Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

Ok, so the Lionel Richie post is a little nod to my absence and how people must be surprised that I've actually updated, although unfortunately, it's not really a real makeup post per se, rather a makeup-new jacket-jumble post.

A) These pics are good yet bad because they were taken on my best friend's canon camera but facebook screwed them up so meh.B) My eyes aren't shut, I'm just looking down
So this is my New Look parka ('look deep into the parka!') and I love it! It may be a bit parky (no pun intended) but I'm still going to wear it, unless it's pissing down, in which case, I'll pass. Another interesting fact about this photo is that I am actually wearing jeans. No, not jeggings, but jeans. Real jeans. This hasn't happened in about two years.

So my best friend then papped me quickly applying my lipstain and vaseline (life saver, that is) and these pictures look weird cause I had to resize them and the ratio may be off.

I used my Strictly palette, the same gold that I raved about just cause it was a lovely day and I wanted a bit of colour.

Awful pose on the first one, but it was funny. Anyway, just a small post which I hope makes up for my lack of posting lately, I'll try and get on this weekend!

Strictly Fabulous Cosmetics Case 'Ballroom Palette' FOTD

So I'm actually writing this on Sunday, although publishing it on Thursday, as I figured I won't have much time this week and want to give my lovely readers something to read this week.
In reverse order, my first FOTD is with the Ballroom palette, as I couldn't resist those gorgeous golds.

Excuse the pouty expression, this was actually the best of the lot.

I'm squinting a bit in this picture as I took it without flash standing at the window and the sun was blinding me. I used the four golden eyeshadows and the second lipgloss for this look and blending the eyeshadows was a dream, they blended together beautifully.



Haven't really got much else to say, just hope you all like this and if you have any requests for the next look concerning the palettes, let me know!

Strictly Fabulous Cosmetics Case 'Ballroom Palette'

And concluding our Strictly Fabulous Cosmetics Case posts, I have the Ballroom Palette here.
So out of the three palettes, I think this is the one which is most accessible for daytime. These colours could be pulled off without looking too dramatic, and on the left side, you could say that they're the nudeish colours.

Here we have the most BEAUTIFUL gold I have every since which is very velvety and even brighter than Urban Decay's Baked (which is the holy grail for golds for me), I think I may do some comparison swatches to show to you girls what it's like. Then you have a darker, coppery sort of colour which goes beautifully with the gold, a shimmery cream which would be ideal as a highlight and then a light pink/brown colour that also goes well with these. As for glosses, you have a see through sparkly colour, then a pink/gold duochromey colour with LOTS of gold sparkles.

Out of all three blushers/bronzers, this is the darkest. Again, it's shimmery but not that noticeable once on your face. When you apply it, it actually looks a bit redder than in the pan, so I'm thinking this is a blusher bronzer hybrid.

With the exception of the dark purple, all these eyeshadows are pastels, whether it's violet, blue or green/blue. The first gloss is a pale nude colour with lots of shimmer and the second is a darker red with shimmer, but not as dark as the one in the first palette.



The first four eyeshadows are again insanely pigmented (check out that gold!!!!) and don't let the palette down. However, the last four are rather chalky and a bit weaker than the others. It's like the makers got tired at this point and decided not to make them as magnificent as the others. It's no big problem, as they still are not bad without primer and I'm sure you can build them up.

So there you have it for the Strictly Fabulous palette. I'm definitely happy I got this for Christmas and I will enjoy using it!

Strictly Fabulous Cosmetics Case 'Salsa Palette'

Following yesterday's review of the Latin palette, I'm continuing with the Salsa palette.
This palette is the bright one. I'm real glad I got this at this time cause now I'm feeling motivated to start wearing more colour as it's Spring soon, which I cannot wait for. As you can see, the eyeshadows aren't diamond formed, but circles with 4 having patterns on them, which are already vanishing due to use.

Again, we have a silver shade here and in this palette, there are some matte colours, such as these two lovely greens. The second green (which I used in my Dior inspired FOTD) may not look matte but when swatched and on the eye, it is. The pink is shimmery like the silver and the first lipgloss isn't as orange as the picture depicts, it's actually more of a gold colour with sparkles. The second lip colour is a bright red, but with a bit of shimmer and not as orange based as the one in the first palette.

Again, the blush is shimmery and actually a bit pale for me, as it doesn't show up extremely well on my skin. I'll try and see whether the intensity builds up when you layer it, which I think is a good possibility.

Again, we have two matte and two shimmery shades here. Surprisingly, the matte colours are incredibly pigmented, which surprised me as they're generally a lot weaker than the shimmery ones and need a lot of building up. The shimmery blue is a gorgeous duochrome blue/turquoise and the first lip colour is a shimmery coral and the second is actually quite a neon pink, which it didn't look like it would be in the pan. The pink is very similar to the first pink, but slightly paler.



Again, the eyeshadows are really pigmented, although some are a bit crumbly, like the first palette. The blush doesn't show up at all on the first picture, but does a bit better on the third picture. All in all, I definitely like this palette as the colour selection is good and not too much of the same colours, so I look forward to trying out some looks with this!

Strictly Fabulous Cosmetics Case 'Latin Palette'

A small FYI, I shall be doing swatches on this in three parts, each time of the different palette. Otherwise, I'll be having a far too photoheavy post and I don't like that. Possibly my OCD tendencies showing up, but I just start eyetwitching at the thought.

Bon, moving on. I got this from my lovely grandparents for Christmas and received it a few days ago as they were on holiday over Christmas. Its RRP was £45, but my nan bought it the week it was on offer and I think it was reduced after Christmas, but I believe Boots aren't selling it anymore. I took the liberty of looking on ebay and there are quite a few people selling it, not sure if they're fakes or not, but if you want to buy this, that would be your best bet.

Upon opening the case, you have the three palettes 'Latin', 'Salsa' and 'Ballroom', all named after the three dances they do in Strictly Come Dancing. Well, at least, I assume they do in Strictly, as I haven't ever really watched the show myself. The case comes with a face brush, eye brush and lip brush that you can find underneath the three layers and it's a good way to use up the empty space.
These brushes are actually quite good. The lip brush sheds a bit, but still does the job and they eyeshadow brush actually gets a lot of product on your eye which is great for a brush that comes with a product as usually they're rubbish.


So then you pull out the three layers so that they're sort of next to eachother yet in a layered way. So this post will be concentrating on the upmost layer, which is the 'Latin' palette, I believe.



This palette consists out of darker shades which are meant for smokey eyes, and bright to dark red lip shades, so altogether a dramatic look, but then, these ARE for the dancefloor, so they have to be dramatic.


So the odd thing with this palette is that the eyeshadow pans are diamondshaped compared to the other two which are circles. First of all, you have silver and dark grey, so your classic smokey and then blue hinting towards purple. The first lip colour is your classic red and orange based, it's bright and hasn't got any shimmer in it. The second red is a bit bluer and has got some shimmer. These are also glossy in a way, which sounds stupid but compared to the very last one, the swatch will show what I mean.

And then you have a blush, which could double as a bronzer as well. It's got some shimmer in it, but it's not too visible, so it's still a bit subtle.


Here we have purples, a green and a brown. So basically with this palette, you can create some dark, bit more dramatic looks paired with bright lips. Again, a nonshimmery (don't want to say matte, cause it's not, really.) cherry red and then a darker red, which is the darkest lip colour in all three palettes.
And now swatches...for the first time in quite some time, I didn't bother with the primer.Yes, I'll still use it creating looks but I felt it wasn't needed for swatching as these were pigmented enough (and it's a double pain, swatching, then swatching with primer).

The eyeshadows are quite crumbly, so I think you might experience fallout with these. They're all quite soft and velvety and the lipglosses are great as well. The first three are quite glossy and sticky looking, although they aren't and the staying power's not bad on these.

As with my Sephora Colourplay palette, I think I'll post looks to go with these, so stay tuned!