EOTD: Yellow, Black and...Purple!...

Wow how scary is it that February is almost half over? I'm way behind with my EOTD posts, in fact this is my first for the month, so I'm not going to waste any time blabbing, except to say that this was yet another experiment that didn't turn out quite as I'd planned lol...

Can you guess this was to match a black and yellow outfit? Actually I don't have very many yellows in my kit - they're mainly on the golden or orangey side of the fence, but I do have this sunny pineapple shade in the bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette. It's a matte so I used the slightly shimmery Chi Chi Midas Touch Waterproof Gel Eyeliner as the base, and Eye of Horus Smokey Black Goddess Pencil underneath the matte black. When it came to the waterline, I immediately reached for the EOH black liner again, but then thought that choice was a bit ho-hum because that's what I ALWAYS do, so instead I took a chance on the Amethyst Jewel one. Hmmm - not sure that purple was the best option here, but I ran out of time to do anything about it, so purple waterline it was ha ha...

As you can see, after two weeks, my hair is still smooth and straight, and I'm STILL tripping that I don't have any frizz! For my face I applied Mirenesse Liquid Silk Foundation, and cheeks were Maybelline Master Glaze Blush Stick in Make a Mauve, with a sweep of Laura Geller Blush-N-Brighten in Berry...

Lips were one of my favourite plummy lippies, DB Cosmetics Longwear in Perfect Plum...

And here's a new little feature - I've started taking a quick and dirty pic of the jewellery of the day (JOTD), on a back drop of the top half of my outfit. These photos seem to be popular on my Instagram page, so I'll include them here in case anyone's interested ♥

Hope you're having a brilliant summer lovelies, and if you're on the other side of the world, that you're keeping warm ♥

Take care of you,
kats xxx

EOTD: bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil Yellow & Black...

Well whoop-dee-do, at last I'm on holidays, and despite all the Christmas activities, and gift shopping (that I haven't finished yet), I finally have a chance to catch up with my blogging - oh how it's pained me to only post once a week! And with all the prize wins I've been blessed with of late, I have at least 12 months of reviews to write and upload, as well as finishing up my lipstick and foundation refresh articles that have fallen by the wayside. My plan is to get a whole bunch done and dusted over the next few weeks, and stash them away ready to upload at a moment's notice - well that's the plan anyway ♥...

I'll start with a long overdue and summery EOTD - used one of my all time favourite (and highly recommended) palettes, bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil. This baby is versatility plus - the pigments are all fabulous, and the colour range means I have just about every requirement covered. If you've been thinking about venturing into the land of colourful eye shadows, then this palette is a great way to begin, and you'll only have to outlay around US$10...

My base was Chi Chi Waterproof Gel Eye Liner in Midas Touch (gold). I concentrated the yellow along the top lashline, and then blended the matte black downwards from the crease, and also took it underneath the lower lashline. Waterline was ModelsPrefer matte black kohl...

For my face I used DB Cosmetics Longwear 24 Hour Foundation. Got myself a rosy glow happening with DB Cosmetics Lip & Cheek Rouge in the shade Irresistible, and then dusted some bhcosmetics Iris over the top. Lips were DB Cosmetics Currant Kiss...

Hope your December hasn't been too frantic so far, and that you'll be able to take some time to relax and enjoy the end of year festivities in style ♥

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

EOTD: bhcosmetics Yellow and Green...

With Australia Day looming on the horizon, I figured it was time to get in a little bit of practice for this auspicious occasion. It's always tough for me to decide whether to go with this Aussie colour combo, or the red, white and blue of our flag, but at the end of the day, yellow and green is a tad more eye-friendly, especially for workdays, so that's what I went for...

I have a fabulous matte yellow in my Sugarpill collection, but neither of the two greens (Midori mint and Acidberry lime) seemed to have enough Downunder punch, so I decided to go with my old faithful bhcosmetics Take Me To Brazil palette...

As always, whenever I want the true shade of a shadow to come out, I use essence white kajal as my base. Over this I kept the yellow close to the lashline, and then blended the bright green over the rest of the lid. A touch of the black in the crease, and bhcosmetics Waterproof Eye Crayon in Huntress on the waterline, and I was ready to chant "Come on Aussie!"...

Outfit-wise, I hardly ever wear yellow, mainly because I can never seem to find any clothing items in this sunny hue - it's a pity really because it's such a happy colour. On this particular day, I remembered I had a pretty buttercup tank top stashed in the back of the wardrobe, and decided to dig out my fun retro earrings (that I've had for over 25 years). Lips were Innoxa matte Chocolate, with essence XXXL lipgloss in Party Connection over the top. For my cheeks I went for ModelCo Peach Bellini...

Are you planning a patriotic makeup look for Australia Day?

Take care of you,
kats xxx

EOTD: Sleek Acid Yellow and Blue...

My last EOTD for the year, and the final in this series using the Sleek Acid palette. It wasn't meant to be a series, but I so fell for this box of colourful hues, and couldn't bear to not keep trying all the colours, and well, that's how it turned out. There's more up my sleeve of course, but I figured I'd better save something for 2015 lol...

So this was an interesting one. It was supposed to be yellow and blue, but it kind of turned out limey and blue - the yellow in this palette isn't as potent and workable as the other shades, and despite giving it a boost with the essence white kajal underneath, it was still a bit of a fizzer, especially in the blending department...

It has reasonably good pigmentation, but as soon as I started to blend it towards the blue, it went all patchy, and I had to keep packing it on - even then I gave up trying to even it out. But hey, one pan out of 12 that's a not quite as brilliant as the others is a pretty good statistic...

I used Ink from the Sleek V2 Matte palette in the crease, and Mirenesse Superlong Wear Gel Mineral Face Colour in Blue Moon on the waterline...

Here's the full face pic - I created this look in my last week of work, and I was SO exhausted, everything was a bit of a blur, and I can't for the life of me remember what I used on my cheeks and lips sigh...

Well it's almost New Year's Eve - if you're planning a big one, keep safe, and your loved ones close by your side ♥

Take care of you,
kats xxx

EOTD: Sleek Acid Yellow, Orange & Pink...

This post is the direct result of a severe case of palette-lust - Sleek Acid to be precise ♥ I reckon I've wanted this totally hot collection of colours for at least 3 years, and my desire is at last sated (well temporarily at least), just in time for Summer. It's been on my bench since early October after taking advantage of Sleek's free shipping offer a month prior, and yesterday was the first time I could bring myself to dip a brush or two into the pans...

I haven't done any swatches because there's already a swag of them out there on the web, and besides, swatching is most definitely NOT my forte - instead I'll just rave on about how beautifully vibrant these hues are, how they blend so effortlessly, and how silky is the texture of these finely milled pressed powders...

They're mostly mattes, but you can see on the right-hand end that the two blues and the silver are creamy shimmers - I reckon they'll just have to be next! The pigmentation is a delight, and the whole thing is simply a joy to behold...

Considering the electric nature of the colours, this look is considerably tame, but then again I didn't want to frighten my work colleagues with anything too wild this early in the season lol. But I wanted something appropriate for my first Summer EOTD, and that's why I chose a yellow, orange and pink combo...

Using my essence white kajal as a base, the shadows were heaps bolder before I started blending, but I was wearing a somewhat loud red, cream and black outfit, so I got to work with a large-ish fluffy brush and softened things down. The black is incredibly potent, and I had to restrain my application in the crease to not overpower the colours. And I'd quite forgotten about using the NYX Wonder Pencil on the waterline - gosh it's SO good for a more natural finish, and the perfect complement to this trio...

For lips I used Lacura Minerals Lipstick in shade 980 topped with MAC Lipglass in Cherche La Femme, cheeks are the deepest shade from the bhcosmetics Iris Blush Duo (review and pics soon!). I'm also showing off my latest Lovisa love (and total indulgence), a red gem heart pendant and matching earrings. I swear, if they make a record profit this year, it will be because of me ha ha...

Ahh Sleek Acid, I do love thee ♥

You can probably guess that this is merely the first of MANY looks I'll be creating with this divine palette. Happy Summer gals!

Take care of you,

kats xxx

COME PLAY WITH ME: Winter into Spring...

Woo hoo! My turn to choose the Come Play With Me theme this time ♥ And true to form, no surprises here  lol - hey if I get to choose, then you can pretty much guarantee I'll come up with something COLOURFUL! And I realise it's still technically Winter (brrrrrrr!), but I figured I should put together something that might just entice Spring to show her pretty face (and flowers) ahead of time...

Of course if I'm going to do colour, then I'll invariably use my Sugarpill mattes - they're just so incredibly versatile and blendable, and I simply can't imagine a springish theme without them. I deliberately toned them down a few notches because I only wanted to create a tantalising little soupçon of Spring that would lure our most precious season out from the dark, and into the light...

It seemed appropriate to start this whole affair with an icy base, so I chose Maybelline Color Tattoo in Too Cool. Over this I added a hint of yellow (Buttercupcake) along the top lashline to represent the sun - oh please come and warm us all up! On the inner corner I then blended the two pinky purple shades (Poison Plum and 2am) to remind Our Fair Lady that we need a bucketload of blossoms to brighten the landscape and fill the air with exquisite fragrance. After this I included a fair whack of new leaf green (Acidberry) and a lush foliage shade (Midori) to encourage nature's growth spurt, and then finished it all off with a vibrant blue (Velocity) to encourage clear, cloud-free skies ♥

But I wanted to keep it real, and let's face it we're not quite out of the chilly woods yet, so I lined my waterline with a wintery green (bhcosmetics Huntress)...

So to all my darling Come Play With Me companions, how would you go about beckoning Spring from the dark depths of Winter? So looking forward to seeing your take on this hopeful theme ♥...

Woo hoo - IndieAna's fab look is up!

And you MUST check out Hailey's work of art - nothing short of exquisite...

AND Monique has just published her play time - a tribute to orange, so gorgeous...

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