Outfit of the day + Hair Update ~ Cruella Deville

The other day the boyfriend and I went up to London to see the Dark Knight Rises in IMAX which I thought was pretty good although not as good as the Dark Knight. I'd say two things for certain: a lot happened and I definitely need to give it a second viewing. Once we'd seen the film we wandered down Southbank to Wagamama's. Southbank is usually awesome but because of the Olympics it's up'ed its game and is doubly cooler at the moment - so much interesting art and the atmosphere is always so chill. Go there!
It was an insanely hot day, so much so that it forced me to get my mid drift out. It might not surprise you to know that like many people my age I'm pretty self conscious of my body so this is a bit of a step in the right direction (even the boyfriend commented on how he was surprised I was going in public like that), so I'm a little bit pleased about that. The outfit itself is quite simple - no jewellery because I hate the combo of jewellery and sun cream. But I am mega excited to announce I finally have creepers!! I cannot tell you how long I have lusted after them and then when I finally bought them I had issues so it took two returns before I got a pair I could wear, but they're here now and I'm happy.
Lastly, the main reason I wanted to take these photos is to show you all my new hair! I have to return it to a natural colour for a play I'm doing mid-August so I thought I'd try a cruella in the mean time! The black is just drugstore box dye (Nice n' Easy I think) and it took no time at all. I'm pretty happy with it but now I'm worrying about how boring I'll look with normal hair (no offense to the vast majority of you with natural hair! I just personally think I look boring - not a comment about the general population).
Also, I wanna ask you guys something. Recently I've been worried my posts are a bit rambling and unfocused - what do you think?
Anyway, that's all for now! Have any of you done anything new with your hair (I know it's a question I ask a lot but I'm always eager to know)?

Vest top ~ a shop in a village

Tie dye maxi ~ probably a folk festival

Creepers ~ ebay

Sunglasses ~ Primark

Outfit of the Day ~ that's what the water gave me.

 Batwing top & star necklace ~ H&M

Feather earring, boots & cardigan ~ New Look

Cresent moon necklace ~ Avon

Studded shorts ~ DIY

Crochet tights ~ ASOS 
Metallic lipstick ~ Chaiborg by Portland Lipstick Company (swatch/review)

Hey everyone!

This one's going to be a short post - I'm still uber busying with life but I'd saying luckily it's in a primarily good way. I've been rehearsing for Pride & Predjudice now that As You Like It is done which is mega fun - I'm in love with half of the cast so it's great! And tomorrow I'm going to see the Dark Knight Rises in IMAX!

I'm sure if any of you follow any other british bloggers you'll have heard that we've got heeeaaaatt right now. and it's unbearable. I do not like the sunshine and it doesn't like me (I get pretty bad reactions) so I'm trying to stay firmly indoors as much as possible which means I may or may not be generating more blogging content. What I am excited to show you (and will be taking photos of shortly) is my new hair! If you follow me on Instagram (@l_figment) you'll have already seen it, but yesterday I did a turquoise and black off centre cruella! I love it and surprisingly, it's had some good reactions.

These photos were actually taken a few weeks ago when the boyfriend and I were still in Swanage. We rushed it a little bit 'cause the weather was being volatile and a little too windy for my liking but I just had to show you all those amazing tights! The boyfriend got them for me a while ago and I decided it was time to wear them.

Face of the Day ~ we're all made of stars.

At the moment I can't get enough of stars and under eye dots! So I combined the two. This isn't something I actually wore out - I just felt like playing around with makeup and wearing my Chinchilla lipstick. And I wanted to have a proper play with my new(ish) white liquid eyeliner (which I will be reviewing at some point soon). Also, I'm really loving the turquoise and lilac combo!
Those stars are hand drawn and took far too long, I used my Maybelline Master Precise eyeliner but the tip went all funny so that in the end there was no eyeliner coming out.
Anyway, this is a quick short post because I've been mondo busy at the moment, I'm assisting the boyfriend tomorrow at a wedding and various other stuff is happening - including seeing the Dark Knight Rises at the IMAX in London, so excited!
I hope you're all doing well!

Face ~ 17 Skin Perfecting Foundation in Soft Ivory

Rimmel Clear Complexion Coverstick in Ivory
Maybelline Master Precise eyeliner

Lips ~ Lime Crime lipstick in Chinchilla

Eyes ~ MUA Professional Eye Primer

Soap & Glory Thick & Fast Super Volume Mascara

Illamasqua Precision Ink in Scribe

L'Oreal Super Liner Carbon Gloss in Carbon Black

Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner in Black

Saffron Eye Palette using a shimmering lilac

Chilli Pepper Eye Palette using a shimmering cream and turquoise blue

The Body Shop Eye Shimmer in 01

Here are a few photos of the makeup without the eyeliner:

Outfit of the Day ~ teen witch.

 Sun dress ~ H&M

Burn out velvet skirt ~ vintage

Victorian style booties ~ nicked from my mum

Bowler hat ~ market in Brighton
Star/moon earrings ~ Maggie Angus via Porta (shop in Brighton)
 Cresent moon necklace ~ Avon
Cross bracelet ~ ASOS
Ruck sack ~ Primark
Purple lipstick ~ Rimmel Kate Collection in 04

Ah! This outfit feels so goth grunge 90s and I love it! I got the burn out velvet shirt for £8 at a vintage fair which is great since I'd been lusting for something in that material for a while and the daisy print dress is just so cute!
I've been on holiday for a week with the boyfriend and I've been planning this outfit for ages but the weather has left a lot to be desired but luckily the day I decided I needed to do it the rain stayed away for just long enough! We visisted this abandoned village which is now part of the army's practise shooting range, which is a bit scary because on the way there are loads of signs warning us not venture beyond certain points.
As you can see (hopefully) I redyed my hair with some more La Riche Directions in Turquoise. I actually love it because it has even more different shades in it now, like I can see turquoise, green and blue, it's really lovely - makes me feel like Michiru Kaioh (she was Sailor Neptune from the old Sailor Moon anime - p.s. they're doing a reboot next year and I'm a little bit excited, I feel like a tween again!) and the other day my friends compared me to Lady Gaga's mermaid alter ego Yuyi during her turquoise hair phase - I guess something like this which was nice of them. Speaking of old TV shows this titled made me started watching a few episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Youtube - good memories!
Also, this is the first time I've worn eye dots out of the confines of my home (this lady inspired me) and I really love them! New standard makeup? I think so.

Anyway, I think that's it. I hope you're all doing well - anybody dyed their hair recently?

Review & Swatches ~ Portland Black Lipstick Co. lipsticks (part 2)

Now that I've swatched the latest additions to the Portland Black Lipstick collection (which you can find here) I'm going to swatch some of the shades from their usual collection. I wanted to try some of the the more conventional colours so those of you who aren't into your purples or greens. I also thought it'd be useful to compare some of the more similar shades to understand better the subtle differences in the colours. Of course there'll also be a few more unusual colours because they're awesome!
If you want to read my overall review of the lipsticks and where to buy them go here.

The first three shades were applied straight from the tube and the rest were applied with a lip brush (as they were samples instead of full size products).

Bad Penny

 A metallic pumpkin orange.
This colour is really stunning and vibrant in real life.

This Corrosion

An opaque brick red/orange colour. It is such a bold colour! Even for me, I'd have to wear this on a brave day. It applied so smoothly and the consistency was really creamy - it was lovely!

 

Irony

A metallic pinky red.
Such a beautiful, rich colour, with jus the right amount of metallic sheen. 

Blood Red

A dull (not boring!) red colour. 
Quite similar to 'This Corrosion' but darker and with less of an orange undertone. A classy colour.

Undead Red

 A dark, moody red with brown undertones and a hint of blue.
I actually really like this - it was a lot darker than I was expecting but it's really moody without being too gothic.

Bug's Blood

A pink red, which when applied felt more like a stain that an opaque colour (which is how it's described on the website) and hence my shocking application.

Chlorosis 

An opaque, matte, pastel green.
Looks to be a potential dupe to Lime Crime's Mint To Be and Sweetpea and Fay's Scuba gear. Like some of the other matte colours the actual sample isn't that well blended but it's fine once it's one lips.

The Purple Cloud

A light pastel purple/lilac. 
I really love this shade, it's so pretty. Looks like a potential dupe to Lime Crime's D'Lilac. I thought it was close to Chinchilla but they're not similar enough to be dupes of each other. I love the description from the website as well: "Named after the classic M.P. Shiel novel, this color is perfect for the end of the world and other special occasions". 

And the comparative swatch, L-R: Undead Red, Blood Red, This Corrosion, Irony, Bad Penny, Bug's Blood, The Purple Cloud, Chlorosis

So, I also wanted to let you know what my absolute favourites out of all of the ones I've swatched in this post, this post and this one. I have four obvious favourites; Indigo Bridge (a beautiful dark metallic blue), The Purple Cloud (the lovely matte lilac above), Undead Red (a dark reddish plum) and Chaiborg (a metallic medium milk brown).

What are your favourite Portland Black Lipstick Co. shades?

DIY ~ custom nail varnishes

Last week it was my wonderful friend Bekki's (of Ghost of Dragon's Past) birthday. As well as getting her a few shop bought things I wanted to make her something unique, which applied solely to her. The other day I saw an awesome tutorial on The Beauty Department for making your own glittery nail varnish, so armed with a mass of glittery stuff I got to it! I thought I'd show you guys what I did since the results were slightly difference than the one from the tutorial.

1. First, I bought clear nail polishes. I was planning on giving two to Bekki so I bought 3 so I could use one for experimenting and as a general back up in case anything went horrendously wrong. As an extra I made sure I liked the shape of the bottle (in case I wanted to put custom labels on, which was the original plan).

2. I literally ransacked my house for all the glitter and loose eye shadows I could find (which took a while since everything is in boxes due prepping the house for moving). I found a nice variety of chunky glitter as well as some squared shaped glitter and my collection of Dazzle Me pigments.

3. I then made a funnel out of paper and tape and also wrote a vague plan for the colour schemes I wanted for both nail varnishes and thought up names - which helped with deciding on colours. Having done that I sorted through my glitters and pigments picking out ones that would work for my themes. After that it was just a case of adding different glitters bit by bit (and thank god I had a spare because the first time I put WAY too much in to start with). I tried the varnish out on my nail after each step and once I was happy with how it looked I stopped - which was hard, because I love glitter.
Here's the stuff I used for "Duke Jnr" (which is the name of her character from our recent play): dark grey chunky glitter, black, lilac, purple, light purple/green duochrome glitter as well as Models Own loose sparkle eye shadow in black green.

And I used a sample of Portland Black Lipstick Co's Purple Glitz and Collection 2000's Dazzle Me! in Magical for "Dragon's Spirit".

 This is what both of them looked like:

I have to say I'm pretty happy with both of them but I really love "Dragon's Spirit". I resisted putting any chunky glitter in and just stuck with fine, irredescent pigments and it turned out so subtle and pretty. I'd love to see what it looks like properly layered and over black. Might have to make my own version of it.

Whilst I was mixing the varnishes I got the boyfriend (who is useful for both photos and handy little jobs) to make boxes for both of them and I decorated them:

 What do you think? Have you ever tried making your own nail polish?