Notoriously Morbid Vanishing Cabinet Jan ’19 Review

Hi everyone!

Sorry this review is very late! I have been ill a few times in the past month but I am finally better and have the time to do a review for January’s Vanishing Cabinet. I’ve already received the next one so I’ll review that one next week!

For those who are not familiar with Notoriously Morbid, they are an indie makeup company based in the US and the Vanishing Cabinet is their monthly subscription which includes limited edition products with a certain theme!

This month’s theme was “Even After All This Time?” and yes, that’s referring to Alan Rickman! What an awesome tribute to one of the greatest actors who ever lived. I’ve put the movie in brackets after the shadow name.

Here’s what I got:

Always eyeshadow (Harry Potter)

WOW WOW WOW! My new favourite eye shadow! This is the most perfect Slytherin colour! It’s black with a dark green and blue sheen.

I Cannot Tell You, It Is A Secret eyeshadow (Sense and Sensibility)

This is such a beautiful shade! It’s got a blue base with green and pink sparkles. This shadow works really well for a “one and done” eye look if you’re feeling lazy.

The Classic Fool eyeshadow (Love Actually)

This is a shimmery orange toned red shadow. It has a sort of pinky undertone to it. I think this will work very well with purples, reds or pinks!

Yippie-Ki-Yay eyeshadow (Die Hard)

A matte peanut coloured brown shadow. This is the only product from this month that I won’t be keeping, as I am not a fan of browns! But it is a nice brown.

You Shall Be Avenged blush (Galaxy Quest)

This is a very beautiful light purple blush with a silvery blue sheen to it. It looks absolutely stunning when it catches the light! I am in love!

I created two separate looks for this month’s VC, one green look, and one look using the other shades!

Look 1:

Products used:

Eyeshadow: NM So Goes My Nation as a base, NM Christmas Cheer (from Dec ’18 VC) in inner corner, NM I Cannot Tell You, It Is A Secret & NM Always on lid.

Mascara: LA Girl.

Contour: NM Necromancy.

Highlight: NM My Bugs.

Lips: NM Mire (from the Black Friday 2018 collection).

Look 2:

Products used:

Eyeshadow: NM So Goes My Nation as a base, NM Yippee-Ki-Yay and NM Bloody Awful Poet in outer corner and crease, NM The Classic Fool in outer corner, NM You Shall Be Avenged in the centre, NM Sugared Bombs (from the Black Friday ’18 collection) in inner corner.

Mascara: LA Girl.

Contour: NM Necromancy.

Highlight: NM Osteomancy.

Lips: NM Throne Of Lies gloss

I hope you enjoyed this review and the looks!

J

xx

Notoriously Morbid Vanishing Cabinet Dec ’18 Review

Hi everyone!

I was on the waiting list for Notoriously Morbid‘s Vanishing Cabinet for a few months and finally got a spot at the beginning of December! I’ll be reviewing these monthly as I get them.

For those who are not familiar with Notoriously Morbid, they are an indie makeup company based in the US and the Vanishing Cabinet is their monthly subscription which includes limited edition products with a certain theme!

This month’s theme was “Son Of A Nutcracker” and did not disappoint!

Here’s what I got:

Affinity For Elf Culture eyeshadow

This is the only item in this month’s VC that I’m not too keen on, but that’s because I’m biased against any yellow or orange makeup products. It’s a yellowy orange with purple sparkles and a teal shift.

Christmas Cheer eyeshadow

This is a lovely light olivey green shimmery shadow with “a rainbow of sparkles” as they call it! It has glitter in a whole bunch of colours inside it.

Ninny Muggins blush

This is a gorgeous deep mauve satin blush that I’ll definitely be using as an eye shadow.

Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow slumber salve

The slumber salve smells absolutely incredible! It’s a lemon cookie flavoured sugar lip scrub.

Throne Of Lies lip gloss

This is a stunning purpley copper coloured gloss that also smells amazing! The packaging says it’s Snickerdoodle flavoured!

Here is the look I created with these products. I decided not to use Affinity For Elf Culture because I wasn’t sure how to make it work with the planned look.

Products used:

Eyeshadow: NM So Goes My Nation as a base, NM Christmas Cheer & NM Osteomancy over NM Shadow Bind on lids, NM Ninny Muggins with a little bit of NM Bloody Awful Poet on lids and crease.

Eyeliner: NYX Epic Ink Liner.

Mascara: LA Girl.

Contour: NM Necromancy.

Highlight: NM Osteomancy.

Lips: NM Throne Of Lies.

I hope you enjoyed this review and look!

J

xx

Liquid Lipsticks – Which Brand Is Best?

Hi everyone!

 

I often get asked about the makeup brands I use, specifically liquid lipsticks and my favourite brands. I decided to create this post to show my experience with the brands I have tried, so you can get an idea of which ones are the best (from my experience – of course not everyone will have the same opinion). Each brand will have a photo taken immediately after application, and a second photo taken when I get home from work (9+ hours of wear). To get the most authentic results, I will not be using lip liner. I won’t be judging the colour range at all. The name of the shade will be in the title after the product brand and name.

 

Essence Vibrant Shock – Black Widow

This lipstick was difficult to apply because the applicator is an odd shape. The colour does not apply evenly, as you can see. I tried to get it as smooth as possible but couldn’t get the colour to be even. It took quite long to dry and felt sticky on the lips. It did not last very well through the day – the colour smudged easily and felt oily most of the day.

 

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick – Vampira

The applicator is very easy to use, but the colour does not apply evenly. It does feel soft on the lips though! It didn’t make my lips feel dry at all! Unfortunately most of it was gone by the end of the day – it smudged and bled around my mouth area.

 

LA Splash – Wickedly Divine formula – Nagini

The applicator is a weird shape and is difficult to use. The lipstick does not apply colour evenly, as you can see in the photo. It dries extremely fast and made my lips feel dry within a few minutes of application. The colour lasted relatively well (in the sense that it wasn’t all gone, although as you can see it faded a lot) and did not bleed much, but made my lips feel very cracked by the end of the day.

 

Lime Crime Velvetines – Buffy

The applicator is very easy to use and the product applies smoothly. The coverage is excellent and only one coat is needed. The lipstick feels slightly sticky on the lips, even after it has dried, but it does not transfer on touch. The lipstick stays on pretty well after eating and drinking, with only a little bit in the centre of the lips rubbing off. However, it does start to feel a bit dry after a few hours.

 

NYX Lip Lingerie – Honeymoon

The applicator is a bit odd and the lipstick is a much more creamy consistency than the other brands, often creating small blobs that are difficult to smooth out. It does feel very moisturising on the lips though and the colour is solid! The colour bled around my mouth area, but because it is a more nude colour it is less visible. It did not dry out my lips much in comparison to the other brands.

 

Popfeel – Peacock

The applicator is easy to use, but this lipstick does sometimes need an extra coat to get smooth coverage. If you accidentally put it on a bit thick, it takes forever to dry (you can see a wet patch in my cupid’s bow. The photo was taken 5 minutes after application). When it dries, it is smooth and relatively soft on the lips and does not transfer much. It did bleed over the edges of my lips though. I lost a lot of product in the centre of my lips after eating, but other than that it stuck pretty well with only a bit of colour bleed. My lips looked and felt extremely dry and cracked by the middle of the day.

 

Pretty Zombie Cosmetics – Haunted

The applicator is very easy to use and the formula feels soft and glides easily on to the lips. It’s highly pigmented and only needs one coat to get an even colour. The lipstick does not dry out the lips at all! It lasted very well with hardly any product falling out and only a bit of bleed. It still looked relatively good after eating and over 10 hours of wear.

 

So there you have it! These are all the liquid lipstick brands I own with their comparisons. Pretty Zombie Cosmetics is my absolute favourite liquid lipstick brand I’ve tried so far due how well it lasts and how good my lips feel after a whole day’s wear. Lime Crime and Popfeel come tied in second place for me!

 

Of course everyone will have their own opinions, but these are mine and perhaps they can help if you are looking to buy some liquid lipsticks!

 

 

J

xx

The Freakquency Transmission outfit of the night

Hi everyone!

 

It’s been a while since I posted. Life has been crazy!

 

Last night I went to The Freakquency Transmission, where a bunch of awesome bands played. I had been planning my outfit since last year! I bought this dress while on honeymoon specifically for this event because it was carnival themed and I thought it would be perfect!

 

 

Outfit:

Hair clips: Aliexpress

Collar: secondhand

Dress: Black Pistol by Aderlass

Boots: New Rock Boots (secondhand)

 

Makeup:

Primer: e.l.f. Mineral Infused Face Primer

Foundation: Essence 2 in 1

Powder: LA Girl Pro Powder

Eyebrows: Catrice Glam & Doll Super Black Liner

Eye primer: Catrice Prime and Fine

Eye shadow: Colourpop Shock Shadow in Shamless

Eyeliner: Catrice Glam & Doll Super Black Liner

Lipstick: Wednesday by Pretty Zombie Cosmetics

I forgot to put mascara on, oops!

 

I hope you liked my outfit. I’d like to do more posts like this when I go out!

 

J

xx

OOTN: First Red Room Party For 2018

Hi everyone!

I want to start posting my outfits on here, as I often love to dress up when I go out! I’ll always link the brands or shops I got everything from when I can.

Last night I went to the first Red Room night for the year! Here’s what I looked like:

Makeup:
Foundation: Essence Camouflage 2 in 1 Make-up & Concealer
Under eye concealer: Catrice Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Liquid Concealer
Eye primer: Catrice Prime And Fine Eyeshadow Base
Setting powder: LA Girl Pro Powder

Eyebrows: Inglot eye shadow in black
Eye shadow: Mac in Gesso (white) and Inglot in black
Eyeliner: Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen
Mascara: Rimmel ScandalEyes
Lipstick: Pretty Zombie Cosmetics in Black Cat

To achieve the hair look, all I did was tease my hair layer by layer, then bunch it up in the middle of my head to create the desired shape, and pin bobby pins and hair spray like crazy.

Outfit:
Contact lenses: Eye Voodoo
Hair clips: eBay
Collar: handmade by Christiaan Oberholzer
Dress: Black Pistol brand by Aderlass
Boots: New Rock (thrifted)

 

I hope you enjoyed this look!

 

 

J

xx

My Favourite Pictures and Memories from October

Hi everyone!

This post is part of the ESG: My favourite picture of the month October swap on Swap-Bot.

Over the weekend of 6-8th October, I had a stall at my biggest event of the year – rAge Expo. For those not from South Africa, rAge is a gaming and geek expo! On the Saturday, I cosplayed a Little Sister from my favourite game series – Bioshock. Within the first hour of the day I managed to find a splicer (another character from the game) and we just had to take a photo together!

Next up, here are all the awesome goodies that I bought at rAge! Most of these were from fellow stallholders in the Artist Alley – we have so many talented crafters in South Africa and I love supporting them!

I got asked to model for a Tough Candy Makeup & FX‘s Halloween Countdown makeup series, and I got to be Frankenstein’s Bride! I really need to do a photoshoot with this look!!!

I also managed to accidentally dye my fringe blue (oops!), but at least it meant that I could finally wear one of my favourite skirts again! As those who know me will know, I only wear clothes to match my hair colours.

And lastly, here are some photos from Halloween! My makeup was done by the very talented Creative Chaos! I was a zombie Alice in Wonderland during the day, as I had a stall at an Alice in Wonderland themed market! Then at night I went out to Red Room with Juan and Tika, so I just threw on a more Goth outfit that I thought looked cool. Halloween was amazing! I danced so much at Red Room and caught up with so many people I hadn’t seen in ages.

This month I also sorted out lots of wedding arrangements, which I obviously can’t share photos of yet! I can’t believe my big day is only 18 days away!

 

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my month!

 

 

J

xx

The Best Birthday Weekend Ever

I turned 21 on Friday, and thanks to the amazing people in my life, it was the best birthday I’ve ever had. I’ve never really had a good birthday before but this year, despite it not going according to plan (at all), it was so much fun.

On Thursday morning, I found out that the actual Iron Throne from Game of Thrones was in Sandton City for a few days, so I immediately dropped everything and went!

I’m so glad I had the time to go and see it. It was definitely worth it!

On Friday, I went for breakfast with my mother at a cute cafe near our house. Afterwards, the family gave me my presents, which included a beautiful antique vanity cabinet that I had my eye on for a while, and some Inglot makeup!

My boyfriend arrived around noon (he had taken the day off work) and we went to Ocean Basket for cocktails and lunch. When we got home, he helped me rearrange my room so that the vanity cabinet would fit and then we had a picnic outside in the garden until late. Unfortunately he couldn’t give me my present because the post office has been on strike for almost 2 months, and my present is stuck there, but he bought me beautiful roses and showed me what he bought me:

I really hope the corset arrives soon! I’m so excited to wear it for the first time!

On Saturday morning I had breakfast with my father at a retro restaurant in Lynnwood Bridge. After that, my boyfriend and me went to Sexpo, which honestly was a huge disappointment, but it was our first time going, so at least we know now. That evening, we went to Dark Noise’s Witches & Warlocks Party. It was a very quiet event, but all my friends were there, including some who drove almost an hour to be there and we had lots of fun. I also took my brother with because he was turning 18 on Sunday.

Sunday was basically my recovery day and time to finish projects for university, so I stayed in bed all day.

Thank you to everyone who made this weekend wonderful!

J

xx