EOTD's & Giveaway!...

Was absolutely staggered when I looked back and found that the last EOTD I posted was in August last year! Had lots of issues that needed my full attention round about that time, but they're pretty much all sorted now (the move closer to Sydney was a biggie), so it's time to resume where I left off with uploading some eye looks ♥ I've been posting some fairly regularly on Instagram, but it's not an every day occurrence like it was before - I'm still catching up with years of lost sleep, and haven't been allowing sufficient time in the mornings to do my eye makeup perfectly enough for closeups, plus the fact that age is taking its toll, and there are some days when my eyes are just too wrinkly (boo!). Anyways, I'll still be uploading the better ones from time to time, starting with the selection below. And to celebrate, there's a fun giveaway at the bottom of the page ♥...

For this first look I used MBA Cosmetics Deep Sea - love this as it's matte, perfect as a base, and for lining the crease. As I age I'm finding a whole bunch of things are losing definition, so these days I often have to draw the boundary lines. While I'll always have a crease where the lid meets the hood, the inner part of the lid seems to be blurring into the rest of my eye area, so a dark matte shadow and a fine angled brush is the way to go. I topped the matte blue with Colourpop Too Shy - a stunning metallic shadow. On the waterline is Eye of Horus Teal Malachite Goddess Pencil, and on my lips is NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Run The World ♥ For a bit of fun I've started including my shoes in the jewellery/outfit photos!...

For look #2, I went back to an old favourite - Sugarpill Midori, also a matte, and one of the prettiest emerald greens in my kit ♥...

For the base, and on the waterline, I used my latest fab discovery - Colourpop Creme Gel Liner in the shade Teaspoon, which was a perfect match. This is a brilliant liner - it's matte, lasts for many hours on the waterline, and doesn't irritate. As you can probably guess, I'll be buying more of these ♥. The lipstick I'm wearing is Rimmel The Only 1 Matte Lipstick - shade Keep It Coral. Very nice formula, but still a little drying on my lips ♥...

Look #3 was a trip down memory lane to my favourite deep blue eye shadows of all time - L'Oreal Infallible All Night Blue. There's nothing else I've found that compares with the pigment intensity, and the blacky blue base has a brighter blue sheen which catches the light beautifully...

On the waterline again is Eye of Horus Teal Malachite Goddess Pencil - about 3 layers including the shadow fallout, which is why it looks darker than in the first pic. The lipstick is one my darling friend Amy from healthandbeautygirl sent to me recently - it's a crayon made by The Beauty Crop, they call it a PJS Smoothie Stick, and the shade is Guava Nice Day. Super moisturising and super comfortable - absolutely love it, thanks again sweetie! ♥...

And for EOTD #4, I pulled out my Chi Chi Oasis palette, and used the matte black topped with the shimmery silver...

Waterline was Eye of Horus Charcoal Obsidian Goddess Pencil, lips were NYX High Voltage Lipstick in Rags to Riches. I picked this lippie up from Priceline for $5 as it's discontinued - I'm so sad as it's the prettiest shade ♥...

Now for the best part, the loot...

This giveaway is open Internationally!

I went through all my stocks and found quite a few doubles, some items I purchased on sale, plus some are my faves ♥ and I want to share the love. So instead of leaving them languishing in my drawers, I'm bundling them up for one lucky follower ♥... 

There's a wide variety of products in this pack for body, face, eyes & lips. with an RRP of around $200! Here are the details, from leftish to rightish:

• Manicare Mini Brush Kit (4 brushes)
• Mirenesse iCurl Heated Eyelash Curler
• Natural Secrets Goatsmilk Hand Cream ♥
• Skin Therapy Dragon's Blood Sculpting Serum ♥
• Garnier Miracle Sleeping Cream ♥
• Maybelline Volum'Express Mega Plush Mascara (Very Black - waterproof)
• Designer Brands Smokey Eye Shadows palette (10 pans plus Eye Liner Pencil)
• Biore Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser ♥
• Skin Republic Neck & Decolletage Repair Mask ♥
• Biore Self-Heating One Minute Mask
• Revlon Love Is On Gift Pack - 3 Matte Lip Balms (Passionate, Fiery, Elusive) + Mirror ♥
• Grace Cole Wild Fig & Cedar Gift pack - Body Lotion, Bath Soak & Bath & Shower Gel ♥
• Lacura Beauty Define Contour Palette

The usual rules apply - one entry per person, follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter section, and leave a comment below that answers the question inside the copter.

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This giveaway is now closed - check back later tonight to see who won

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Woo hoo! - random.org has chosen the beautiful Mahdi M. as the winner.  

Congratulations gorgeous! 

Mahdi please respond to the email I've sent you by 

Wednesday 8th March to claim your prize :-)

Edit: Mahdi has claimed her prize

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Hope you'll join in the fun - best of luck to all who enter!

Take care of you,
kats xxx

P.S. Hooking up with Ingrid's Monday Makeup Madness Link Up Party - starts at 6:30am...

EOTD's: Autumnal Orange & Chocolate...

My long weekend didn't get off to the best of starts - was working (remotely) till 1am Friday morning, and the same today, but at least I could sleep in, yay! It appears to be all over and done with now, and I can resume my blogging schedule - which means that for me, Easter starts right now ♥ The theme for these EOTD's is Autumn, and those magnificently rich and earthy shades that go hand in hand with this most precious of seasons...

For this look, I chose Sugarpill Flamepoint - a fabulously bright and stunningly pigmented orange, but I Autumned-it-up by patting it down over a base of Eye of Horus Bronze Amulet Goddess Pencil, and then added Tequila Sunrise from the Sleek Snapshots palette for some glisten and gleam. Turned out to be the perfect match for my hair lol! On the waterline is Eye of Horus Serpentine Sultry, a gorgeous olivey bronze...

My foundation was Rimmel Lasting Finish, got the glow happening with Maybelline Master Glaze Blush Stick in Coral Sheen, and added the middle shade from the BYS Coral Me In blush trio. Lips were W7 Fluorescent Orange lipstick...

And the matching jewellery - the big bracelet, ring and earring set was a gift from my parents ♥...

For look number two, I went for a brown and cream combo, and dived into my Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette, and chose a blend of Creme Brulee, Haute Chocolate & Amaretto, once again over a base of Eye of Horus Bronze Amulet Goddess Pencil, also on the waterline...

For my face I trotted out my old HG foundation, Lancôme Teint Visionnaire, with Australis Chocolate Truffle Creme Colour for my cheeks, topped with Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer in Luminous Bronze Light. Lips were Starlet Lipstick in Brown Sugar. I'm still working on my hair colour - a tad more brown in it here, and this week I have blonde highlights(!), so who knows where I'll end up, but it sure is fun experimenting...

The necklace and earrings are at least 20 years old! Forgot to include my watch in the picture, but as you can probably imagine, it was in brown tonings...

So there's a couple of my choices to welcome in the cooler weather - what are your favourite hues for Autumn?

Take care of you,

kats xxx

EOTD: Sugarpill Buttercupcake & NYX Green...

Last EOTD of the month so I'll make this a quickie - have lots of blogs to check out over at Ingrid's Monday Makeup Madness Link Up Party before I hit the hay ♥ Dug deep into my drawers and found some old favourites. Sugarpill Buttercupcake, a stunning matte yellow gold, and a very soft foresty green from the NYX Bohemian Chic Nude Matte Collection - this is years old, but still has plenty of life left in it...

I stroked essence white kajal all over the top lid, patted the Buttercupcake along the lashline, and blended in the NYX forest green up to the crease. Waterline was Revlon Colourstay Eye Liner in Jade...

Foundation was Lancôme Teint Visionnaire, cheeks were Lacura Mineral Cream Blush in Soft Coral, and I added some Hourglass Ambient Lighting Bronzer in Luminous Bronze Light (where have you been all my life?). Lips were Mirenesse Lip Bomb #11 - loved this nude shade, but it was past its use by date and smelt funny, so I tossed it when I got home...

More looks coming in December - might even have a play with some Christmassy themes ♥

Take care of you,

kats xxx

REVIEW & EOTD's: NYX Color Mascaras...

As you know I was recently treated to a fabulous prize from the equally fabulous team at Bloggers United AU.  I'm telling absolute truthies when I say that this set of NYX Color Mascaras was what I was most excited to try out of the whole magnificent haul. I'm actually brand new to colour on my lashes, and I couldn't think of a better introduction than with these beautiful pastels ♥...

Warning: picture heavy post!

As you can see the presentation is super pretty - the product inside is almost an identical match to the colour of each tube, so you know what you're getting. The wands are thinly coiled, but pick up a good quantity of mascara. The formula is a bit stinky, but only if you put the applicator right under your nose - can't smell a thing when I'm using them as they were intended. There's no indication that they're waterproof, but I've not had one smudge or speck go astray, and the coating has always been 100% intact when taking off my eye makeup at the end of the day. Can't tell you if they hold the curl either because I've only used them over the top of my usual faithful black one - taking closeups as I do, my camera simply won't register that I have lashes AT ALL unless I load them up with something fairly fibrous and chunky. But that's enough of the babble, let's see these babies in action!

Pink Perfect

I'll admit I was a bit chicken in the beginning, so I only applied the colour to my lower lashes. And in order for them to be visible in the pics, I made sure I used a liner or shadow dark enough on the lashline for contrast. As you can see it's quite a different look for me - I'd like to say funky, but I'll just stick with different lol. The mascara shows up far more dramatically in real life, so you need to be careful with your application. In my case, especially with the first black coat because every imperfection in your technique is revealed!

For the EOTD lovers, the other components of this look were Chi Chi Hopelessly Devoted & Black is Black Waterproof Gel Eyeliner as a base, and hot pink and black shadows from the bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette. Used the same Chi Chi liner on the waterline...

Perfect Pear

Perfect Pear is the most gorgeous bright lime, and from the pics below, you can see what I mean about taking care with your strokes - clumps everywhere! But I did this at 5:30am before work (like all my EOTDs) and there wasn't a second to spare for any cleanup. At least you can see how deliciously dramatic this particular shade is ♥

For this look I used the brightest green and purple from the City Color Intense Shine palette over bases of Models Prefer Lime Tart Infinite Colour Eye Pencil and Chi Chi Lo Cal Chocolate Waterproof Gel Eyeliner respectively. Lo Cal Chocolate also adorned my waterline...

Mint Julep

My personal fave, but then you know I adore tealy aqua shades ♥ The plan here was to use the Mint Julep as an extension of the colour I used on my waterline (Chi Chi Caribbean Queen liner), and it worked reasonably well, except for the sucky application...

The shadows used here were Sugarpill Midori and Sleek Ink over a base of BOE Beauty Eyeshadow Pencil in the shade Daydream...

Coral Reef

So after four goes (I'll explain the first one later), I was a little braver, and tried the Coral Reef on my top lashes. Whoa! Boy it sure does make my lashes stand out now doesn't it? - at least I can see the fruits of my Rapid Lash labours ha ha. Not entirely sure this was the best colour combo, but I was wearing coral and blue on the day, and you know me, I like to match...

The blue shadow is Sugarpill Velocity over a base of DB Cosmetics Deep Ocean Kohl, and the waterline is essence Longlasting Eye Pencil in the shade Cool Down (I labelled this incorrectly on my Instagram pic post - sorry Chi Chi & DB!)...

Forget Me Not

And here we are with lucky last, Forget Me Not. Except it was also the first one I tried, but I didn't apply anywhere near enough, and the mascara was barely visible in the photo, so this is my second attempt. I've winged and whined before about how my camera just won't play ball with anything purple, and this effort was no exception. This pretty lavender mascara showed up HEAPS more in real life (this is three coats), but c'est la vie...

This particular EOTD was an attempt to get into the spirit of Halloween - the orange is from the Chi Chi OMFG palette over essence white kajal, and the black is Sleek Ink over Chi Chi Black is Black Waterproof Gel Eyeliner, which I also added to my waterline...

To sum up, these NYX Color Mascaras are awesome and I had an absolute ball using them to create all these looks. Of course, this is just the beginning and you'll be seeing all of them (no doubt repeatedly) in future posts. A million thank you's again to Bloggers United AU (and NYX) for the opportunity to try something that I normally wouldn't dream of indulging in ♥♥♥

So tell me now, is coloured mascara your thing? Which look do you like the most?

Take care of you,
kats xxx

EOTD: Sugarpill Elemental Chaos (again)...

You may have gathered we're pretty keen on PURPLE here at kats colourings - it's such a fabulously rich and comforting colour, and all the shade variations in the family have a special place in my heart. And here's an EOTD & FOTD that cements the love ♥ The main shadow I used is Sugarpill Elemental Chaos - far more purple than it appears below, but my camera does this weirdo thing with purples, and more often than not, captures them as blue. Mind you it's a phone camera, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining, but it's not entirely satisfactory when you're trying to portray makeup colours as they truly are...

Anyways, I used Face of Australia Pure Purple Budge-Proof Gel Eyeliner as my base, and then pressed the Elemental Chaos over the entire top lid. I then added the pinky purple pan from the Makeup Revolution Mermaids Vs Unicorns palette on the inner corner, which to my absolute delight, turned into a pretty orchid shade. To complete the set, Chi Chi Beauty School Drop Out Gel Liner went on the waterline - this has a magical shimmer to it which makes it appear multi-tonal in photos...

On my mug is Nude by Nature Liquid Mineral Foundation, cheeks are a base of Maybelline Master Glaze blush Stick in Make A Mauve with the nearest  I have to a purple powder blush by bhcosmetics over the top. Lips are the sensational MBA Cosmetics Paranormal, slicked with Chi Chi Chandelier Gloss in The Privileged. The purple heart Swarovski jewellery was a gift from my darling Dad, who has indulged (and therefore encouraged) my love of this colour since I was a young'un ♥

If you like purple, you're in the right place - I'll ALWAYS post something (more likely lots of) purple every month!

Take care of you,
kats xxx