Pattern Recognition

Nah, not another knitting post, but I wanted to make public the embarrassment I felt upon recently reorganising my makeup collection and discovering just how many versions of the same damn thing I possessed.

Obviously, having devoted a sizeable chunk of my frivolities budget to makeup for over a decade, it wasn't exactly a smelling-salts-required! level of shock, but I'm sure I'm not the first or only beauty lover to wonder where the line sits between "knowing your own tastes" (as I'm assured all the reeeeeally stylish folk must) and turning into Consumerist Drone Mark II No.23756920?

In hopes of some recouped cash if not an answer, I'll be uploading a spring blogsale tomorrow (with some clothes and accessories too). In the meantime, some patterns for posterity:

BLUE-BROWN QUADS

Sonia Rykiel Quatre Eyeshadow 09, Suqqu 01 Kakitsubata, Suqqu EX-04 Douku (LE), Lunasol 04 Smoky Ocean, THREE 02 My Blue Heaven, Esprique Blend Dimensional Deep B-5

PINK-TAUPE QUADS

Chanel Stupendous (LE), Guerlain 409 Ombres Perlées (LE), EST Emotional Aura Eyes 03 (DC), Suqqu EX-05 Usumomokurumi (LE), Suqqu 11 Himesango

GREY PALETTES

Cosme Decorte Magie Deco DC024 Luminous Star, Suqqu 09 Koju (DC), Suqqu 04 Keshizumi, Coffret D'Or Trance Deep Eyes 04 Gray Variation (DC), Integrate Accent Eyes VI 710

Now I'm no minimalist, and I particularly enjoy premade palettes because they tell stories in ways that single items don't. In practical terms, on rushed mornings I find quads in particular easier to throw on than single eyeshadows (which I usually find need pairing with a liner -- but which liner? and WHERE HAVE ALL THE LINERS GONE?! etc.), and they also make the best travelling companions. Felt I had to point that out. But honestly the wankier reasons are the more important, especially when combinations of texture, finish and all the spiralling distinctions of nuance come into play...

....I have no excuse for my bad buying habits when it comes to single items. A maybe-explanation though: I'm more tactile than visual, and so picky about texture that once I do find one I like, critical faculties aren't tossed aside lightly but thrown with great force.

SOFT ROSE // BRIGHT CORAL

Guerlain KissKiss Gloss Stick (DC) in Rose des Sables and Corail des Mers

Lavshuca Dramatic Memory Rouge in RS-1 and RD-1

Guerain Rouge Automatique in Chamade and Nahema

Hourglass Femme Rouge in Fresco and Muse

BRIGHT PINK // TRUE RED // COOL PLUM

Shiseido Perfect Rouge in PK417 Bubblegum and RD514 Dragon; Tender Sheer in RS628 Natural Wine

Guerlain Rouge G in Girly, Garçonne and Gigolo

Addiction Cheek Stick in Amazing, Revenge and Suspicious

Sonia Rykiel Sublime in 03, 02 and 24

CORAL-PEACH // ROSE PINK // DEEP RED

Kevyn Aucoin Creamy Moist Glow in Tansoleil, Pravella and not-Patrice

Chanel Extrait de Gloss in Liberté, Confidence and Fatale

Nars Velvet Gloss Pencil in Happy Days and Frivolous; Velvet Matte Pencil in Pop Life

Becca Beach Tint in Guava, Watermelon and Strawberry

RMSBeauty lip2cheek in Smile, Moment and Rapture

Becca Lip and Cheek Cream in Petal; Cream Blush in Amaryllis and Geranium

Majolica Majorca Lash King Mascara review

Anyone who read the last post will know that I owe you a sizeable backlog of mascara reviews -- so many in fact that I'll be posting them in, well, clumps. But Lash King, the latest release from Shiseido's drugstore line Majolica Majorca, makers of my current (Lash Expander Frame Plus) as well as my all-time favourite mascara (the discontinued Lash Enamel Glamour Neo), deserved a considered post of its own.

Spoiler for those too lazy/busy to scroll: Having played with Lash King for two months, Lash Expander Frame Plus remains my favourite.

Lash King packaging

Ingredients

Tube next to Lash Expander Frame Plus (loathe the cheap-looking new colour-scheme)

Lash King has a traditional bristle brush head, bigger than LEFP's double sided plastic comb. And many more fibres. SO.MANY.Fibres.

For reference: LEFP (wand brushed through upper lashes once)

Lash King: wand brushed through upper lashes once

The most obvious difference is that Lash King gives more volume than LEFP.
Both mascaras are equally: waterproof/smudgeproof, lengthening, capable of holding a curl for days, difficult to remove (requiring Heroine Make Mascara Remover before cleansing oil).
But unforgivably, Lash King's drier formula combined with its, uh, exuberance of fibres means that I experience flaking throughout the day, ending up with a speckled semi-circle of soot under my eyes, which is indelible as only Japanese mascaras can be...

Aside from the flaking issue, Lash King looks best when applied in one clean coat, as above, but I for one am incapable of ever calling it a day after one swipe of mascara (and risk leaving a fraction of inner and outer lashes nude?!), and this formula starts clumping lashes together right from the second pass. Here's a more realistic application with actual eyeshadow on (Suqqu Koju quad, Nars Gaiety under brow), having brushed the wand through about three times:

Lash King gives a very obviously mascara'd look, which becomes all-out clumpy if I try to layer two coats proper (redipping the wand in between). Obviously this is entirely down to personal preference; for me the versatility and wetter / less fibrous formula of LEFP -- which looks better after a few extra coats -- wins out.

I ordered Lash King from ct_taiwan for around £12; it's now also stocked at adambeauty, ichibankao and the usual suspects.

Catchup

A thousand apologies for my lazy nonblogging ways -- illness and exhaustion meant that I wasn't wearing any interesting makeup in any case and barely even fulfilling the basic social do-not-traumatise-impressionable-children-in-the-street-with-vision-of-haggard-future-to-come contract.

I'll be returning to a more regular posting schedule now, and hopefully improving the quality of my pictures courtesy of a shiny!new!Canon 600D -- it sees "no makeup" makeup, yo! And probably dead people too.

So, some frivolous updates.

Spring clean

Beauty bits I've finished up / given up on this year:

(I have a mascara problem, I know)

Knitting

Laundering and putting the things I made this winter into storage (except the red top, which will transition into spring, and the 'whimsical' purple bonnet which I will try to foist upon an unwary school's drama department).

Rose Red beret (this is my 5th? 6th? People keep commandeering them off my head)

Meret with extra slouch (using up some wool/mohair leftover from a wrap cardigan)

Doomed bonnet is doomed (tweed left over from a peplummy jacket)

 Red textured sweater (100% merino, not thrilled with the fit on the shoulders, hey ho)

Aran tunic nightmare (I made this three times to get it to fit, lost the vintage ivory buttons I'd carefully hunted down, semi-permanently stained my hands with the appropriate shit-coloured organic vegetable dye that kept.leeching.out of the organic local British wool the trauma... and finished it just as the temperatures rose above 20ºC. I will wear it to death next winter.) 
 

  The slouchy beanie you've seen already, and I forgot about this scarf, started in Hong Kong late last year (Italian mohair/nylon):

For spring, I've decided on two bluegreeny tops -- a lacy pullover pattern from the 1940s in exquisite merino/silk (R) and a quirky cotton/milk protein cardigan (L) for candy-coloured colourblocking purposes.

Comfort reading 

People who know me almost very well tend to say I'm addicted to books when my actual addiction is to story -- books are just my preferred short-cut. When convalescing or generally in need of comfort, I like even shorter-cutting, which usually means rereading stuff I pretty much have by heart.

(The Princess Bride and Cold Comfort Farm have been staples since childhood and I tend to cycle through Pratchetts, Wynne Joneses and Fry's (or Wildes and Shaws and Restoration comedies))

More broardly my shortest-cut genres are children's/young adult fiction or books-in-series (bonus if it's a series of children's books), the best of which provide an intravenous drip of well-written story, relatively uncluttered by scaffolding and obtrusions and other such yawnsomes.

Not photographed (because I felt like enough of a knob snapping books, I really aint going to photograph a kindle screen): The Hunger Games trilogy, which I gulped down in its entirety in one night, and then drooled for a week over all the glorious visual interpretations.

Skincare

In a world without Cinna's aid to Beauty Base Zero, these potions kept me vaguely human-looking and -feeling. Illness makes my skin even more dry and sensitive so I've learned from experience to slather on the blandest moisturiser and richest lipbalm I own every couple of hours (Avène Tolérance Extrême and RBR Kiss Elixir) and if any peeling/cracking does occur, to supplement them with Avène Cicalfate and Blistex Relief Cream.

Makeup

The latest shade of Shu Uemura's Underbase Mousse primer (Pink Purple) is the perfect neutral lilac to knock out post-illness sallowness and redness without leaving me looking more zombielike (cheers, traditional green/purple primers!) or tangoed (trad pink/orange). Having finished a Graftobian HD cream foundation and Ellis Faas concealer, I'm now mixing various things with Suqqu Frame Fix Foundation 101 and layering things over Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Bisque (of which the Shu 4R sable brush applies the perfect amount).

Eyes have consisted of simple washes of a cream eyeshadow: RBR Atlas Swallowtail, Laura Mercier Mercury, MUFE Steel and Bobbi Brown Beach Honey all have a subtle silvery sheen to flatter discoloured eyelids. Sometimes with an iridescent pigment dabbed onto the centre of the lid for more dimension: RBR Sleeping Under a Mandarin Tree and Wishing for Wings, MAC Night Light, Suqqu Kyokkou.

Obviously, lips need to be bright and saturated to provide the greatest impact : effort ratio. By Terry Rouge Terrybly Cherry Cherry and Hot Cranberry, Chanel Genial, Bite Beauty Pomegranate, THREE Ruby Mist are all in heavy rotation and work well on lips in less than perfect condition.

 

Telly

Aside from the return of old favourite Mad Men, current flirtations with The Walking Dead and Once Upon A Time (though by now, I watch mostly for the lipstick/hat inspiration and Robert Carlyle's unholy charisma), I'm most eagerly anticipating the second season of Game of Thrones... which comes on in about five minutes so let's see how much drivel I can type until then.

I've been watching the first season's dvd commentaries, oh yes, and OMG, like, DIEING at the deliciously silly and geeky Lena Headey (Cersei) on episode 2 and Harry Lloyd (Viserys) on episode 6, and of course the adorable Stark kid actors on episode 3 (how preternaturally asute is Maisie Williams?) Essential viewing if you haven't already.

Also essential viewing (though you probably have already... I've fallen behind on memes trying to avoid spoilers):

via a song of ice and wire

via arrestedwesteros