What happened to my Hogwarts letter?

So yesterday, instead of continuing with my reading for the next day's seminar, I decided it was a much better idea to watch the live streaming of the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in Leciester Square. This did indeed turn out to be a much better plan then reading an endless amount of law cases which I have to work through for my dissertation class, although I am not so sure my dissertation leader agrees ... Anyway, whilst watching the red carpet getting more and more filled with the cast and other celebrities (and some X Factor nobodies who shouldn't have even been there...) as well as the swarms of fans crushed up against the fencing on the red carpet, I couldn't help but get even more excited for the release of the long awaited final chapter to the Harry Potter phenomenon! In a week's time I will be in the cinema, in full Hogwarts attire, watching the first part to the end of what really was a big part of my childhood (and still quite a feature in my current, apparently 'adult', life now), as I'm sure many of you have the feeling too. It's unbelievable the excitement felt, and if you are a Harry Potter fan reading this then you understand it, for just one film, but I can't help it, this was my favourite book out of them all and one of my favourite books of all time (that's saying a lot being an English Lit student!)!

Though everytime I do watch Harry Potter or read the books it makes me more and more curious who stole my acceptance letter from Hogwarts?! I mean really, something must have happened to it for me not to recieve it! I couldn't have just not got one, I am clearly a witch, I have the uniform and everything (as picture shows...)

So where did it go? Did the owl not know where I lived? Or maybe someone intercepted my owl and stole my letter, the gits! Maybe I had an Errol like owl delivering mine so they just got confused or too tired to bring it to me... The explainations can go on and on but now I am wondering, more realistically since I am not eleven, if there is a graduate course I could do at Hogwarts? Maybe a speed course to make up for all the years I have missed, maybe even be a mature student? I shall look into post graduate courses for Hogwarts in the future (after finishing this degree) but does anyone else wonder what happened to their Hogwarts letter too?

xx

Oh la la Maquillage! 30 Followers Giveaway!

Hi Everyone!
It's horrible weather today (I'm hiding out in my room for the day as don't want to spend the rest of the day looking like a wet mouse!) but it did lead me to the discovery of the awesome giveaway that Miss Naty over at Oh la la Maquillage! is doing! She's offering all sorts of designer goody samples from Sephora as well as an awesome Lancome Mascara and more to whoever wins! All you have to do is be a follower of her blog and comment about what part of her blog you enjoy the most. It is that easy! So quick, whilst it's having a storm outside, sit inside in the warm, have a nice cup of cocoa and enjoy a read about the pretty little world of make up :)

                                                      (What you could win!)
xxx

The All-About-Eyes Files #1

Hi there! So this is my first post on make up or more specifically eye make up as I always find you can be so much more adventurous with that than anything else! Anyway, the PSM (Platonic Soul Mate) Dani asked me to start doing blogs on my techniques with liquid eyeliner and general make up as I use it everyday and have done since 15/16 (yet still make many mistakes with! The panda look when I jog myself with eyeliner will often come out when in a rush...) so here goes trying to blog about it!

Moving on, I am currently on bed rest at the moment and so have decided to spend my time practising my 'going out' looks despite the fact I'm not going out (though I do think my posters appreciate the effort ) and this particular one is using exaggerated eyeliner flicks with turquoise/blue eyeshadow.Here is just a general picture of how it turned out:

The products I used were: No 7 Intelligent Balance Mousse foundation, No 7 Creme Touch pressed powder, No 7 Natural Blush cheek colour, Loreal Match perfect concealer, Urban Decay's 'Flipside' eyeshadow, No 7 Eyeliner pencil in Ink Black, No 7 Amazing Liquid Eye Liner in Ink Black, No 7 Exceptional Definition Mascara in Black, No 7 Stay Perfect smoothing and brightening eye base, Benefit Lust Dust in 'Snow Bunny', No 7 Beautiful Brow pencil in Brown/Black and finally (I know you are probably wondering how I keep my head up with all these products on...) Chanel's Levres Scintillantes Glossimer for lips. (If you want prices for all these products just comment and I'll get them for you :) )


Most of those are my normal day products and I often get my day to day products from No 7 (a Boots brand) because I have always found they are of very good quality and quite reasonably priced for how well they work and last. However, Urban Decay has become a member of my top five make up brands since buying the Sustainable Shadow Box which has lasted about three months so far, barely diminishing and is the main source for my night time looks as well as my usual day time look using 'Half Baked'. 

So for my evening eyes of turquoise/blue 'almost-an-ice-queen' look, this was the eye shadow I used ^^^ Its more a turquoise than a blue but it switches between depending on the light. What I find amazing about Urban Decay eyeshadow is how little you have to use to get a full and evenly spread colour, definitely making it worth the spending price (cost me £18 for the shadow box on a special airplane deal, normal selling price is around £23 - £25). The Sustainable  Shadow box also comes with a small vile of Eyeshadow Potion which is a very good base although it runs out fast which is why I used the ever lasting No 7 eyeshadow base (£7.50) as previously mentioned. Both bases secure the eyeshadow for a day/evening long period without creasing, rubbing off, fading or smudging. This is a must in my books if you want to have your eyes look the same at the end of the day/night from when you started it! The eyeliner which is also No 7 along with the mascara are both good although the liquid eyeliner can sometimes need several applications to get an even colour.


So how I achieved this look: first you put on the eyeshadow base, making sure the eyelid is completely covered smoothly (I use my fingertip but you can use the sponge applicatior it comes with or a brush if you wish), then using an eyeshadow brush (I use quite a thick, fluffy one instead of the thin, quite stiff brush that came with the Shadow Box) you just brush over the base with 'Flipside' until completely covered (tip: put a tissue underneath your eye in case to catch any loose eyeshadow when brushing over the eyelid). Once this is done and you are happy with the coverage, its the tricky liquid eyeliner part. Every girl who has ever used liquid eyeliner before knows that it is one of the trickiest things to try and perfect (if that is even possible!) so my advice is do it very slowly because if you rush it, it could end horribly wrong and requires starting all over again. With mine, I stretch out my lid with one fingertip to the side so I have my eyelid as flat as possible then do an initial line from where my eyelashes start to the end of the lid, keeping the liquid liner across the lash line, then letting go of the stretched corner I create a flick. Once this initial line is done you can build up as much as you want on that line and what I do for this look is exaggerate the flick upwards towards my eyebrow but end it where my eyebrow ends so that its almost parallel to wear my eyebrow end and then thicken it, making it a more defining flick than in the day time. After you are satisfied with your flicks and lines, then I use a little Benefit Lust Dust to just highlight the space between my eyebrows and the eyelid, before defining my eyebrows (making them more arched), adding my mascara (several applications with a little wiggling to try and avoid clumps) and eyeliner pencil on my lower lashes (not on the inside of my lower eyelid but just underneath the lashes - very little used). Then for the finishing touch I used the smaller but more firm brush that came with the Sustainable Shadow box, wet the brush a little, then coat it in the 'Flipside' eyeshadow and brush it over the pencil eyeliner underneth my eyes and into the corner of my eyes so that my entire eye is framed in tuquoise just to make the eyes stand out that bit more. Here are some close up of the finished product:

                                                         (products used to create the look)

Sorry if the pictures aren't great, I am still trying to figure out all the fancy things you can do on my camera almost a year after getting it... But yesh I hope this gives you a general idea of how it is meant to look. I'm thinking the next blog I do will be on my day time look but hope you have enjoyed this blog, sorry if it has been a bit of a rant and hasn't made you fall asleep (although if it has maybe I can market it as a new sleeping aid...) and has maybe even been a little bit helpful :) TTFN xxx