Bloom Giveaway!

Ok, as promised, here is the Bloom Giveaway. I wanted to give you guys something special for sticking with me for the last few months when I haven't been posting regularly or sometimes even at all. It's been a very up and down time and I think I am starting to get in the swing of things again, which is exciting. I've missed you guys!

So this is what is up for grabs -

I have two Bloom Pure Mineral Eye Shadow and Brush Sets - one in Emerald and one in Aquamarine. Both are stunning. I am going to give them away to one lucky reader.

If we get lots of entries, I have two Bloom Polishes on standby to add in too! Which I know some of you will be excited about since Bloom polishes are always AMAZING! DO you think it should be a second prize or just a bigger first prize? I'll leave that up to you guys to decide.

How do you enter? Awesome question!

1. *Mandatory* You must be a follower of my blog. Leave a comment below with your follower name and your email address (so I can contact you if you win).(1 Entry)

2. Do a post about the giveaway on your blog or add it to the sidebar (3 entries), use a picture - take your pick of them! Or make your own. ( 2 entries). Please leave a link to your blog in the comments section.

3. Follow me on Twitter. (2 entries)
4. Tweet about this giveaway (2 entries). Make sure you include my twitter name @becsbeautybuzz in the tweet!

5. Add me to your blogroll, or let me know if I am already on it. Please leave a link. (2 entries)
6. In appreciation for all my long time commenter's, they will get an extra entry. Hooray!
This is open internationally and will run til the midnight 30th September 2011 in the last timezone around the world.

Ok guys, that's about it. Go nuts.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

OPI Shatter - Blue

I got an awesome package from the ridiculously awesome Jess of Polished Lyrics fame on the weekend. So excited. Full of makeup and polishes and all things oh so fabulous. Total squee moment.

I have the whole collection of OPI Shatters now. This is the blue one over Chine Glaze Papaya Punch which is another new one for me. Love it! Have gotten so many compliments today and the girls in my makeup class as well as my teacher went nuts over it.

One coat of Papaya Punch, let it dry. Then a thin coat of Blue Shatter. It looks really transparent, which worried me, but then I realised that when it shifts when it shatters, it groups together and forms solid chunks of colour so take that into consideration. The thinner the coat of shatter you can apply, the better it is going to crack and ultimately look.

Ok, that's it from me today. My Bloom Giveaway is going up tomorrow morning, so make sure you enter that, it's a ripper. (Which means awesome for you non Aussies)

Be awesome to each other.

Orly Star of Bombay

I adore this colour. Absolutely adore it. I think you guys would know by now that I have love of any dark blue polish and if you add in a shimmer, I will buy it even though I have 7 shades almost exactly the same.

Orly Star of Bombay - two coats, freaking hot. That is all you need to know. You're welcome.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Finger Paints Candy Cane Shimmer

Just a quick swatch post today. This is Finger Paints Candy Cane Shimmer which is an awesome all year round colour despite the festive name.

The application on this one was surprisingly awesome (despite the dodgy swatch - I was in a hurry). Two coats and seemingly faster then average drying time.

I don't have a lot of Finger Paint's polishes (3 I think) but I have not been let down by any of them. I know this is an US brand and I have no idea what kind of brand this is. Is is a cheaper brand akin to our own Ulta3? Or something a little more high end? Help me out here guys.

That's it from me today. Stay tuned for my Bloom Giveaway.

Be awesome to each other. 

Green/Black EOTD

Wow, I look crosseyed in this. I'm not. Usually.

Ok, two days in a row. That's something of a record for me lately. Here we go with another EOTD that I did before I started my class. I quite like this. I never wear green out even though it's my favourite colour because I find that it's often way too over the top to pass off on a day to day basis.

I started with Too Faced Shadow Insurance followed by MAC Paintpot in Painterly. Then I used Farore's Wind on the inner lid, Bulbasaur on the middle and Link on the outer lid with a bit of MAC Carbon to smoke it out and then blended together. Then I lightly blended the greens into each other and I think that turned out well. I used MAC Naked pigment as a highlight colour which gave my eyes a little bit of sparkle. To finish the look, I lined the top lid with a metallic grey Kat Von D liquid liner, the waterline with Stilla Convertible Eye Colour in Onyx and used Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara.

Ok, so what do you guys think of the final look. Do you guys have a colour that you love but can't seem to find a way make it more wearer friendly? Or maybe you love the look of a colour but can't bring yourself to wear it in case it looks hideous and just ruins the colour for you forever?

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Gold/Black EOTD

Alrighty. It's been a while and my excuse is that I am absolutely knackered from this makeup class I am doing. The really good news however is that I am learning lots of things and I want to share them with you. I think a brush post explaining what brush goes where and does what and perhaps a how to - fake lashes are in order. I can show you basic contouring if that is something you might be interested in as well. I'm just starting my fourth week and am absolutely loving it all.

This is one if my older looks and I thought I should get them all out of the way before I start showing you the new stuff. I think the difference you will see in technique will be quite noticeable.

Anywho, in this look I used Too Faced Shadow Insurance and MAC Paintpot in Painterly for my base. Used MAC pigment Naked as an all over highlight and brow bone colour. I used...I know I wrote the shadows down...somewhere. Crap. I have no idea what I used. Ok, I used a gold shadow which I think was a Shiro one although I can't remember precisely what shade, on the inner half of the lid and under the eye and blended it out to another glittery black shadow. Another Shiro shade, I am sure. If you think you can help me with these, I would much appreciate it.

Liquid liner on the top lash line and pencil liner on the waterline. Mascara to finish it off and we are done! I find it really hard to blend from such a light colour to a dark one so what I do is kind of use a wigging motion where there colours meet with the brushes I used to apply the colour to blend them in so that you don't end up with a solid block of colour.

Ok, that's it from me today. I'll be back tomorrow with another look which I probably won't be able to find my notes for again. I have my new giveaway starting on Friday. I am giving away two amazing shades from the Bloom Pure Minerals Collection.

Be awesome to each other.

OPI Ski Teal We Drop

Ok, so this is the mani I am currently rocking and I am loving it. It's gotten me a lot of comments from total strangers in the last few days and it's quite interesting to me because it's not a bright colour or a complicated pattern. I think it has more to do with the contrast of colour then anything else.

Ski Teal We Drop was released as part of OPIs Switzerland collection and while I didn't pick this one up first time round, I ended up buying it when I was killing time at the airport before we flew out to Thailand. I have no idea why I didn't get it initially. It's an AMAZING colour.

It's a dark teal creme that is good to go in two coats. As for dupes, it's very close to RBL Teal, but it's slightly lighter. I find it to be a really flattering shade that doesn't seem out of place in a corporate environment for some reason (not that that has ever stopped me before!)

I'll try post my new giveaway this weekend. I am giving away 2 Bloom polishes and 2 Bloom mineral shadows in the coolest shades of emerald and turquoise, so stay tuned.

To all you fabulous people who leave comments on my blog - I love you! I do read them and want to reply, but Blogger is crap and won't let me log in to do it. Very annoying. Might just be time to get my own domain sorted. Any recs from Aussies for some good people who build websites? I'm gonna need to get some professional help to get this up and running. And by help I mean, pay someone to do it for me.

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

OPI Blue My Mind

This is one of my favourite manis I have ever done. The blue is OPI Blue My Mind which makes me cringe because the name is so lame. I mean, I know that nail polish names are not literary masterpieces, but I swear every polish company has a shade of blue with this name.

This is two coats and then one coat of China Glaze OMG stamped over the top with Konad plate m65.

I love the way this looks. The holo is very subtle and not all the noticeable indoors. It looks like a pale silver and doesn't detract from the blue polish, however when you get outside, it is amazing. The colours in the holo just pop and the blue really stands up well against it. It's not really a colour combo I had really thought about in that I don't wear a lot of bright blue polishes, but it just seemed right.

Have you ever had a polish combo that was so awesome it just "blue you away"? (hahahaha, now I'm lame too!)

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.

Random Swatches

I've been really slack lately remembering to take photos of my nails and makeup. When I've thought about it (i.e. at work, waiting for the train), I've taken a few photos of designs on my nails with the camera on my phone. So here are a couple.

Ozotic 505

OPI DS Original

OPI DS Original

OPI DS Original

OPI An Affair in Red Square

 I actually found that this is the only photo I have of Ozotic 505 that shows the true colour shift. It won't play nice with my expensive camera for some reason but it loves to show off for my iPhone. Weird huh? Maybe I need to photograph all my duo and multichromes with my phone to actually show you what they can do.

Anyway, that's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.



Zoya Suvi

Mondays suck - we all know that so I decided to make it a little better by  posting an awesome green polish. This is Zoya Suvi.

Three coats of awesomeness. This is a slightly dark forest green. The first coat is quite patchy, then the second evens it out, but is still sheer, so three coats is necessary for this polish.

It was released as part of the Downtown Collection in 2007. I also have Indigo from this collection and I adore it. I've seen swatches from the collection and I pretty much want them all.

So, that's Monday down for another week. It went relatively quickly without too many dramas. So that's always good. I was pondering what you guys might want as the prize for my next giveaway. Do you want nail polish? Makeup? I've got Benefit Justine Case Kits and BYS Animal Instinct palletts? Nail art stuff? Any requests?

That's it from me today.

Be awesome to each other.