Life is too short to wear "safe" makeup

Hello everyone!

Some time ago I decided that life is too short to wear "safe" makeup all the time. After all, I buy all these fun stuff and then they just sit there... not used... not loved. Thankfully my temporary job right now really doesn't care what we wear, so I can do fun makeup every day and not care about looking professional. Most of the days I wake up too late to do it, but today I was up bright and early and had time to play with fun makeup. 

Today I decided to play with my Sleek SUNSET palette. I had it for few weeks now, but never got around to doing anything with it. Shame on me! 

I absolutely love this palette, I could even say that it's my favorite out of all Sleek ones I own. I'm actually surprised that I bought STORM one first instead of SUNSET, guess I was trying to be "safe". 

Sadly my closeups didn't turn out because my camera was acting all weird and didn't want to take pictures in Auto mode. I hope you can still see the colors I used. In total I used 5 shades, but since they are not named I will not bother trying to describe them. 

My lips turned out a little crooked haha, but I didn't notice until after I took photos. And I promise I did not go out of the house with them looking like that! 

So what do you think? Have you tried the SUNSET palette? 

~ Lyuba

Christmas look

Merry Christmas everyone!

Even if Christmas was yesterday. But I'm still in the festive spirit, so I can still say it right? Not only that, but Christmas in Ukraine is not till January 7th, so technically it hadn't happened yet.

Sadly Christmas (and all the holidays) are not very festive for me this year. My husband is away and this really puts a damper on things, even with friends readily available to keep me company. So in order to cheer myself up, I decided to do some fun festive makeup. (Lets see how many times I can say word "festive" in one blog post)

I used Sleek SPARKLE palette for the eyes, and I have a mixed feelings about it. I did not expect it to be so matte! So for my look I mixed in lighter pink from STORM palette to add shimmer to the eyeshadows.

I also was feeling rather adventurous and used glitter eyeliner instead of my usual ones (Eyeko Glitter eyeliner). That successfully helped me figure out that I'm not a glitter eye liner kind of girl. Although the quality of the product is amazing.

At first I did very dramatic lips, but then I decided the look was too dramatic for an at-home get together, so instead I put one of Eyeko London glosses on.

On cheeks I used e.l.f. All Over Stick in Persimmon, but since I didn't show up enough for me I lightly dusted it with Rimmel Autumn Catwalk. Much better :) And I love All Over Sticks... but the smell, the smell is TERRIBLE!! It lingered much longer than I would have wanted, and the smell alone put me off enough to never buy them again (although it didn't put me off e.l.f. cosmetics altogether, I have 2 orders coming from them and I'm very excited).

So what do you think?

~ Lyuba

e.l.f. Makeup 50% off sale on Studio and Mineral makeup

Hello everyone,

e.l.f makeup is having one of their sales once again. This time everything in Studio and Mineral range is half off when you spend $25 or more, which is a great excuse to treat yourself to some E.L.F. greatness at half price. Just use the code SAVEBIG at the checkout.

I'm using it to try some stuff that I missed out on during their 55% off sitewide sale couple of weeks ago, as well as get more much needed brushes. Sadly, this sale is on US website, I honestly don't know if British one also has a sale. But for all my US readers, go stock up on e.l.f cosmetic! :)

The only downside, the orders take forever to get to me! I don't know if it's an e.l.f thing, or just an APO shipping thing. But I'm a patient person, so I don't mind. I wish they would do an order tracking though, because when I have to wait for over a month to get my stuff (I still haven't gotten my order that was shipped on November 12!!!!!), I would like to know that it wasn't lost. Oh, and pay attention to the sneaky magazine subscription on the bottom left. I accidentally subscribed to Women's Health because I forgot to check the box (checking the box means you do NOT want a magazine). Supposedly there is no contract, and it will not renew automatically though my credit card, but I still would like to be on the safe side and not subscribe to anything.  

But hurry, the sale is for limited time only of course. Those sneaky marketing experts!

~ Lyuba

Conquering Birmingham FOTD

Hello everyone,

This weekend I went to Birmingham for our THIRD Kimono Jack in UK event. Those who know me know well about how much I'm obsessed with kimono. Kimono Jack events are just another excuse to wear kimono, without having to look for a special event. You can read more about Kimono Jack events, as well as my kimono adventures at my other blog Strawberry Kimono .

I didn't bring much of makeup with me, but here is the look I created with what I had.  These photos were cropped from the ones that were taken during Kimono Jack because I forgot to take any close ups of my face.

 Face:

• GOSH  Velvet Touch primer
• MAYBELLINE Dream Satin liquid Air-Whipped foundation in Ivory
• COLLECTION 2000 Illuminating Touch Light diffusing concealer in 2 Natural
• RIMMEL London Stay Matte pressed powder in Transparent  to set the foundation
• RIMMEL London  Lasting Finish Powder Blush in Autumn Catwalk

Eyes:

•  E.L.F. Mineral Eyeshadow Primer as a base
• NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder in Auburn/Red
• SLEEK Storm palette light pink 
• COLLECTION 2000 Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner in Teal 
• ALMAY One Coat DialUp mascara in Black Brown

Lips: 

• BARRY M Lip Lacquer Crayon in No. 1

Overall I was pretty pleased with my look. Lip crayon is something that I've never tried before, so I was looking forward to checking it out and seeing how it will work for me. I also love my new blush, it stays on forever and gives me a nice just-from-the-cold look.

~ Lyuba

Frustration of the APO shipping

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Hello everyone,

To those who don't know what APO means, it's an American military PO box type of address, costs exactly the same as shipping in USA, and treated as domestic. It allows me to have 2 addressed, one American and one British and experience the best of both worlds I guess. I can shop for British brands in Boots and order American brands and get them delivered to me as if I still lived in USA.

But it comes with a big BUT. Some companies and/or sellers simply do not ship to APO, for whatever reasons. I am not sure as to what they are, and honestly I don't care. I want the products, and lots of places ship APO, so why can't those few? I believe they are all facing the same chances of lost or damaged packages, and many add disclaimers that it might take a lot longer for mail to arrive at APO. Whatever is what I say.

I can't shop Sephora and HauteLook because of that reason. Because of that, I missed out on getting some serious NYX bargains at HauterLook few days ago. I also can't order something from Sephora, something I can only get there at this time as it's sold out everywhere else I look! Normally I could order and get it shipped to my mom, but I can't even do that because the APO option is simply not included in the State option in billing. So I'm SOL however I look at it :(  It is extremely frustrating and even unfair, but sadly I can do nothing about it.

Some of you might ask why do I keep trying to shop on American websites, and that's because I still get paid in $$. Going shopping in British economy is not that much fun for me once the conversion comes into play. Instead of enjoying myself, I have to constantly think how much it will cost me in $$ and do I really want it for that much.

~ Lyuba

Wishing for snow and OOTD

Hello everyone,

I'm still sick and miserable and as a result I don't want to do anything other than lay in bed and sleep. :( Even putting makeup on in the morning is a chore, and if I didn't promise myself to look pretty every day, I'm not so sure I would be even bothering with it. But being me, I have to use the brightest prettiest color everyday, hoping it will lighten up my mood and help me recover faster. What? You didn't know that good mood has healing properties? ;P

Another thing that I'm not-so-quietly wishing for is MORE snow. It seems like Suffolk always misses out on snow when just an hour up north (Norwich) they are covered in it. All we get is few flurries, maybe mini blizzard for a whole 2 minutes... if we're lucky an inch. Yes, snow is annoying to drive it and I will be the first one to say I can't drive in it, but I still want some SNOW! I haven't seen it in almost 10 years now, and I miss snow a lot (that time I went to Michigan for 2 days in winter doesn't count). My friend in Sheffield is making snow men on her balcony, I want to do it too! On the bright side, maybe we still will get some with the way things started out.

Last weekend I went to local Christmas Fair in Bury St. Edmunds and the  moment we got there it started snowing like crazy! I was in Lyuba heaven. :) Suddenly it felt so festive and Christmasy. I got myself some mulled wine (my favorite European thing) and walked around with the hugest grin ever. Sadly the greatness didn't last that long, after we got done with the fair it stopped snowing and the sun came out and all the snow melted lol.

 I got this cape from Jane Norman maybe a week earlier. I was in Norwich with my husband, we walked in to Castle Mall and Jane Norman was having 25% sale on EVERYTHING in the store. I took a look and it was love from the first sight. Hat is from Debenhams, sweater/cardigan  and leggings are from TJMaxx (mom works there and she always sends me clothes and she has an AMAZING taste, 99% of what she sends not only fit me, but also become my favorite), sweater-dress is from shop in Lille, France and boots are from JCPenny I think. Gloves are also from TJMaxx, got them years ago in Florida but never worn them there. Gloves are sold all over the place in FL in 'winter', but do we really need them? I only bought these because they were so cute and I had to have them. Who knew I would be going to England shortly after?