbox Click You're It palette is getting heaps of use - it's just so perfect for the season, and as you can see I've combined shades from two different columns again, but I reckon they partner well together...

For my base I used MNY Color Tattoo in Bold Gold, and blended #15, #10 & #11 from inner to outer corner, and continued on with #11 underneath...

On the waterline is brown Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips Gel liner from the blue stack - the formula of this range lasts the longest of any liner I've ever used on my waterline, so I'm officially declaring it the best in my kit!

And here's the complete browny look - I chose gold toned accessories to give the deep chocolate a lift...

I really love these shades of nature, and the tinge of green on the inner corner stops it being boring lol... 

Do you have a favourite palette for creating an earthy eye look?

Take care of you,

kats xxx

EOTD: Pink, Purple, Blue & Aqua...

Well now after spending the first three days of this week playing around with the same eye shadow colour (and a relatively neutral one at that), I had this overwhelming desire to rock my world with some bold pigments, and here's what happened when I succumbed lol...

Not my wildest look by a long shot, but light years away from where I was on Tuesday. As a base I used one of my favorite gels - Face of Australia Budgeproof Gel Eyeliner in Pure Purple. This is such a gorgeous color and super sticky, so it's perfect for layering underneath either pressed or loose pigments as they adhere so well...

Over this went the pink, purple and blue from the bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette (no I'm not being paid for all these ads lol)...

The aqua shade in the above pic went along the lower lashline, applied with a damp brush...

On the waterline I stroked on Mireness Face Gel in Aquamarine, possibly my favorite color to wear in this particular space, (closely followed by the deep blue Denim Jewel).  As you can see, my pot is exceptionally well loved and used :-) The sheen of these gels is particularly flattering here - somehow a matte waterline doesn't look right to me...

All up four different shades, and my colour cravings were temporarily satiated. I need to be more careful in future to not spend too long in neutral-land though - I managed to calm myself down reasonably quickly with this look, but the intensity of my colour addiction could quite easily have pushed me over the brink into the need for a full scale rainbow mid-week ha ha...

Do you ever find yourself craving something colourful?

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Happy Valentine's Day!

to everyone who regards February 14th as significant, 

and is enjoying a loving and romantic day/night 

with someone who has a very special place in their hearts

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Take care of you, 

kats xxx

EOTD: Multicolour!

I was wearing the old faithful black and white yesterday, a favourite for Mondays as I'm half in mourning for the end of the weekend, and half excited about the week ahead :-) So I dug out my bhcosmetics 120 palette, and seconds later, found myself wondering how on earth I could have forgotten how much I LOVE multi-coloured eye looks? I couldn't for the life of me remember the last time I did one, so promptly set about to rectify that glaring oversight...

I've had this double layer palette for over 12 months and there are pans I haven't even swatched yet - can't believe I've been so neglectful, so you'll be seeing this big black box featured a lot more often in the months ahead. Sigh...so many colors and only two eyes...

I started with a white base, then added a vivid shimmery aquamarine, moved on with a bold pink, and called it a wrap with a bright blue on the outer corner. Something I love about putting contrasting colors side by side is that a when I blend the join, I often end up with yet another color entirely - in this particular instance you can see that the mix of aqua and pink created a delicate lilac. Now that was a bonus I wasn't expecting - just goes to show that colour truly is alive hey?

As I often do, I applied the hue I wanted to emphasise (aquamarine) underneath the lower lashes to soften the black liner... 

Oh boy, this has gotten me all excited again, so it'll probably be triple hues for me for the rest of the week ha ha!

Take care of you, 

kats xxx

EOTD: Party Pastels...

No doubt because my beautyheaven blogstar article had way too many pictures (!), the looks below ended up on the bh cutting room floor, but I'm including them here because, well, it's the height of the party season, plus they were a big part of my experimentation with pastels rather than bold shades, and it would be a pity for them to not see the light of day....

Peaches 'N' Cream...

Gee I reckon this is such a gorgeous shade for summer :-) essence White Kajal as a base, followed by off-white (I call it oyster) from the DB Bold palette along the top lashline, and shimmery orange (I call it terracotta) from the same palette over the rest of the top lid and underneath…

Lime 'N' Lilac...

These two colours were made for each other. This is essence White Kajal as a base, lilac from the L.A.Colors Venus Baked Eyeshadow palette, and lime green pearl (shade 5) from Makeup Academy…

And just to complete the set here's the one that was published, and judging by the comments, seemed to be a fave :-)

Pink 'N' Teal...

Take care of you,

kats xxx

Liptastic L'Oreal Christmas Giveaway!

WOO HOO gals - I'm so excited I can hardly type! I wanted to hold an extra special super duper giveaway to celebrate my first Christmas as a blogger, and those amazingly generous folks at L'Oreal have come to the kats colourings party with a truly awesome giveaway prize :-)

Some lucky follower will score not one, not two, but...

The ENTIRE SET of

L'OREAL INFALLIBLE 2-STEP LIPS!

This is the same collection of 14 gorgeous glossy sticks I received as part of my Blogstar prize, and it's up for grabs for a kats colourings follower. How can you be in with a chance to win this fabulous bag of luscious lip-loot? Read on...

• First of all you MUST follow me - either by GFC, Bloglovin or email.
• Secondly, you MUST comment on this page as to why you'd like to win this prize, and include your email address, username (where applicable) and how you are following me (sorry this is open to Australian residents only - promise I'll have an international giveaway early next year).
• Thirdly, and this will decide the winner, you MUST include in your comment a guess at how many of my lip products are in the glass container in the pics below - I've taken two photos, roughly front and back to give you an idea (I can assure you the glass vase contains only lip products). Obviously not all are visible, but I can't make it TOO easy now can I? I've counted all the items I placed in the container (several times to be sure) and taken a photo, which I'll post at the end of the giveaway. 

 

The follower who meets ALL of the above conditions and guesses the correct or closest-to-correct answer will receive this stunning collection of lipsticks from L'Oreal, valued at over $400! In the event of a tie, I will put the finalists' names into a hat, and draw one out to determine the winner.

Competition closes at midnight on Saturday 14th December and the winner will be notified by email and announced on this page on Sunday 15th December. They will then have 24 hours to respond to my email to claim their prize, or I will award it to the next closest guess (or draw another name from the finalists in the hat if there is a tie).

The prize will be posted to the winner by Express Post satchel to give it every chance of being delivered before Christmas. Best of luck to all who enter, and a huge thank you to the gorgeous ladies at L'Oreal for their generosity in making this fabulous giveaway possible.

Take care of you,

kats xxx

_________________________________________

This giveaway is now closed

Here is the photo of all the lip products before I placed them in the jar

There were 63 in total, and the closest guess was 64, which means the winner is...

♥ Fawn ♥

Congratulations sweetie! Please respond to my email to claim your fabulous prize :-)

EDIT: Fawn has emailed me and claimed her prize :-)

__________________________________________

Giveaway Terms & Conditions

1. Only one entry per person permitted.

2. To enter, you must follow me on Google Friend Connect, Bloglovin or email, post a comment as to why you'd like to win this prize and include a guess as to how many lip products are in the glass container pictured above.

3. Include your GFC or Bloglovin' user name & email address in the comment.

4. This competition is open to Australian residents only.

5. This competition is hosted by katshepsutt via the kats colourings blog at katscolourings.blogspot.com.au.

6. The total prize consists of 14 x L'Oreal Infallible 2-Step Lipsticks RRP AUD$419.30.

7. Competition closes midnight Saturday14th December 2013 (Sydney time).

8. The winner will be based on the most accurate guess, and notified by email and via a post on this page of kats colourings on Sunday 15th December 2013.

SPOTLIGHT: bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette...

I just had to have a little rave about this palette. I have (ahem) quite a few in my kit, but this is the one I'm reaching for most often at the moment. Adoring vibrant colours as I do, this was IMPOSSIBLE to resist when it was on special not so long ago. I have just about all these shades already in a 120 palette from the same company, but this one is such a handy size, and I love the mix of mostly mattes, the fourth row is shimmery jewel tones, plus there's a winter white and basic black along the base.

For those gals who do their makeup on the move, there's a decent sized mirror on the inside of the lid, and it comes with a clear plastic protective sheet to cover the pans.

The pigmentation is brilliant for US$15 (currently on special for $9.95!) and the colours are sweet and sassy for spring and summer - just about every shade is covered here, and they blend so beautifully it's super easy to make any colour in between.

Here's a couple of looks I've created using this palette - I've marked the shades I used with an "x"...

         

 

  

 

It's pretty safe to say I'm totally in love with this palette! Shipping is a little hefty at US$12.45, but I usually wait and order a few things at the one time which makes it worthwhile (their black eyeliner felt pen is the best, I use it almost every day), and the parcel always arrives within 10 days.

Do you have a favourite palette that you use over and over again? Have you tried any bhcosmetics products?

Take care of you,

kats xxx