Best of 2011

Few top 3 lists of things and products I liked in the year 2011.

Let's start with...

My favourite LOTDs of 2011

3. Film Noir inspired

2. Bloody Sunset

1. Jeffree Star inspired

I know most of my readers prefer totally different looks that I do and it doesn't stop to amaze me how someone can like a look I find boring or badly done. But luckily we all have different tastes! :D

Favourite products of 2011

3. Paula's Choice 2% Beta Hydroxy Gel (thanks to this my spots have vanished!)

2. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

1. MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC15 (bought this only few weeks ago but it is the best concealer I've tried)

As you can see I have a skin that does need a lot of work and that's why my favourite products are those who make my skin look better.


Favourite books of 2011


3. Demonica book series by Larissa Ione

I would call the series "demon porn". Not like it's the best writing style or anything but I read a book a day until I finished the books published. Love them! Easy to read but if you can't stand erotic books, don't touch these :D


2. Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Also the next book in this series is one of my most anticipated books for next year. A Perfect Blood is set out to be published as hardcover in February 2012.


1. Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

Maybe I should do most anticipated things/products for year 2012 also since there are quite few things I wait for next year.


If you have done your fave list of 2011 (can contain whatever) you could leave a link to the post below and I'd like to read what you enjoyed this year :)

LOTD ~ New Year's Gold

This look is a total rip-off from ProfoundTorture's Aurous Indigo (I just left out the indigo part). At the same time this is my contribution to New Year's looks out there. I didn't want to go for quite normal black and silver (normal for me at least) or a lot of glitter. I probably won't be wearing much makeup since I doubt I'm stepping out tomorrow - going to spend a quiet evening/night with my boyfriend at home with good food.

So this is my version of the look:

Products used:

Eyes:
Hi-Fi Cosmetics Decadence
Hi-Fi Cosmetics State of Mind
Hi-Fi Cosmetics Sugar
Coastal Scent's 28 Neutral Palette
Inglot gel liner in #77

Face:
Lumene Illuminating and Smoothing Primer
Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra
MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC15
Fräulein blush/eyeshadow palette (two different pink blushes used)

Lips:
Oriflame LipSpa Therapy

And so you can watch the original look here it is:



Hopefully each and everyone of you will have a fantastic New Year 2012!

P.S. There's still time until tomorrow night to take part in the giveaway!

LOTD ~ Evidence At The Deep End

This was my first look I did with the UD 15th Anniversary palette. For the look I used - as you might've guessed - Evidence, Deep End and Blackout.

Really simple and in the end I didn't like it but what the heck, here it is anyway.

 I wore this look two days ago, yesterday I did golden look with the same palette but forgot to take pictures. Definitely loving all the golden/bronze colours in the palette since I always need that certain type of gold and now I pretty much have them all.

Is it just me or is blogger being an ass when uploading pictures? Mine disappear all of a sudden and it took me 5 uploads to get one pic up. Have to do them one by one which is quite annoying.

Quite pathetic beauty x-mas gift haul this year...

...but the quality is even better!

I never ask for beauty products for Christmas since I rather buy them myself and I don't really think it's nice to ask my parents/sister/boyfriend to buy me makeup since all know I have enough (and maybe bit too much) already. It's just something I rather buy for myself to get exactly what I want.

The only makeup gift I got this year - I already said it in a previous post - was Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Edition palette from my boyfriend's parents. Either they did an excellent guessing at Debenhams or they put my boyfriend's sister to buy something for me (I've never met her so she wouldn't have known what I have beforehands anyway). My boyfriend swore he didn't tell them what brand or what palette to get me so they did well for buying this one since I don't have it and I've been wanting it or Naked2 palette anyway.

I already did a look with this palette - exactly two but forgot to take pics of the other one - and will post it after this one.

Then I got the cutest lip balm from my sister. It is a lip balm inside an owl. AN OWL! How cute are they?!

The lip balm is strawberry scented. Doubt it does the trick but I will carry it around just because it's so adorable!

I got also a gift card to a beauty store from my sister and it took me few trips to few different stores before I found the one I've been wanting for awhile - Versace's Versus perfume. I got the gift set with perfume and body lotion with over 10€ cheaper than what the perfume alone sells for.

I've had a sample of Versus for some time and I really wanted to buy the real thing but perfumes are so expensive. So now when I'm about to run out of my favourite perfume Alien by Thierry Mugler I thought I could spend the gift card to this one.

"Versus is pure energy. "- stated Donatella Versace. Her wish is to dedicate this fragrance to strong-willed women who have courage for new challenges. This intense fragrance is based on strong contrasts, from romantic to very rough femininity.
This composition is taking us through various moods of femininity, from punk to melodic notes, from gentleness to roughness.
Top notes of Versace Versus introduce kumquat, star apple (Chrysophyllum cainito) and lemon; a heart is composed of orange blossom, stephanotis and Centifolia rose, while a base finishes with musk, patchouli and ambrette seed.

 Quoted from Fragrantica.com

It's quite weird that I like this one since it's far cry from my strong vanilla-scented fave perfumes. But maybe it's a time I wear something totally different.

Those were my beauty-related gifts this year - I got mainly stuff for home like duvet covers, pans, plates etc which I asked for.

Did you get anything beauty-related for Christmas?

LOTD ~ 60s Christmas style (and other photos)

We celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve in Finland so yesterday my sister came over and we ate well - too much like always - and opened gifts. I did really simple makeup since I was - and still am - ill so didn't want to end up having makeup running down my face when I sneezed. And I decided to do something different to my hair and ended up teasing the living s*it out of it. Also used about a half of a hairspray can to make it stay the way I wanted.

Here's better look of the hair:

Some other photos from last evening (including my daughter who loves her photos being taken):

And I got Urban Decay's 15th Anniversary Palette as a gift from my boyfriend's parents (he said he never told them what brand makeup to get so it was either good luck from them or his sister knows me better than anyone - we've never even met) :D

LOTD ~ Neutral Drakon

This was a look I did quickly - and then had to re-do it since I had bit of an accident with Pixie Epoxy - when I was ill and still had to go out. Neutral yet Drakon (by Evil Shades) still makes it really interesting.

Sorry about weird lighting - I hate dark winter!

Rest of my face was quite toned down. Even used only bareMinerals foundation since it wouldn't look too ridiculous if I had to blow my nose - with normal foundation I'd end up having no foundation around nose and otherwise concealed face.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I have one LOTD to post and probably do it later on today but before that I wanted to wish you all a happy holiday season. Hope it's relaxing and you get to spend it with your loved ones!

I'm going to spend mine with my boyfriend, daughter and my sister. We have so many bags full of gifts that I have no idea where we're gonna put them all. Also I'm ill - coughing my lungs out - but I hope it will get better during the day.

LOTD ~ Oily Purple

I checked KlairedeLys's new video today and noticed she used MUA eyeshadows. Then I realised I have eyeshadows from them and haven't used them in ages. So today I used all 4 I have in one look.

This is how it turned out:

Not as good as I hoped but at least I'm wearing makeup again.

I've been home ill again today since last night I developed fever and been having horrible headache for few days now - nothing helps, been trying every single painkiller I have - and believe me I do have a lot of them. My voice is still hoarse but I hope it will get better so I can get to work tomorrow or Friday the latest. If it's not too bad and headache eases then I will go to work tomorrow and just transfer my phone to go to someone else's phone so I don't have to talk as much.

Enough about my illness - again. I did some Christmas food shopping today but have to make a list of everything we still need. Luckily there are only 4 of us eating the food (and one is my daughter) so don't have to hoard that much food.

LOTD ~ Rosy 50s

I was requested to do an easy 50s look on my giveaway so I thought why not do it today since I need to slap something on (I'm home ill but have to go to shops, damn throat infections) anyway. It was also requested by a person who doesn't use as much or at least not as bold makeup as me and she wanted something for everyday use.

I didn't want to do normal 50s look with red lips but instead opted for an easier rosy colour for someone who doesn't wear much makeup or especially in the winter might have lips that aren't in the best of shape. I had to scrub my lips and use a lot of lotion on them before I could even show lipstick to them. I also used very moisturising lipstick and added gloss on top of it so that the lips would look as healthy as possible.

Lids are a bit too dark (I really need more matte brown/grey eyeshadows) but those were the only matte ones I could think of using for this look. All eyeshadows are from Wet n Wild Vanity palette. Liquid eyeliner is H2O by Wet n Wild also so at least you can get nice products cheap.

When doing 50s look just remember to keep face and eyes matte. So the foundation, powder, blush and eyeshadows should all be matte. Blush and lipstick can be in red, coral or rosey colours (I used rose for both). Lips are usually glossy and don't have to be red like it was common in 40s. Also lips should be full and pointy around cupid's bow. For lips I used Lancôme's L'absolu Nu number 302 "Rose Ideal" and on top of that I put tiny bit of some peachy Lumene lipgloss I have.

Eyes are easy - just add light brown or grey all over the lid and darker to the crease, blend well (don't do what I did and use too harsh dark brown on the lid tho!). Eyeliner is winged and really easy to do as long as you just follow the natural line from your lower lashline to the browbone. You can add eyeliner lightly on your lower lashline too but don't make it too harsh - blend if needed or just skip this whole step.

I'm sorry for my uneven brows but they should be quite "drawn in" and arched. Mine are quite thick and not really arched and I didn't want to go overboard with faking it especially since this is supposed to be everyday look.

If you want you can match your nails to your lip colour.

Hopefully someone found this helpful :)

LOTD ~ No Makeup -makeup (and some random photos)

For past days I've been wearing either neutral eye makeup with winged liner or this no makeup sort of makeup with either bare lips or with lipstick (today I had orange). I also used Evil Shades' China Doll as a blush since I remembered that I have it. Really pigmented, that's why I look like I've been doing lapses around the building - had a tiny accident with applying too much.

I just went through pics from my daughter's camera she got as a birthday gift and found a not-so-good pic of me from her kids' birthday party apparently.

SEXEYH!!!

And then some pics of my daughter posing.

And more posing (latter I used for Christmas cards for close family this year).

Sorry about being quiet for past week but I hope after Christmas I have more time to post here and I wish I have more time to take pics in the morning of my LOTDs or anything beauty related in general.