Festive and Fiery - A Christmas Colour Explosion!

First off, I don't think it's any secret that I'm a drama queen, so I don't think that it's going to come as a surprise that it didn't take me long to create a video tutorial for this dramafest:

I LOVE how this turned out (full face pic at the end of the post), so I really hope you like it too :) It goes without saying that The Electric Palette is the focal point of this look - but the other absolute stars are the e.l.f. HD cream blush and the e.l.f. cream eyeliner. I love these products and they have permanent places in my 'makeup essentials' (and my heart).

As I mention in the video, I really feel like this season is the ultimate in terms of being able to experiment with colour, and more daring looks. If you're typically a 'neutrals & nudes' sort of gal - this is your time to mix it up! If you're a colour-junkie like me, then you're probably already in your element :)

So the product breakdown is as follows:

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion (anti-ageing)

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil (milk)

UD Naked 3 Palette - 'Limit' on crease

UD Smoked Palette -  'Kinky'  & 'Freestyle' as blending/transition shades

UD Electric Palette - 'Slowburn' (inner), 'Jilted' (outer) & 'Urban' (outer V & above crease)

e.l.f cream eyeliner - Black - mahoosive winged liner on upper lashline

UD 24/7 Liquid Liner - 'Perversion' (lower lashline)

UD 24/7 Glide-On Pencil - 'Empire' (waterline and a little on outer top lashline)

Eyelure Volume 100 Lashes

UD Naked Flushed Palette: Highlighter (inner corner highlight and mixed with Naked3 'Strange' for brow highlight.

Face:

Smashbox Colour Correcting Primer - Green

UD Naked Skin Beauty Balm applied with Urban Decay's Good Karma Optical Blurring brush

Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation Stick applied with Urban Decay's Optical Blurring brush

UD De-Slick Mattifying Powder (using giant fluffy powder brush from Barry M)

e.l.f. HD cream blush - 'Headliner' applied with e.l.f. small stipple brush

Lips:

Maybelline Baby Lips (applied before makeup started)

Revlon Colorburst Balm Stain - '001 - Honey' - a beautiful nude to complement any bold eye look.

I really hope you liked the look and the video - if you have any comments, questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you! You can tweet me at @CharleyShadow or just comment on this post or the YouTube tutorial!

Have a beautful day, lovelies!

Char xx

My New Year Favourites!

Howdy!

Strictly speaking, some of these would be December favourites, and others would be January. Nevertheless, I've decided to take a sort of "as the mood takes me" approach to the whole 'Favourites' posts. As much as I love all of the YouTubers /bloggers I'm subscribed to, I sometimes feel like I'm watching the conveyor-belt round of The Generation Game, only instead of cuddly toys, it's reams of outrageously exotic products whose price tags have no correlation with my budget. For that slightly over-explained reason, I have no intention of keeping to any kind of schedule with my favourites or 'hauls'.

Anyway, over the course of the festive season, I did accumulate some cheeky little treasures that I highly recommend. 

First up is the e.l.f. HD blush. THIS, is a total gem. There are (I believe) five shades to choose from. The one pictured is 'Diva', which -as I'm sure you can see- is hot pink. It's very bright, and CRAZILY highly pigmented, so you have to go in pretty lightly. Perfect for an eye-catching evening look, it couldn't be more aptly named. I also bought this product in 'Headliner', which is a vastly more daytime-friendly pale pink. I have a slightly more comprehensive video overview, on my Tumblr feed, which you can find here!


Our next guest is the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in 'Honey', which is a mouthful in more ways than one. I ADORE this product. For jazzing up your daytime no-makeup-makeup, or a subtle addition to a more glam evening look, I really feel like I've found one of those wonderful products that I'll buy time and time again. 

At this point, I need to make a small revision to something I said in my first post. I said that I didn't feel that "makeup is a staple", and I don't want that to be misconstrued as "I think people who wear makeup every day are vain". I'd like to revise it to the following:

I personally don't feel the inclination to wear a full face of makeup every day. MOST days I will wear eyeliner and mascara; often I will accompany that with a little bit of blusher and lip balm, tinted or otherwise. SOMETIMES, if I have time and the mood takes me, I will make a real effort and do a full face. Like I said, makeup for me is a plaything, and how much I wear is directly in line with how 'playful' I'm feeling!

Anyway, onwards and upwards! 

In my first post, I said that my favourite eyeliner as a teen was an electric blue one. As an adult, the love affair with bright blue tones has reached out and engulfed all things turquoise. Who wouldn't LOVE this Maybelline Color Tattoo in 'Turquoise Forever'? Even putting it on, I felt like a mermaid. It was a magical experience. This is the perfect cream base to several GORRRRRRRRGEOUS blue/turquoise/green powder shadows I own, and makes for a vivid look.

Next up, ladies and gentlemen...

Ahhhh, how could the mothership not get a mention? The wonderful people at Urban Decay clearly knew that I was looking for some wearable everyday eyeshadows when they were creating the glorious Naked 3 palette. It seems to have had something of a love/hate reception in the blogosphere, due to the rose-gold pigmentation of the shades. For me, TOTAL, 100% 'love'. I'm not that much of a brush-snob, so having the double-ended UD brush in the ultra-slender palette means that this baby lives in my handbag so that I can do my makeup quickly when I'm on the move! I was surprised that I was able to get such a variety of looks from this, considering that basically all of the shadows are pink-tinted neutrals.

Last up- Christmas gifts from Mr Charley. Whilst I strongly suspect that he walked up to Nails Inc. in Debenhams, swept the contents of an entire shelf into a basket and headed to the checkout, I totally appreciate that he knew exactly which counter to go to, and which shelf to sweep. I audibly squealed on Christmas day when I opened these:

These are hands-down, some of THE most beautiful nail varnishes that I have ever put onto my nails. Many of them have only needed one coat, and every single one that I've tried out so far has looked stunning when locked between the Kensington Caviar base & top coats (duo on the right).

That's about it for this little 'Favourites' post. I hope you've enjoyed! If you did, then I'd be much obliged if you'd spread the word and share the blog post with the world/social media!

I'd love to hear what your New Year favourites are! By all means, comment below or holler at me on Twitter ( you can find me at @CharleyShadow :)

I hope to see you again soon! Stay beautiful!

Char 
-x-