2014 Makeup Favourites!

I know, I am the worst. Your eyes are not deceiving you. I am, in fact, writing a blog post after another hiatus. Not the best start to 2015 but I want this year to be a good one for my blog. As I'm writing this at midnight, I just reached 100 followers on Bloglovin'... wow! I know that number isn't anything significant to a lot of bloggers, even bloggers who haven't been doing it that long but let me tell you that is huge for me - massive! Of course figures aren't the most important thing to me personally as a blogger, but I never thought more than maybe 2 or 3 people would ever even want to read my blog, let alone comment on them or say they've found them helpful. But, as long as 1 person is reading, I'm happy to write! All I really wanted to say was thank you all so much!
I'm rambling on horribly, I do apologize... HAPPY 2015! Here were the stand out products of 2014 for me, makeup wise (if it were just beauty, I'd be here all year and well into 2016!). These are solely products I discovered in 2014. I'll admit, it was actually hard to find, even remember products I used at the start of the year, most of these are Summer and on wards discoveries but firm favourites nonetheless! It was hard to narrow it down, but I'm pretty happy with this list of game changers.

Brow Game 101 | My Brow Routine - Products, Techniques, Tips&Tricks.

I've been meaning to do this post for a long time, but I was avoiding it for ages. Purely because brows are a personal thing, different for everyone and can be hard to explain in a written post. That, and there are so many different ways to fill in your brows depending on the look you're going for. This is going to be my own personal brow routine. I'm a big fan of a fuller, sculpted brow and that's exactly how I like to do my own. My brows are naturally dark and thick, but I thought I would show you guys a couple of different ways I like to do my brows. I definitely don't think my brows are perfect, and I'm constantly trying to make them better, but I get asked about my brows quite a bit so I thought I'd do this post for those who were curious! These methods and tips can be taken and tailored to suit your own personal brow style and I think there's a few things everyone can take away from this post, no matter what brow shape or style you like! I hope this is helpful for some of you; I've gone through some of the different methods separately so you have the option of reading all of them, or just focusing on the way you personally prefer to do your brows. I'm going in order of my natural evolution in brow products; I began with powders and soon discovered new and unique products to use - I hope you discover some new ones as well! This is gonna be a long one, so stick on the kettle!

FOTD + Step by Step How To | Uninterrupted Mythology.

Finally, here is an autumn inspired face of the day! I've been itching to put this much makeup on my face and photograph it for you guys. This is a halo/spotlight type look, with the colour lightest in the centre. I like to call this a sort of "pretty grunge" look, because it's using some red and bruise toned colours in a very blown out shape but still manages to look made up and girly. I've really been enjoying this lately because it looks great even without winged liner and can be blown out quite a lot around the edges. Saves a lot of time and looks really nice with those kind of colours. I did a post all about some of my favourite eyeshadows for autumn/winter (link here) - you could easily take other shades similar to those that I mentioned and recreate this look to your taste. It could be made less burgundy and more brown, less rose gold in the centre and more gold or bronze, it's really up to you! I also gave the options of a dark lip and a nude lip, and I'd wear this look with both depending on my mood but, of course, you could opt for the nude lip if you preferred! Let me know which lip you would wear with this look down below! :)

FOTD/Step by Step How To | Urban Chaos (Urban Decay Electric Palette).

I have been dying to get properly stuck into the Urban Decay Electric Palette since I got it last month. I had no time to sit down and play with makeup between moving my stuff from Dundalk to Galway, but I finally got a chance to throw some of the colours on my eyes and this is what I came up with. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - it reminds me of a (radioactive) peacock. Blues and purples are colours I love to wear together, and I decided last minute to include the pop of yellow/green in the inner corner. The lid almost reminds me of a water colour with the blues and purples merging into one, so I opted to skip out on winged liner because I thought it would make it slightly more 'harsh' and almost graphic looking. That being said, you could definitely choose to add wings if you feel a little naked without them like I often do! I paired this with subtle highlighting, a pink blush and some nude lips. I have a review with swatches of the Electric Palette here and a slightly more neutral FOTD using it here if you're interested in seeing more of this palette :)

That Thrash colour is insaaaaaaaane - it just glows!

FOTD - Naked Freak | Electric Palette Tutorial.

Okay, so I know I said I'd wait until I got home from France to do tutorials with the Electric Palette but uhmmmm, that didn't really happen. I've played around with it a little since I got it, but want to wait until I'm home (to the comfort of false lashes etc) to do some reaaally bright looks. So, wanting to keep it (slightly, only very slightly) more netural, I came up with this. I kept the crease brown and used a pop of colour on the lid and the lower lashline. I think the neutral crease makes it a little more wearable but ultimately it's still quite bright. I included one picture in the pictorial of a really neutral look I did, using the Electric Palette only on the lower lashline. I didn't take any other photos of that look, and it's so simple that I didn't think it would warrant an entire post but I thought I would throw it in here anyway because it's using the same 2 palettes (Naked Basics and Electric Palette) as my other look. The only difference is I swapped the bright lid for a neutral, matte cream colour.

I (obviously) don't have false lashes on in this FOTD, and if you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that I lost my lash curlers whilst on the trip. It was pretty traumatic, but I've since bought a different pair so the republic still stands and the earth has started turning again. Basically, excuse the state of my lashes and I hope you enjoy the face of the day! If you want to see my review on the palette, with my overall thoughts and swatches then click here :)

FOTD | Lucky Green Feathers.

Another quick FOTD - I actually intended on doing a whole step by step for this, then got really into it and realised when it was pretty much finished that I hadn't taken a single photo of the thing (genius). Anyway, I posted it on Instagram and did say I'd post some up-close photos and product details along with it so... here you go! Green is a colour I rarely use in makeup so I'm trying to get out of that rut. I used a light green on the lid with a deep green in the crease. I wanted a little more colour and so added the purple the whole way along the lower lashline. It's actually a very easy look - 1 lid colour, 1 in the crease, 1 on the lower lashline etc. I finished the eyes off with a pop of gold in the inner corner to compliment both the green and purples and paired it with a nude lip! I'll have a few step by step pictorials coming up soon hopefully, I'm doing some pre-written blog posts before I go off to France on Monday so if you have anything you'd like to see then please let me know :)

Shout out to Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade for a strong brow game.

Products Used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Eden
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow(s) - Naked 2 (transition shade) Foxy (browbrone highlight) Half Baked (inner corner) 
• MAC Eyeshadow(s) - Lucky Green (lid) Plumage (crease)
• Urban Decay Glide-On Pencil - Ransom (waterline and lower lashline) this colour is actually no longer available since they redid their pencils but Psychedelic Sister would work well, if not even better considering I set the pencil with the same shadow!
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow - Psychedelic Sister (lower lashline)
• Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Brown (review here)
• Benefit Blush - Hoola (bronze and contour)
• Benefit Cha Cha Tint (review here) 
• Kiko Rock Attraction Blush - Pearly Rock (highlight)
• MAC Myth + Creme Cup (obsessed with this lip combination at the moment!)

Follow me on Instagram (@LongHairAndLashes) to see more FOTD's and other makeup stuff :) 

FOTD | Electric Eel.

I posted this FOTD on Instagram today and decided to post it on here with product details. This is going to be a super quick face of the day - I didn't think to do a pictorial for this look because I sat down at my dresser doing a pretty plain eye and by the end of it I came up with this. It's still a really simple look, especially if substitute black liner for blue, but I thought it was a nice change for the summer time. I should probably apologize in advance, because it turned out to be an "All Mac Everything" look, but a lot of these products, if not all, can be found from different brands! 

Products Used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Eden
• MAC Eyeshadow - Texture (crease/transition) Phloof and Electric Eel mixed (lid) Plumage (deep crease/outer v) Vanilla (inner corner/brow bone highlight) 
• MAC Pro Chromaline - Pure White (I took an angled brush and used this as a gel liner to do the wing, waterline and lower lashline)
• MAC Eyeshadow - Electric Eel 
• MAC Glitter - Transparent Teal (I added this later on very subtly across the eye which you can see in the bottom centre photo!)
• Ardell Demi Wispies #120
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Chocolate
• Urban Decay Bronzer - Toasted
• MAC Blush - Pinch o' Peach
• MAC Lipstick - Myth

Hope you guys like this one! Like I said, it's really not that complicated but definitely makes an impact with the blue the whole way around the eye. I've seriously been loving this kind of shade, especially very heavy on the waterline and lower lashline. Be sure to follow me on Instagram (@LongHairAndLashes) and Twitter (@DrnkTxtRmeo) for more FOTD's and makeup related things! 

What are your opinions on coloured liner? Would you wear something like this? x

FOTD | Blue Lagoon Sunset.

It's been a little while since I did a FOTD on here and I can really only put it down to laziness. I really haven't been wearing that much makeup lately and when I have it's definitely nothing too crazy. I asked a friend of mine to choose a colour scheme for my next look because I was completely out of ideas but knew I wanted to do something bright and summer inspired. Orange and yellow were the chosen shades of the day and this is what I came up with. It's inspired by sunsets with a yellow to orange fade on the lid, purple crease and heavy blue shadow on the bottom. I really like how this turned out for something I did on a whim! I hope it's not too similar to my Neon Jungle/Kiko FOTD I posted on Instagram a few weeks ago... I guess I've just been into my tropical colours because of the weather! I included a quick pictorial/step by step on how to achieve this look, but you could swap it for any bright colours you wanted! Not for everyone, but definitely something fun for a festival or summer night out. Apologies for the hun bun, but the Irish heatwave has made me want to shave my hair off ;) Hope you enjoy!

                                                               
                                                           Products Used:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Original
• NYX Jumbo Pencil - Milk (base)
• Inglot Eyeshadows #362 (pink) #370 (yellow) #325 (purple) #322 (blue)
• Kiko Eyeshadow #207 (orange)
• MAC Eyeshadow - Vanilla (brow bone/inner corner highlight)
• Ardel Demi Wispies #120
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Brown (review here)
• Urban Decay Baked Bronzer - Toasted (discontinued)
• MAC MSF - Soft and Gentle (highlight)
• Nars Blush - Orgasm
• MAC Lipstick(s) - Myth + Creme Cup

Review | Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade.

I had heard so many American bloggers raving about Anastasia Beverly Hills brow products - brow powders, Brow Wiz, brow gels and more recently, Dipbrow Pomades. The latter really intrigued me, I'm all about finding new brow techniques that are different to a powder or pencil. I will be doing a more detailed brow related post to follow this up, which will include a multitude of different ways to fill in the brows for different looks and brow types. However, I feel the Dipbrow deserves a post all on its own because it is absolutely amazing! One of the only downsides to the brand itself is that it's very difficult to get in the UK and Ireland and I only ever see it on very selective online retailers so unfortunately you don't have the luxury of colour matching your brow products. I was on a waiting list for the Dipbrow so they're really not the easiest of products to get. I ordered mine from Cult Beauty which I would highly recommend as they carry a whole host of Anastasia products (contour kits and everything in between!)

I like big brows and I cannot lieeeee. Using the Anastasia Dipbrow Pomade.

FOTD + Step by Step/How To: Bloody Brilliant (MAC X Kelly & Sharon Osbourne)

I wanted to play around with the Bloody Brilliant quad and some of the other products in the MAC X Osbournes collection and this is what I came up with. It's a soft plum cut crease with graphic liner and lashes. I decided to pair it with a pink to lavender slightly ombré lip but you could definitely go with more of a nude shade. It was my first time using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade and I think I'm in loveeee! I'll have a review of it in the next week or so :) The colour scheme is obviously very fitting for Kelly's part of the collection and this shape is something I've seen her wear quite often. Although I stated in my review of this quad that the overall look would be softer, that doesn't mean it has to be boring looking! I've also been completely addicted to RuPaul's Drag Race since getting Netflix and I'd say that's pretty evident in this makeup with the eyes and lips ;) I've also done a post reviewing the MAC x Osbournes collection with swatches/dupes/comparisons here if you're interested. Enjoy!

                                                                     Products Used

• Urban Decay Primer Potion - Eden
• MAC Tickety Boo Eyeshadow (crease/transition colour)
• MAC Pro Pure White Chromaline (used as a colour base on the lid and in the waterline/inner corner)
• MAC Fizzy Rose Eyeshadow (lid)
• MAC Shadowy Lady Eyeshadow (deep crease and close to the lower lashes)
• MAC Spoonful of Sugar Eyeshadow (browbone/inner corner highlight)
• Urban Decay Psychedelic Sister Eyeshadow (blended down onto the lower lashline

• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade - Dark Brown
• Mineralise Skinfinish Duo - Refresh bronzer and highlight (MAC X Osbournes)
• MAC Blush - Cheeky Bugger (MAC X Osbournes)
• MAC Lipliner - Magenta   
• MAC Lipstick - Dodgy Girl (MAC X Osbournes)