An Ode To Green

Green

Today I am here to talk about my favorite colour, green, which you might have guessed when looking at my blog layout. Because I will be off to a St. Patrick's Day party in a few hours!

Green is, in my opinion, the most underrated colour in the world.

It's stunning, striking or can be muted or subtle at the same time. It's one of the opposites of most of our skintones which is why it is sometimes used in concealer to even out red spots.

This is also the reason why it looks so good on most of us, even if you don't realize it yet. 

Of course, different shades of green will look good on different people.

Green is the colour of nature, of spring, the colour of health, the colour of luck and the colour of a new beginning. It's also the colour of peacock feathers. It can be sultry, sexy, fresh, or dark, depending on how you style it.

Of course green is also the colour associated with evil and envy, which is in my opinion what makes it so versatile.

Let's take a moment first to admire the beauty of the things below when looking at their colour:

Green in Cosmetics

Green is a colour often avoided in cosmetics. Why? Perhaps because it is still considered icky or perhaps associated with envy. It's also true that green makeup often brings out red spots and discolorations on the skin because it's a complimentary colour to the colour of most skin tones. If you are wearing bright green, be sure to wear a good concealer and foundation or at least a BB cream to even out your skin a little bit. Don't choose a concealer that is green itself because your skin will look dull and gray (this is also the case if you are not wearing green, in contrary to popular belief. Always choose a concealer and foundation closest to your own skin colour). 

Make sure your skin looks fresh and perhaps add a subtle blush to bring life to your face.

When applied properly, green is one of the most beautiful colours to use and really makes your features pop!

Depending on the green you choose you can pair it with almost every colour imaginable.

IMO, the best (all cruelty-free!) greens in cosmetics (in no particular order):

1. Lime Crime's Serpentina Lipstick, $15,99

I have been looking for an emerald green shiny lipstick like this for ages.

This really is perfect although I might add that I find the texture a tiny bit too oily/creamy for my taste, which makes it bleed a little after wearing. The solution is to wear a green or black eye pencil underneath as lipliner (depending on how dark you want the colour because it's slightly see-through).

Because the green is blue-toned it really whitens your teeth, it is dark enough not to be icky, and the shimmer  adds a wonderful touch of glamour. This is my go-to colour when I'm sick of the usual reds, pinks and purples I put on my lips. Because of my skintone pastel lipsticks usually look awful on me, especially LC's Mint To Be (which I also own) or No She Didn't. I think my skin is just a tad too dark and yellowish to handle them and make them pop in a good way. My go-to lipsticks are usually dark or strong colours (or both!). Once you are over the 'ZOMG it's green! :o' bit, I find Serpentina surprisingly wearable.

This is a great colour to wear at St. Patricks Day, Halloween, or even Christmas when you want something else than the classic reds. I also wear it on regular days sometimes, when I feel the need to wear a fashionable colour that looks flattering yet different. It goes great with a neutral eye or a classic cat-eye, as a twist on the classic pin-up look. If you want extra sparkle, you can team it up with their matching lipgloss Hollygram ($16,99).

2: Barry M's Dazzle Dust in Parrot Green, GBP 4,59 

This is the colour I'm wearing on my eyes in my banner picture.

It's a great, VERY bright, tropical green with blue undertones. I love Barry M's Dazzle Dusts because they are versatile, easy to apply and to blend, they have an enormous range of colours (both matte, shiny, sparkly,  or shimmery) and they are affordable.

Loose eyeshadows can be a bit of a mess but if you remember to tap off the excess eyeshadow off your brush and apply them with care, they shouldn't cause a problem.

This is a great, strong, matte green that I've owned for a couple of years, thanks to a makeup contest they organized after they first started up. When I'm in England I always try to snatch some colours, you can buy them there at Boots or Superdrug to avoid the shipping costs you get when buying them online.

3: Sugarpill's Acidberry, $11,99

I think the 'olive oil' green is one of my favorite greens, together with dark, sultry emerald. Nice green cosmetics are so hard to find! When I heard Sugarpill came out with this beauty I couldn't help but squeel. This is an amazingly bright, truly matte eyeshadow that makes your eyes pop! The payoff is amazing and it is so versatile. Use it with a black to create a booming smokey eye or on it's own for a bright fresh spring look. Use a little on your eyelid for a subtle yet bright pop of colour or together with contrasting colours for a fun, tropical look.

4. Lumikki Cosmetics Dragon Scale, $5,95

Lumikki Cosmetics is a small indie brand selling on Etsy. I stumbled upon this colour when I was browsing through Etsy looking for fun cosmetic colours to wear. What a beautiful colour this is, a muted moss-green with red/pink/purple holographic sparkle. Very unique and it looks great on my eyes! If you are looking for something different and like handmade stuff, I suggest you try it out. It glides on your skin very smoothly and doesn't crease. You can wear it both muted or strong depending on what look you want and you always have that touch of 'different'!

5. Calvin Klein Nailpolish in Emerald Green (sadly discontinued D: )

(pic by http://canadiannailfanatic.blogspot.com)

I have been looking for a good emerald green nailpolish for ages in various Amsterdam drugstores but I never found one. They were either too blue, too yellowish or too muted. I believe this was from the fall/winter 2012 collection and I can't believe I haven't stumbled upon it. This would be perfect to match with my Serpentina lipstick! I really hope I can still get it somewhere, the few sellers on Ebay don't ship to the Netherlands, boohoo. :(( Even though it's discontinued, I had to list it because of pretty <3 if anyone knows a dupe for this, let me know please!

6. O.P.I. nailpolish in Gargantuan Green Grape ($8,50)

(sorry, I don't know the source! I'll happily include this if someone does know..)

I love fresh, spring greens. They remind me of joy, sunny days and happiness. In my opinion, this nailpolish does that trick very neatly for the days you would like to add a little sweetness to your look. I think these light yellow-based greens are a bit underrated compared to the pastel blue-based mint colours everyone likes. I like them too, but as there are already loads of nail polishes on the market in similar colours I decided to highlight this one out. It's gorgeous!

Will edit this post soon to include my St. Patricks day look that I'm currently working at.

I hope my post inspired you to 'go green'!

xoxo,

Miss Absinthe

Blarb.

Hello everyone!

I wanted to write loads of new stuff the past weeks and they are piling up on me, hehe.

Unfortunately I lost my camera and my boyfriend keeps hiding his because he doesn't want his card to be crowded with my pictures, hahaha.

So that's why I couldn't write anything though I have lots of new stuff to show you and to blabber about.

I still don't have a camera so I am going to dig up some old pictures to keep you entertained until I am able to afford a new one next month. Perhaps I can still borrow my bf's camera in the meantime.

Recently I tried to dye my hair purple. Since I don't want to bleach it because of some old henna that's still in it it is kind of a tough job. Didn't work so far, haha.

Attempt 1 (done by a friend of mine who's studying for hairdresser, washed out pretty quickly, turning it to a reddish brown):

Attempt 2 (by me, lipstick is Poisonberry):

D'argh. It's just.. brown. Perhaps I should buy a dark purple from Manic Panic or something and use that over my unbleached hair. I probably need to lighten it up a bit before since attempt 2 turned it nearly black.

Problem is is that my hair is so dark that if I bleach it it turns orange or bright yellow, it's also very fine and easily breached so I just don't dare to bleach it. Does anyone have tips for me? It doesn't have to be a very bright purple, but just something nice and different from the brown and red that I usually sport.

Quite a short post for today, I am very sorry for that.
But when I can get my hands on a camera I will have lots of stuff to show you!

Review: Mon Ennui Cosmetics!

Hello everyone!

Firstly I have to tell you (though you probably must have guessed it already), I am a sucker for interesting indie makeup companies. I like to support small businesses. I know there is usually a lot of drama involved with indie makeup companies but I don't really mind that - as long as the product works for me I will use it.

A second thing I like about indie makeup companies is that their products are usually cruelty-free and often even vegan. I don't buy products anymore that are tested on animals. Most drug store makeup is tested on animals and non-vegan. I am not a vegan myself (and I must admit that I really like the colour carmine which is used in most reds) but if a product is vegan that's definitely a plus. I'm currently using up my drugstore makeup and don't plan to buy any more. The only brand that I still go for sometimes is MAC because I love their foundations and lipsticks.

So.. to go on with the indie-makeup-stuff..

I got a very pretty parcel yesterday. It contained a loose eyeshadow from Mon Ennui Cosmetics!

The colour is Hyperbole Blue, a teal-blue ish colour with oily shifts and loads of glitter.

I've been eyeing Mon Ennui for a while now, and hesitated to buy because there is such an enormous range of colours which are all equally pretty. During the Black Friday sale I was able to snatch this pretty for a discounted price. I <3 it!

(image snatched from Mon Ennui's website)

The colour has a black translucent base with a ton of teal, purple and blue sparkle. It's a really interesting colour and it is shifting according to the light, amazing!

This is what the container looks like - simple but elegant.

The consistency looked a bit gritty when I shaked out some powder out of the sifter jar. I also had a bit of trouble getting the stuff out of the sifter but I think that's probably a good thing - my Lime Crime dusts seem to be wanting to get out so badly that I sometimes can't help to spill.

I didn't have any problems with the gritty consistency when using it though. It felt buttery soft.

Here is the colour swatched onto my hand. From left to right: dry w/o primer, dry with primer, wet w/o primer, wet with primer. (primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion)

As you can see this colour doesn't really pop if you apply it dry without a primer. But wet - amazing!

Since I always use a good primer before applying eyeshadow that isn't much of big deal to me.

However, if you don't like primers this may probably not be the best eyeshadow for you unless you are looking for a subtle shifting sparkle effect. Since I like my colours bold and dramatic I will apply it with a primer.

Of course I had to do a proper peacocky look with my new pretty. Primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed (golden sparkle), Lime Crime Nymph, Lime Crime Lotus Noir and my favorite cheap eyeliner. Lips: LC's Serpentina. Necklace and earrings: made by me. I dusted some Hyperbole Blue on top of my eyeliner and mascara to provide with extra sparkly goodness. 

I really hope that I'd find the money somewhere to buy more sparkly goodness from Mon Ennui because I certainly love this eyeshadow!

Photoshoot!

Hello guys!

I have been a bit silent last week because I was ill. I couldn't really do anything with makeup since I had infections on my face and in my mouth. I also had infected eyes. My facial skin looked horrible and my upper lip was swollen. I honestly looked like shit and thought it'd be better if I laid off the heavy makeup for a while, and continued to eat loads of vitamin C.

After a week of feeling naked a photographer I have in my facebook list did a lastminute casting call for an autumn style shoot today. I volunteered :) My infections are still a little bit visible but could well be hidden under some layers of makeup.

I just got the first results:

Photography by the awesome Jeroen Zelle!

I used LC's Chinadoll (Lotus Noir, Goldfish) and Alchemy palette (Incantation, Lucky Charm, Spellbound), my fav cheapass black eyeliner and MAC's Pro Longwear Lipstick in Approaching Storm (from the LE Daphne Guinness collection). The dress is a party dress by McGregor from last year's fall/winter collection and the blouse is from a flee market. The dress was originally about 220 euros but I got it cheap for about 50. Yey ^_^

The wig is model 'Belinda' by Hairs4u2, a webshop owned by a georgeous lady named Jaimie, I got this one because I helped her out with her booth on a festival last summer.  It got a bit messed up because of the wind, but her wigs are absolutely awesome and I could recommend them to anyone. This one happens to be exactly the same colour of my normal hair after the last dye I gave it but it's much more full and longer than my own.

Today's Look and some random stuff!

Hello, here I am again!

Today I'm going to show you the look I wore today. And yes, I do actually wear all the looks you will see in this blog, on a daily basis (unless I have to work).

Today's look was created with the Chinadoll palette from Lime Crime (Fly Dragon Fly and Lotus Noir), my favorite eyeliner which is from a cheap Dutch drugstore called Hema and I also used Incantation and Lucky Charm from the Alchemy Palette. I like palettes with loads of different colours in it because it's easy to take them with me and create a whole bunch of different looks. Chinadoll is my favorite I think because the colours are sooo bright and it's incredibly versatile. If anyone knows of a good palette with smooth pigmented shadows, preferably a black and a white in it and some bright colours, let me know! I'm always looking for something nice. I have a few colours from Sugarpill and I really like them and want to try out some of their palettes but I want one that has a black in it like Bulletproof, so I don't have to take that one with me seperately every time I do my makeup in another place than at home.

I often do my makeup in the train because I don't feel like getting up at 6 am if I am going somewhere.

Not so different today, I had to go to school and since my school is in a different city I have to take the train every week. The trip takes about half an hour, which is exactly enough to create a nice and complicated look.

I decided to go for something dark with red roses today since I wore a black dress with a print of red roses. How original! But I do like it, though my hair looks a mess. By the way, I have bangs now, which look sloppy and unstyled here. :) The lipstick is MAC's Russian Red, the perfect red lipstick.

The second picture was taken with flash.

Unfortunately, I also hit the pan on Lotus Noir today.. :(

When I run out of it I plan to buy Bulletproof again, I think that together with Lotus Noir it is my favorite black. I ran out of it a long time ago. But since Lotus Noir only comes with the rest of the palette I will be much cheaper off (with more product) when using Bulletproof.

That's it for the rambling today :)

xoxo Miss Absinthe

Hello! :)

So, after that first blog post tonight, let me tell you a little about myself and my obsessions!

As you can read in the About Me section I am 22 years old and I live in Amsterdam with my boyfriend and my two cats, in a house full of paintings and self-made curtains.

Since my childhood I have always been obsessed with fantasy, fairy tales, mythology, religion and everything that has anything to do with it. I'm not religious myself but I study different kinds of religion because I find it very interesting. With religion comes mythology. I love to read stories that are hundreds or thousands of years old and still appeal. I also went to a grammar school to study Ancient Greek and Latin because of that.

A very old picture of me when I was about 18 years old, by Johan S.

I think my love for mythology shows off in my makeup looks, my paintings and my performances as well!

A second love is the 1920's-1960's, especially the 1950's. My body is that much out of proportion that normal clothes often don't fit me. I have a so-called hourglass figure, which makes anything I wear too loose at the waist and too tight at my chest and my hips. Since clothes in the 1950's were mostly made according to waist size and not to clothing size, they do fit me and they look good on me as well. I also love flowers and happiness and I've got an immense collection of flowery 50's (style) dresses and a couple of real vintage ones as well, of which I am very proud. I also dance the rock 'n roll, a typical fifties dance, with my boyfriend.

Unfortunately my job won't allow me to walk around in pretty floral skirts all day so I am obliged to wear ill-fitting pants, which is a pain in the ass.

Me at Phantasium 2011 in my 'natural habitat', pic by Martijn van Huffelen.

And well, the last thing I am going to tell about me is that I have been doing something with my makeup since I was fifteen, namely extending my eye makeup to my cheek. You can see it in the above picture. I often call it my swirly. I draw it on with eyeliner and sometimes colour it with eyeshadow. It can be anything I want; a flower, just a few swirls, butterflies.. I draw on my face what I feel like that day. For instance, if it's a beautiful autumn day you can probably spot me with golden leaves on my face.

I started out with facepaint but noticed that it smeared all over my cheek during the day so I swapped to eyeliner some time later.

I often get asked if it's a tattoo (well, obviously not) and after almost 7 years of drawing it I still get nice remarks on it often, I like. I don't think makeup is something that should be kept to just eyes and lips.

So, here a couple of swirly's I did lately:

Autumn look I did last year. Sorry the eyeshadow is a bit sloppy.

For a tattoo convention. Notice the blue floral 50's dress!

I won a prize with this look on facebook - $100,- worth on Lime Crime products!

So well- that's me kinda. A weirdo who likes colours!

My first review: the Alchemy Collection.

Hi everyone!

So.. to kick off this new blog I am reviewing my most recently bought products; the Alchemy Collection from Lime Crime. This is an honest review, I am not affiliated with the Lime Crime company whatsoever.

They looked very promising! As you can probably see in this layout I love greens. So anything with a nice lush green in it is a plus. And oh, how I love the green in the palette (called Lucky Charm) and that luscious green lipstick, Serpentina! I have been lusting after a lipstick like that for AGES but somehow people seem to think that green is the least favorite colour to have on your lips. I have no idea why they think that because it is downright awesome. If you take the right green it doesn't yellow your teeth at all, which is basically the same as when choosing normal/nude colours. Before I descovered green lipstick I used black lipstick and dabbed green glitter on top. As long as you don't choose a glitter that's too light that will work with any colour and give you fabulous lips!

I wasn't really interested in the other lipstick (Poisonberry) but Lime Crime had an offer for their complete Alchemy collection, which was basically getting one of the lipsticks for free. So, why not?

I have already bought their Chinadoll palette and I use it almost every single day. I had high expectations of this one!

So, here the official swatches from Lime Crime's website.

The palette

Poisonberry

Serpentina

So, I got my package a few weeks ago and the swatches (no photoshop, except for some lightning correction) looked like this:

Wow! What a difference! Especially the palette.

I don't really see the duochrome which is clearly visible in the official swatches. The palette also has alot less pigmentation than I expected. It is surely metallic though. After a few uses of this palette the colour payoff started to increase, as if it needed 'loosening' up a bit.

The orange (Incantation) definitely has the most pigmentation though it also appears a bit crumbly. The colour sure is something that I haven't got a dupe of.

The green one (Lucky Charm) has a very subtle metallic sheen but isn't unlike other greens I have and I was a bit disappointed about the colour payoff.

The purple one (Love Potion No. 9) has the least pigmentation. I can't really see the mint shift and I think it feels like it is too harshly pressed (unlike Incantation).

The creamy colour (Spellbound) is the most useable colour I think and also the most dupeable. It's a common thing to use a creamy white as a highlighter. It has a nice payoff and a subtle shimmer. I like this one!

And the last one is a teal blue colour called Divination. I didn't really like it in the official swatch and I still don't really like it. But then again I don't really use alot of blue, except when it's really bright.

Now for the lipsticks:

Serpentina lived up to everything I hoped. It doesn't bleed, has a gorgeous green sparkle in it that is impossible to photograph (you can't also really see it in the official swatch). It does not stain at all, which is a good thing for a green. It doesn't really stay on for a long time but I think that's also a colour thing since green is almost the opposite of a natural lip colour, so your natural lip colour will come through easily.

I love it and I've been wearing it alot lately. I find it a surprisingly wearable colour (after you've got used to the ZOMG it's green bit) and it looks really good!

I also think that of the two lipsticks, Serpentina goes best with the colours of the palette.

On the other hand, I didn't really like Poisonberry, the purple. It sure is a nice colour and it looks good, but it stains like an idiot (I could see the stain on my hand after 3 days still) It is a bluish purple with a bright pink base (and stain). So if you like to have bright pink lips for a couple of days, you should buy this.

I also found that the lipstick starts to look rather flakey after about an hour of wearing it on my lips. The bluish purple starts to wear off in flakes and so the bright pink shows through. Not a pretty sight.

I also have the Lime Crime lipstick that's supposted to stain the most (Centrifuchsia) and Poisonberry stains even MORE. Be prepared XD

After swatching I also had to do a look with the Alchemy collection.

I found that it wasn't really easy to use the colours together (except for Spellbound) because they're all kind of the same tone. So for this look I used the entire Alchemy collection and Lotus Noir from Chinadoll. You can spot Poisonberry in the grapes, which afterwards wasn't a good idea because of the bright pink stain that wouldn't come off, lol.

After playing around with the palette for a few weeks I found that I don't really like the palette on it's own though the colour payoff loosened up alot after using it a couple of times. However, if you have a black with it, it is a great palette for smokey eyes with different colours. Spellbound works as an excellent highlighter and with the rest of the colours you are able to create almost any smokey eye you want.

So, my advice for Lime Crime today is: make Poisonberry stain less and swap the purple for a black like Lotus Noir!

That's it for today, guys! :)

Thank you for reading!

xoxo

Miss Absinthe