Harley Quinn

Hello guys and dolls!

So, Halloween is fast approaching and I've been thinking and planning this look for a little while now and I've finally got round to actually doing it!

It's really difficult being a blondie at Halloween because, obviously, everything is supposed to be gothic and spooky which really work when you have lighter hair and there's only so many times you can see a dead nurse/school girl/other generic sexy/scary costume before you get bored.

After a bit of looking on Google and Youtube, I eventually found Harley Quinn and I fell in love with the idea of recreating her in my way.

I'll list all the products I used at the end but it's a pretty simple look to recreate and I think it's super dramatic.

I started with the hair. Harley Quinn has high pigtails with two small sections of free flowing hair. I sectioned my hair into 4 main parts: the 2 large sections for the pigtails and 2 strands for the free flowing.

I used a back combing brush to add a bit of volume and texture to the roots of the hair.

 I then put the hair into 2 high pigtails, placed just above ear level and towards the back of the head. I couldn't get a good picture of where they were so this is what it looked like from the front.

 Using my normal routine, I applied my makeup. However, I've had a MASSIVE breakout so to take away some of the red, I used a green concealer (which is a lot less noticeable on this picture) after my foundation. 

 I then applied a 'transparent' powder over my entire face to make it as pale as possible because Harley Quinn is very pale.

 I used a black eye shadow all over the lid and a glittery silver in the crease. I then blended the colours with a soft definer brush up towards my brow bone and out to give it a winged look.

 I then applied a white eyeshadow under my eyebrows to make the black more dramatic and clean up any dark eyeshadow that that strayed too far.

 I added black eyeliner to my water line and liquid eyeliner to my upper lashline. Using the same black eyeshadow, I used a precise shader brush and lined under my lower lashes. 

I decided that I wasn't happy with the entire eye look being so black so using a crease brush, I added a dark purple to the outer edges of the eyeshadow. It was only a tiny amount but it goes a long way and adds an extra dimension to the look.

 I added off with lots and lots and lots of mascara! I don't do falsies. I suck at putting them on and end up getting angry and smudging my makeup.

 To finish, I used a black eyeliner to line my lips and applied a lovely purple lipstick before blending with a lip brush. Harley Quinn normally has red lips but I really wanted to use the purple for a more gothic look. 

 Sorry that my hair's pulled forward. I looked bald when I tried to take selfie with it back. My arms covered of it :(

OH! Before I forget, the brushes that I've referred to e.g. soft definer, precise shader etc. are from a ZOEVA make up brush collection that I won a few months ago in case anyone is confused about what I'm on about. I'll do a quicky post and go through them all soon.

 FACE:

Foundation: Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 hours in 010 Light Porcelain

Concealer: Benefit Boi-ing in 1

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Ivory

The concealer palette was from eBay but it seems that the company is no longer up running. There are tonnes just like it though.

Eyebrows: E.L.F. Studio Eyebrow Kit in Light (it comes with instruction hence why I haven't babied you with the deets).

EYES:

Eyeshadow: Fraulein 38 180 Palette. This is also from eBay but I think you can find them on the tinterweb if you have a rummage. The shades used as circled in the pictures below.

Eyeliner: Liquid - Rimmel Waterproof Gel Liner in 001 Black

Kolh - Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer in Black

Mascara: Rimmel Wonder'Full Mascara with Argan Oil in Black

Max Factor False Lash Effect in Black

L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Waterproof in Black

LIPS:

Liner: Max Factor Kohl Eye Pencil in 020 Black

Lipstick: Dolce and Gabana Classic Cream Lipstick in 330 Purple Pearl

What are you planning on doing/going as for Halloween?

Are you a spooky or a sexy kinda person?

Thanks for reading. To keep up to date or have a nosey, follow me on Twitter or Instagram.

Toodles!

X

P.S. I actually took this picture at work. My job is so awesome sometimes!

LET IT GO!

Hello my chicklets!

I have recently discovered, like the entire world, the wonders of Frozen! I have actually wondered around work singing 'Let It Go' and 'Do You Want To Build A Snowman'. I am a massive Disney fan, new and old but Frozen is different. Sure, you've got the 'love at first sight' thing but then you get the realistic points where people are actually shocked by the fact she wants to marry after a day. I can actually relate to Ana, Elsa and Kristof simply because Ana is so socially awkward, Elsa is scared of hurting everyone but still manages and put her family first and then Kristof works his hardest for little to no reward but is still happy as it's what he loves and he works with his best friend.

ANYWAY! So off subject as per usual.

I was playing around with my hair at the weekend and decided, being a blonde, I'll do an Elsa hair and make up tutorial. I suck as tutorials because I just naturally do it so explaining confuses me. I have the mind of a squirrel. Sorry :(

I hope you all enjoy it :)

 I started by using my Zoeva concealer brush to dab on Benefit Boi-ing industrial strength concealer to all my blemishes. This just helps me to get an idea of how much foundation I need to apply.

 I then used the same Zoeva brush to dab Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer under my eyes to hide my dark circles. It gives enough coverage without caking and creasing so it's definitely my favourite.

 To apply Rimmel Match Perfect Foundation, I used a Models Own Egg Shaped Make Up Applicator. I love this make up applicator! It stops you from putting too much on and looking cakey as it absorbs some of the foundation.

 I used my Zoeva powder brush to apply Rimmel Clean Complexion Transparent Powder which locks in your foundation and stop it from looking so shiny. I much prefer the matte look to the dewy look if I'm honest. I have oily skin so the matte look always keeps my makeup in place for way longer than trying for a dewy finish.

 NIGHTMARE ALERT! I dropped my powder and, of course, it shattered. Black carpet + white powder = horrible

 I applied the Rimmel Lasting Finish Mono Blush in 'Santa Rose' to the apples of my cheeks and swept up towards my temples with the Zoeva Sheer Cheek brush. This just gives it a nice touch of colour to the face so you don't end up looking like a ghost.

 I added a small amount of Benefit High Beam to the bridge of my nose and my cupids bow to make my lips look bigger.

I actually won this Zoeva Make-Up Brush Set at Christmas in an AX Paris competition. This set is actually worth £165! I actually nearly wee'd with excitement. (TMI Alert!)

I used this grey colour (circled below) from my Fräulein3°8 180 Colors Eyeshadow Palette. It was from eBay however, it's now stopped being sold. It is definitely up there with my best purchases ever. This is a lovely soft grey colour and I used it to tone down the pink/purple colour and make it look more 'icy'.

I'm not normally one for pinky colours but this lovely pinky/purple-y colour is perfect for recreating Elsa's eyeshadow. Since I have green eyes, it really compliments them and makes them pop! I'll definitely have to start using purple colours more in the future. The colour I used is circled below (middle column, 4th row)

I used my Zoeva liner brush and Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Gel Liner to liner my upper lash line. This is the most precise lining I have ever done. It only took me one go too, promise!

For mascara, I always use 2 different ones: one for volume and one for length. When it comes to volume, I'm loving Rimmel Scandaleyes Lycra Flex Mascara as it does add a small amount of volume at a time so you can build on it and make them thicker and thicker but, obviously, it can cause clumping so be careful. For length, I've been using L'Oreal Paris Volume Million Lashes Mascara for a good while now. I actually have the waterproof one but I can't find it (sad face). I love the length it gives but I don't find it gives loads of volume like it should but if, like me, you already have a good volume mascara then it won't bother you as much.

Now for hair! I'm aware that I look like a bit of a psycho in this picture but there is a reason. To start the hair, I pulled my fringe and 2 more small sections of hair forward so it was pretty much like this.

 I then pulled my hair to my right or left side, which ever you prefer, and moved the sectioned hair to the opposite side out of the way.

 I plaited the majority of my hair to the side and pinned any hair that had been missed with bobby pins.

 I pulled the remaining hair back from the middle of my face and it at the back of my head with bobby pins. I then carefully moved small amounts of hair so that it was equally distributed. This may be easier for me to do as I have layers in my hair whereas if you have hair that is all the same length then you may not get the same textured look at the top as Elsa does. It's very hard to explain how I've done this if I'm honest. I did put pin it down, distributed it and then pulled small amounts up to give it some height and volume.This was the finished product, I added Rimmel Kate Matte Lipstick in 101 to finish up. The lipstick is a pale-ish pink which isn't represented well on the internet so definitely try it in store. It is on my Instagram which you can follow me on as the link is floating around on my page.

If you try out the look, tweet me a picture on Twitter. My Twitter name is @sugarspicemkeup
I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and I really hope that if you haven't seen Frozen, you have to!

Toodles!
X

Face review

Hello my honeybears!

As I said in my last post, I would review my Benefit products when they had all arrived.

Literally a couple of days later, they arrived but I hadn't really had time to go over my products or my little foundation routine. I finally do so I'll get started :)

Benefit Boi-ing Industrial Strength Concealer in Light - £17.50
Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen wow! Foundation in Ivory I'm Pure 4 Sure - £25.50
Benefit Hello Flawless! Powder in Ivory Gee I'm Swell - £25.50
Benefit High Beam - £19.50
Bourjois Powder Délice de Poudre Bronzing Powder - £6.99 (From Boots)
Maybelline Dream Soft Blush in Berry - £6.49 (From Boots)
I also use Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Ivory - £5.49 however, I missed it off when I took the picture, sorry :(

So, this is my face after cleanser, toner and moisturiser. I am so oily hence why I'm so shiny. I have a lot of spots atm as well.

This is me with the Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen wow! foundation on. The foundation looks a touch too yellow for my skin but it is the best colour for my skin. The foundation is wonderful, it's so light and your skin can actually breath (I normally wear full coverage and my skin feels trapped). It is a light to medium coverage foundation and is completely oil free (yey!) so it's good for those, like myself, who suffer from oily skin. I applied it with a foundation brush which I will show you later on so it is easy to blend into the hairline and around the jaw line.It gives you a dewy finish so if you like that then I guess leave it like that but I'm more of a matte person. The foundation is also (apparently) really good for your skin as it helps the imperfections on your skin such as spots (according to the Benefit woman I bought it off).

This is with the Benefit Boi-ing industrial strength concealer and Benefit Hello Flawless! Powder and Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer. I immediately noticed a big difference (in person) when I applied the Benefit concealer, the only trace of my spots were little bumps but no redness, no horrible crusty tops (most of us have been there. When you accidently knock the top off a spot and it oozes and you just hate life) The concealer glides on with a concealer brush and it's so strong that you need so little so it does balance out the price. The powder, however, when I put it on my face to start with, looked so orange that I was terrified to carry on but it evened out and looked pretty good in the end. It leaves your skin nice and matte without looking caked on. The powder comes with a little sponge and a little brush for 'spot on cover' and 'all over cover' so you can get the cover that you really want.
I use the Rimmel concealer under my eyes because it really does cover the dark circles and because I'm such a bad sleeper, I have tonnes. It's really affordable and I feel like I've had mine for a life time. As I'm a student with a one day a week, minimum wage part time job, Rimmel is normally my go to for lipsticks and concealers as it's cheap, widely available and pretty reliable for colours (except foundation for me at least).
Sorry for the bad lighting, the sun went behind a cloud and now I look grey.

Benefit Hello Flawless! Powder brush and sponge

 I always (attempt) to contour after my powdering. I use my Bourjois Powder Délice de Poudre Bronzing Powder to contour by putting it, lightly, in the hollows of my cheeks to help emphasise my cheek bones and I also contour the sides of my nose to make it look smaller. the bronzer is actually my favourite bronzer that I've ever found because it's not orange (HALLELUJAH!) but it gives you a nice brown, bronzed look that you can build up so be careful how much you put on at one time, you don't want to look too dark. I use the lighter shade but I can't remember what it's called *slaps hand* I have used it for several years now and the slight chocolatey smell is so yummy. The packaging is easy to slip into your handbag for top ups on a night out because it's so thin. It is a must have from me and it's so cheap!. I then highlight the tops of my cheek bones, bridge of my nose and my cupids bow with Benefit High Beam. The brush to apply is like a nail polish brush so you have to gently remove all the excess from it before applying because you need only a drop of your nose and cupids bow and about 1/2 on the tops of your cheek bones. I don't smooth it along with my fingers because I feel like it will just pull the powder off your face and, if you've ever rubbed your face when you've got make up on then you'll know, it kind of bobbles around the patch you've rubbed and it looks kinda cakey. Instead, I pat it along and down the areas where I want it. It gives a beautiful, glowing finish and it draws the eye to those areas so all the boys will be staring at your lips. It may cost a bit but because you use so little, it is really worth the money. After highlighting, I put my Maybelline Dream Soft Blush on to the apples of my cheeks, with the patting technique again to avoid dragging the rest of the make up off, and then I pat it back towards my ears. You don't need much because the colour is rather intense when you put it on. It has so far lasted a year and it's only half way through so if you want a blush doesn't budge then this is probably the best product ever! It's so light and doesn't need to be topped up at all.

 This is my finished look with my eye makeup down and my eyebrows all nicely done. For my eyebrows I use Gosh Eyebrow kit. It comes with 3 different colours and wax to keep your eyebrows in place. I love the 3 different colours because I dye my hair between light blonde, as it is now, and a dark blonde so I can use the light blonde and the light brown depending on my hair colour or how defined I want my eyebrows to be. I love the wax as well because it stops stray hairs from falling out of place and looking stupid. It's £8.49 from Superdrug which, in my opinion, is quite cheap compared to others that do similar kits and for what you get.
I recently bought a new eye shadow palette because I love experimenting with my eye make up so when I saw this eye shadow palette with so many different colours, I was over the moon! I used the white as a base and in the corners of my eyes to make them look bigger (I think big eyes are sexy) and then I used the small blending brush to apply the colour, which is a goldy, greeny colour, to the outer quarter of my eyelid and then used the smaller angled brush to smudge the colour along my crease line. The eye shadows are buildable so you can make them as light or as solid as you like and the variety of colours that are included in the palettes mean that there's something for everyone. I finished off my eyes with Maybelline Colossal Volume Mascara. I like my eyelashes to have volume because they're naturally quite long and curly so this mascara is a current go to but I can't get it in waterproof (waah!) which would make it my all time favourite so I have to also apply Rimmel Scandal'eye Waterproof formula which is a bit naughty but hey, if you're not going to make it waterproof, my money or their mascara wand will be going elsewhere.

 Fräulein3°8 180 Colors Eyeshadow Palette+12 Pcs Brushes Leopard Case Make up Kit - £17.50 (without P&P) - From eBay

 Look at the variety!

The eye shadow palette comes with this lovely set of brushes.
I can now see myself posing like one of those girls that stands next to car or poses next to products on the teleshopping shows.

Wow, that seems like such a loooong post. If you've actually taken the time to read this, good for you!
I'm off to watch CSI Sunday (woohoo).

Toodles!
X

Durham City y'all

Hello my honeybears!

I'll apologise now for the dire quality of the pictures (a lot of flash and mirror shots) as they're taken on my phone because I can't get the correct camera angle on my digital camera and I'm not lucky enough to have one of the massively expensive professional cameras.

So last night, I was out in Durham City centre on a night out with friends. As I work all week and every Saturday, Saturday night is the only time I can let my hair down and I have, since my friends have got back from uni, been out almost every week. I'm getting a bit sick of it now but I rarely go out in Durham so it was a welcome change of scenery.

If you are ever in the North East of England. Pay a visit to Durham during the day, it's a gorgeous city.

Anyway, as my favourite asset of my body is my boobs, I nearly always go out with cleavage on show because why the hell not really.

I picked two dresses which I changed between a million times before going out.

The back on the right one isn't an open back, I just hadn't bothered to zip it up.

These are two of my favourite dresses ever! They are both from Missguided and they are both green (I love green) One is a bottle green whereas the other is a teal colour but I think it's leaning more towards the green than the blue side.

The bottle green (left) is a little bit too big for me as I've lost weight but it is soooo comfy and as it's got that little wrap cross front, it covers any stomach bloating or in my case, general belly fat. It does have quite a large open neck so I used boob tape to stop from fully exposing myself and just taped it to my bra. Boob tape is a girl's best friend in these situation.

The right one, which I ended up wearing, is fitted but not skin tight. It is rather short so I spent the night having to squat to pick things up. It perfectly frames your cleavage so the free drinks get racked up pretty quickly. It's not too tight that you feel like you're going to die but it's tight enough so that you feel comfortably 'sucked in' or it did me.

I honestly love both these dresses. If you are a dress or skirt person a la moi then Missguided.co.uk is the place for you. I am honestly on there at least once a day ogling dresses, playsuits, skirts etc.

 Heels and cobbles don't mix so I put my roll up flatties on. But yea, this is me casually posing outside Cafe Nero.

To top the outfit off, I used my beautiful Missguided clutch bag with chain strap, I adore the shininess of it. I have included this bag in my Presents blog so if you want to see it in full, check it out on there or go and have a nosey on  www.missguided.co.uk , you might even find some items you fall head over heels for like ME! I decided to stick to the ocean colours (it is summer after all) by painting my nails this blue which is Barry M Gelly Hi Shine in Guava.

My heels were, as the boys say, 'lethal'. Literally. They were another eBay find. The one downside is that they do hurt if you accidently catch your leg on the spikes but otherwise, you look like one hot mama, strutting your stuff in some 'killer' heels.

I was naughty (hehe) and mixed my silver accessories with gold jewellery. Bad Josie, slap on the wrist for you. These earrings, again, are from Missguided. I mixed my spikes, gold with my silver. I've worn these so much that I've started to bend the backs of them. I think they'd actually look better in silver because I'm blonde, they obviously blend into the golden tones of my hair so silver would be more striking. 

I have a spotty chest, sorry guys :( I also have a new freckle there too. This eye necklace was a 19th birthday present from one of my best friends, it's from Topshop. My birthday was in January so it's probably long gone. I love it, there's something spooky and mysterious about it. I love that little aspect of it.

There is my cleavage too. Hehe,

I sound like I've just advertised Missguided constantly through that post. I didn't mean to, I just like their clothes and accessories.

That's all then guys.

Toodles!

X