Kat von D Sanctuary, Hawkwind and Crucifix Compared

I took a million pictures with my heavy-duty DLSR camera but in the end couldn't get the colours to look accurate in any of them, so instead I offer you iPhone snaps ;D

I got a couple of the new neutral Kat von D shades while in San Francisco and wanted to do a comparison with other similar shades in my collection. Beiges and browns are notoriously hard to get to look correct in photos, but I think I did a decent job with these. The pictures are taken in artificial light.

From top to bottom: Make-Up Monsters Wolfsbane, Kat von D Sanctuary, Kat von D Hawkwind and Kat von D Lolita.

Sanctuary works excellent on my pale skin with yellow undertones. It is warmer and more red than Wolfsbane, but still more towards grey than Hawkwind or Lolita. Wolfsbane and Sanctuary look much more similar in the tube than on skin. Hawkwind and Lolita are very close to each other. I'd say Hawkwind is slightly darker and redder, but the difference is very small on my lips.

Top to bottom: (Lolita peeking on top) Sephora Cream Lip Stain number 24 Burnt Sienna,
Black Moon Cosmetics Wrath (this one has a satin finish, that's why it's shinier than the rest),
Nyx Lip Lingerie 10 Teddy and Kat von D Crucifix.

Crucifix seems to be unique in my collection. The rest of my dark brownish tones are much more red than it. You can see that the Nyx Lip Lingerie is a lot thinner in consistency than the others, and Black Moon Cosmetics lippies are satin, not completely matte. The Sephora Cream Lip Stain looked like it could be a match to Crucifix in the tube, but on skin it's very different.

I really like all the shades I bough: Hawkwind, Sanctuary and Crucifix. They are very different from each other but each one is usable and the formula is simply awesome. Hawkwind especially is a very natural and easy shade to wear, on me it's one of those my-lip-but-better shades. Easy to apply, does not need major touching up, and wonderful shades. What more could you ask for?

The Braid

Last Saturday I was DJing at Gothic Night and my friend Anniina (check out her Instagram for more awesome hair stuff!) was so nice as to agree to do my hair! I needed something that would stay put for hours, look goth enough and hide the weird tuft of hair that is my old shaved side I'm now growing out. Anniina came up with this wonderful braid hair-do that works excellently in my thick hair!

I'm wearing a Lip Service dress with an open back and a racerback bra with a lace insert.
Really like how the lace shows!

And a couple of pictures of the make up! I had eyelid surgery done a little over a week ago, so I still look a bit beat up. I consider myself a genius for coming up with the idea to hide the last traces of bruises under my eyes with the blue stripes ;D 

You will be seeing the scars up close in my future eye make-up pictures, but I'm hoping they will fade well. I have hereditary heavy lids, which with time would most likely have been so bad that they would hinder my sight. Within about 10-20 years I would have been able to get the surgery done by public health services, but I didn't feel like looking tired and having headaches due to straining my forehead for that long, so I had it done now. I'll most likely do a post on the procedure later. I just wanted to be honest with why I look a bit weird in these pics and make sure no one is worried, I'm absolutely fine! And I'd say for nine days after the surgery and no make-up on the incision area I look pretty decent ;P The liner looks like it's too far from my lashes, but that's just the swelling.

Lime Crime Diamond Crushers in Choke Review

Please note, I cannot recommend ordering these products from Lime Crime's own online shop due to people having problems with customer service!

I bought a Diamond Crushers lip topper from Urban Outfitters at San Francisco. The product seemed unique, I've never seen something like this, and even though the brand is not among my faves due to bad customer service, it felt safe enough to try a couple of products bought directly from a store.

The lip toppers are meant to be worn as is on lips, on top of other lipstick, on cheeks as highlight and on brows, according to the Lime Crime site. I tried Choke on its own and on top of Kat von D liquid lipstick in Echo, which is a dark blue. I have the feeling I should have swiped the product on my fingers and patted it on my lips instead of applying straight from the wand on top of another lipstick. Applying with the wand resulted in a very thick application, even when I tried to pat it a bit to get the product to go on evenly. It did not melt the lipstick underneath, which is great.

I have to say I'm a bit confused with the name, as it seems to be a plural.

Diamond Crushers in Choke

 In the tube Choke is light pink and shimmery. On its own the base is see-through and the glitter is lavender, pink and green, but seems to shift with the base colour. The doe foot applicator is bright pink, which made me first think that the product is bright pink too, but it seems to be just the colour of the fluffy end of the wand.

The glitter is very hard to capture in the tube

Choke on bare lips

Choke goes easily on bare lips and dries to a non-sticky finish. The glitter is intense and shows well and does not feather or otherwise escape to other areas, which is great! So the natural next step was to try Choke on top of another lipstick.

On top of Echo, a dark blue, all the pink seems to vanish and Choke looks more silver and blue. It goes on quite thickly, but isn't too bad to wear.

Lime Crime Diamond Crushers in Choke on top of Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Echo

Choke in direct sunlight on top of Echo

Even when layered on top of another lipstick Choke does not make my lips sticky, as the gif below tries to artfully demonstrate. You can press your lip together without the lipsticks shifting on transferring.

I like this product. It's very unique and I have a soft spot for all things glittery. I also own lots of liquid-to-matte lipsticks and these kinds of products might help me get some extra out of my collection! Choke does what it is supposed to do and gives me a way to wear glitter without having to fiddle with loose glitter and mixing liquids, and the finish is long lasting. I might even get this in another shade eventually!

Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Sanctuary

I was super excited that the Sephora I visited in San Francisco carried the new "nude" shades of Kat von D's Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks. I love the formula and many older shades have been excellent on my complexion, so I did some shopping and ended up with Hawkwind, Sanctuary and Crucifix. Sanctuary was the one I was on edge about and almost passed it by. Now I'm so happy I didn't, as it is becoming my favourite of these three! Sanctuary looks a bit grey-ish in the tube, but on my lips it turns to more of a pinkish beige. Quite natural and very easy to wear, even if there's some wear in the middle, it's not obvious.

The formula is once again great, stays well on my lips and does not feather or smudge. I feel these lipsticks are not as drying as most liquid-to-matte lipsticks. I use oil-based make-up remover to wipe the lipstick off.

So here's Sanctuary freshly applied on pale skin with yellow undertones!

Kat von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Sanctuary

Corset Photoshoot Make-up and Hair

Life tends to get in the way of blogging! I went on a business trip to San Francisco and the jet lag was devastating for a whole week, whew. Can't wait to try out all the new lipsticks I brought from the trip!

In the meanwhile, here's more detailed pictures of the corset photoshoot look Anniina_E did. It's so wonderful to have friends who not only have the skills to do awesome make-up and hair, also have the creativity to come up with wonderful things and the time to work with me!

The hair-do is a high ponytail with the base wrapped and sections done with a crimping iron to give the hair more texture. In the back is a braided section. I kept the jewellery very small and unnoticeable, so the corset and make-up would be the things that really shine. The jewellery should not compete for attention in this shoot.

I really, really love the way Anniina did my brows! I've been going for a somewhat similar style in my everyday look since the shoot, but her take on the brows is just amazing <3

Here you can see the braid, lovely! I'm growing out my shaved side, so the hair on this side is shorter.
The braid is an excellent way to hide it.

The brows are just <3 I do also like the subtle contouring and the glittery eyeshadow!

ColourPop Pressed Powders Look

Having fun with ColourPop again! This is High Strung patted over a base of Come And Get It, with Hear Me Out as the highlight on the brow bone and inner corner. I really like how the very metallic, coppery High Strung blends into the rose gold Come And Get It on the edges of the darker area!

Full face, the lips are Kat von D Lolita.