Sugarpill Swatches Part I

Starling, Darling and Magentric

I bought a new lens for my camera to take better close-ups, so I tried it out with some Sugarpill Chromalust loose eyeshadows. They are my favourites when it comes to bright colours and sparkle!

Starling is a medium blue with blue and turquoise sparkle and shimmer.

Darling

Darling is one of my favourite turquoises. It's light, but not aqua, and has blue and silver sparkle. Very intense.

Magentric

Magentric is a dark fuchsia with blue microglitter.

Birthday Girl

For a nice, warm baby pink, Birthday Girl is the shade to go to. It has subtle pink glitter in a matte base. Not as flashy as most of the other Chromalusts, so this colour could be used in more toned down looks also.

Paperdoll

Paperdoll is like the sister shade to Birthday Girl. It's a light lavender purple. It has a matte base and some matching glitter in it.

Hysteric

Hysteric is an awesome eyeshadow! It's a medium purple with lots of shimmer and turquoise microglitter.

Inspiring Blog Award

I was very happy to receive the Inspiring blog award from Part of Banshee's Life and Luurankoja Kaapissa. Thank you both so much!

The award comes with a task of listing five of your most peculiar habits. Here I go!

1. I hate routines and rather do things on a whim than plan carefully.

2. I like to watch the Bridezillas TV-show. When you watch and episode or two, suddenly your own problems feel very logical and quite small ;P

3. I have over eight pets. Five cats, three leopard geckos and some fish and freshwater shrimp in the aquarium.

4. I'm a terrible cook. Or not terrible, just terribly uninterested in cooking ;P Partly because my other half is so picky it's hard to cook anything for him. The good part is that this means he cooks most of the time, and he's great at it!

5. I haven't ever been unemployed. I've been super lucky to get a job before I even graduated, and I've always found a new one just in time. This is my third job, if you don't count the cleaning work I did on summer's when I was younger.

Then the award travels on to some blogs that inspire me!

Madame Mari Mortem
Black Stains on White Wings
One of Beauty's Daughters
Roses and Vellum
Desperate Hell
Milking the Rolling Cow

Glitter Gel Nails

These are actually pretty old pictures, from last summer, but I don't remember posting them. UV-gel nails with short stiletto tips and magenta glitter. I brushed gel on the tips and dipped them in loose glitter, cured, them added a few layers to get the surface even. I remember I really liked these!

Pretty, Pretty Doll!

On my Christmas wishlist I had a doll, but since Santa sometimes forgets things, I didn't get it. That or I've been naughty! But worry not, being an emancipated modern lady, I went ahead and ordered the doll myself. It's not on sale in Finland at the time, so I got it off eBay from the States.

This is Skelita, daughter of the skeletons!

Here's a nekkid pic, just because I was so in love with
the doll being all bones!

She even has little bone boobies shaped into her ribcage.

I changed her shoes, the original ones were
boring sandals. Here she's wearing shoes from the
create-a-monster set skeleton. The shoes are painted
by me, they come white.

My doll's nose is a bit damaged, some of the paint has worn
off, but she's still pretty.

The create-a-monster skeleton's shoes, painted to be prettier! Skelita is
actually more yellow than the other skeleton. I like Skelita's colouring
better, it's more realistic and easier to photo. I might have to paint the heels
of the shoes to match!

Hints and Tips about Blogging

My blog is now one year old, so I felt like listing some things I've learned along the way about blogging.

1. Good quality pictures
For me, the first thing I look in a blog is the pictures. I like big pictures that are well lit. I usually read beauty blogs, so it's important to see for example the true colour of a nailpolish or how the eyeshadow really looks on lids. Pictures with lots of light tend to make the subject prettier, also! I have a Nikon D80 with an external flash to keep my pics looking nice, and recently ordered a new lens to be able to take better close-ups.

A picture of my nails painted by Anniina.

2. Quantity over quality
Well, I don't think blog posts are bad quality if they are short, but the point is that it's better to post often than write long texts. It's easier on the writer, an most readers are browsing blogs and don't stay on one site for very long, so everyone benefits.

3. Have a few posts stashed away
I lead a pretty hectic life sometimes, and I don't always have time to write every day. When I do have time, I try to write a post or two to keep as drafts in case there's a longer time I don't have time to blog. I prefer posting immediately after writing a text, but things like make-up reviews can wait if the product is an older one. I feel that posting often is being nice to my readers.

Bones and Lilies stamp!

4. Layout
I read a lot of goth blogs, but I hate white text on black background. Or worse, red or another dark-ish colour! It's just really hard on my eyes even thought white on black looks really good on first glance. I especially opted for a white background with black text to make the blog easy to read. I consider myself a goth and feel like my blog deals with goth things, but I'm perfectly happy doing it with a white background ;P

5. Be positive!
My life isn't always sunshine an happiness, but my blog is a place where I like to share the nice things in life. I feel it's a much nicer reading and writing experience when the text mainly deals with positive things.

Me in a second-hand Lip Service dress, picture by Sari.

New Swatches

I've soon gone through my box of new shadows to swatch, but don't worry, when my new lens arrives I'll be re-swatching old ones to get better pictures!

Here are a few purple and my favourite taupe.

Shiro Not Very Effective, Shiro Shinigami, Geek Chic The Pointy End and
Femme Fatale The Dark One

The two Shiro shadows look very similar in the jar, but their differences are clear when swatched. The jars were packed so full I had to remove the sifters to get some shadow on my brush!

Not Very Effective - A blackened purple, very dark with multicoloured glitter.

Shinigami - Dark purple with silver shimmer and microglitter.

The Pointy End - My so far favourite taupe! Medium to dark, cool and with a metallic sheen.

The Dark One - Looks lavender in the jar, but on skin the darkness shows well. A blackened, blue based purple with lavender sheen and magenta microglitter.

From top to bottom: The Dark One, The Pointy End,
Shinigami and Not Very Effective

From top to bottom: The Dark One, The Pointy End,
Shinigami and Not Very Effective

Outfit of the Day

This is my look for an 80's goth party on Saturday. Not very eighties, me and my other half were going for just a few drinks.

Dress - H&M

Pantyhose - A gift from my Mom

Belt - Second hand, GinaTricot

Bolero - Second hand

Shoes - New Rock