So, my friends over at HQ Hair have started to stock - drum roll please - Illamasqua! This is a BIG deal for me, because the thing I love most about HQ Hair are the discounts. There are always discounts - so their site will be the first place I look to for my Illamasqua fix in future.

I feel that HQ Hair has really evolved, as I remember back in the day I used to get all my hair products from them, and they didn't really do an awful lot else. A quick look at their site today, and you'll see that they've really moved with the times and now stock a lot of top brands in makeup and skincare too.

As for Illamasqua, their Precision Gel Liner is still my all-time favourite eyeliner - it's my Holy Grail product - so I harbour a lot of love for these guys. Their whole ethos when they first came on to the scene was something I could really identify with, and although they may have lost a little bit of that, they do still come out with the occasional stonker of a product that throws it back to the good old days. Apocalips, their electrifying tealy-turquoise lipstick, is one such product, and it's no exaggeration to say that it's currently sat in my 'top 5 lipsticks of all time' list. Well, it would be if I actually kept such a list. 

*Note to self: create said list*

"Part hydrator, part primer, Hydra Veil instantly hydrates and smooths skin through a self-levelling, futuristic clear gel. Microalgae, Vitamin C and B3 work together to help maintain skins hydration levels, creating a healthy looking, balanced finish."

Box is a striking, scarlet red lipstick that was created by the former creative director at Illamasqua, Alex Box, as her signature lipstick. So good, she named it after herself? We shall see!

So what do I think of them, then?

Hydra Veil

 

For me, the Hydra Veil is really hydrating for my skin. I have the most obscenely complicated skin in the entire world (probably) - it's oily/combination with a twist: it's also dehydrated. I don't even know how that's possible, but at the moment I'd say that actually it's just all out oily. ARGH. 

I had actually bought the Hydra Veil before, using my own hard-earned cash money and at first I was a bit confused as to why I'd just spent £32 on something that hydrated my skin. I'd be much better off just buying a hydrating gel moisturiser and spending the £28 change on something shiny. It was only when I used it in conjunction with my NARS All-Day Luminous Foundation that I understood its true power.

The All-Day Luminous Foundation is one of those where you just think "WHY?" Because the finish is genuinely awesome, but it's also severely drying and clings to every single dry bit of skin, revealing dry patches in places you didn't even know were problematic. Even though I loved that finish, it made me look like I'd laid out flat in the Sahara desert all day and baked my skin half to death.

But all that changes when you use it with Hydra Veil as a base - those dry patches just don't surface. And it doesn't only work with the NARS foundation either, take any drying, heavy foundation and it performs the same trick. For that reason, it makes the perfect base for me and turns those frustratingly almost-perfect foundations in to something that's spot on.

Box Lipstick

 

As for the lipstick, it's your classic striking Red with a nice matte finish. But it isn't one of those super-drying mattes, it applies to the lips with a bit of a tug but it does feel incredibly comfortable as you go about your day. It's also got staying power, and will easily outlast that dirty burger (unlike most lippies!) ehehehe. The shade, the feel and the longevity make this one of those rare lipsticks that makes me feel like a boss when I'm wearing it. Don't fuck with me, bish.

This all gave me the perfect excuse to create another look this time something a little more simple, with the trademark winged liner and a badass lipstick, the Hydra Veil acting as a base for my foundation and that red lippie stealing the show.

I remember back in the day, watching Marlena's YouTube channel. I absolutely loved her, her content was so addictive and I found her to be a really inspiring person, having quit her day job in 2009 to focus on her online career. Of course, now she's gone beyond just being a YouTube celebrity, on to bigger and better things - like launching her own makeup line called Makeup Geek.

Whilst Makeup Geek don't quite cover everything you might need, for the time being at least, they do have a strong focus on the eyes and cheeks, and one of the things that really caught my eye lately was the Duochrome Collection. By now you ought to know that I love pretty much anything with even a hint of iridescent, and eyeshadow is no exception, so naturally I picked up five of them!

Of the five I purchased, Phantom is the one I'm raving about right now - I just love the colour! In the pan it looks a pale pink, but it comes to life when swatched. As you can see below, it transforms into a vivid lilac shade, but more importantly, that's when the colour shifting iridescence comes into play and the colour starts to bounce around between lilac, pink and purple. It just looks dazzling.

Getting the colour right is one thing, but matching that with a texture that doesn't leave you wondering "If only..." is something completely different, but it's something that Makeup Geek have managed to get spot on. It's soft, buttery, a dream to apply and easy to blend, definitely no chalky business here! So far, I've used it is a highlighter here, and around the inner corners, as you can see in this look. You can really see just how pigmented Phantom is, it clearly steals the show and immediately draws your gaze into the eyes.

Makeup Academy Pro-Base Eye Primer

NYX Cosmetics Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk (brow bone)

Sleek i-Divine Ultra Matts V2 -  Flesh (lid)

Lime Crime Venus The Grunge Palette - Rebirth (crease) & Muse (lower lash line)

Laura Mercier V.I.P Silver Foiled Eyeshadow (lower lash line)

Makeup Geek Duochrome Eyeshadow - Phantom (inner corner)

Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner - Infinity

L'Oreal Paris False Lash Sculpt Mascara 

Makeup Geek eyeshadows come in a small round pan, similar to MAC, which is great because it means they'll fit in to so many of your other palettes without any trouble. It's particularly great for me as I'm beginning to run out of space and could not deal with five more little containers to find room for! I purchased mine from Beauty Bay at the very reasonable price of £4.95 each, which when you consider the quality of the product, is an absolute steal. And if cruelty-free is your thing, Makeup Geek fits the bill on that too!

It's become a modern tradition at Eid for me to snap my outfits, but last year I got so caught up in the day, it just did not happen. I know that there was an outpouring of emotion (mostly tears) on my Twitter feed when I revealed that I'd simply forgotten, so I made certain to remember this year!

My brother visited India at the back end of last year and, as per another family tradition, asked me if I wanted anything. I asked for a copy of Vogue India, yet another tradition of mine actually, all of the bindis he could get his hands on but top of my wish list was a white sari with silver embellishments.

I love my saris. And no, I still cannot wrap them to save my life, although to be fair, I haven't actually tried have tried so, so hard to rectify this! Err anyway, I have quite a range of brightly coloured saris, but my wardrobe was missing the ever-so-elusive white one. I craved a white one, because I just love the colour, it's as if white fabric was simply made for us darker skin tones (pipe down whiteys)

So when brother arrived back home from India, I was excited to see what magical white sari he'd been able to find me - oh, and to see him too, yeah. As it happened, he handed over the most gorgeous, blindingly white sari with the most beautiful silver embellishments. Apparently, tracking down an embellished white sari was quite the challenge, as most sari shops only sell plain white ones, worn by Hindus to funerals.

It took an army (my brother, a few cousins, a couple of uncles, a dog, a chicken and a cow) to hunt around the bazaars of Bangalore and find the truly, genuinely elusive embellished white sari. Fortunately it only took them a couple of hours before finally finding one, and thus the true inspiration for Pokemon Go was born. Ok, not really, but still. So of course, I apologised (#SorryNotSorry) for all the effort they went to. THANKS BRO!

So, when Eid arrived, I naturally opted to wear something completely different. HA. No, I think my bro might have actually killed me, or at least thrown some biryani at me. Of course, I chose the white sari and paired it with an iridescent striped white crop top. I had to enlist the assistance of my sister in law, who's a sari-wrapping genius to help me do it all for me, and I was hoping to learn from her, but it was all over in a blur and I felt a bit dizzy! Those skillz though.

I'd also bleached my hair and coloured it white with rainbow hues a few nights before, so when the sari was all wrapped, I honestly felt like a billion dollars. The whole outfit felt so decadent and luxurious - as if dressed and ready for my close-up in a Bollywood movie.

 

  

It was a fantastic day, as usual, with food, laughs and fun in plentiful supply, and the sari certainly fared well against all of the other outfits on show! The great thing about Eid, is the next one is only seven weeks away from now - bring it on!

Let's face it. When the iPhone 6S was first released back in late 2015, we all went crazy for that Rose Gold version. Apple had created a new standard for phone-based beauty overnight - it was a truly sensational looking device. Nine months, and another new version of the iPhone later, and the Rose Gold is still going strong. 

I got myself the Rose Gold 6S a few weeks after the launch, and it's been a loyal servant ever since. It's been with me to Norway to take in the Northern Lights and Japan to take in, well, Japan! In April though, Apple released the SE, to replace the 5S. For those of us with small hands, it's an improvement on the 6S as it goes back towards the shape and size of the iPhone 5 - instead of being 4.7 inches, they took it back down to just 4, meaning you can actually get a grip of it! They also threw in a 12 megapixel camera with all the features of the higher-end iPhones - but without the hefty price tag!

So, don't you just wanna get your hands on one? Of course you do, and I'm collaborating with Three to give one lucky reader a Rose Gold iPhone SE worth £359 plus a £10 top-up, absolutely FREE! It's been a long, long time since I ran a giveaway on the blog, so I am super excited about this one!

How Do I Enter?

First of all, you must be aged 18 or over and be resident in the UK. The rest is simple, all you have to do is follow the Rafflecopter link below and submit your entries! The competition starts on 17th July 2016 and runs for three weeks until midnight of the 7th August 2016 - the winner will be informed by the 14th August 2016, as I will need to verify that they have met the conditions, which you can read all about down below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

The Boring Bit

1. These terms and conditions are the rules which apply to this competition. By submitting their entry, entrants will be deemed to have agreed to be bound by the following terms and conditions.

2. This competition is run by Fashionicide in conjunction with Hutchison 3G UK Limited, operating as Three, Star House, 20 Grenfell Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1EH.

3. To enter the competition entrants must submit their Rafflecopter entry before Midnight on 7th August 2016.

4. Entrants must be aged 18 or over.

5. This promotion is open to residents of the UK, except for Three employees, their families or anyone else associated with this competition.

6. No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed, or which are not received for any reason.

7. Winners agree to participate in publicity as Fashionicide and Three may require.

8. The prize on offer is a 16GB iPhone SE (rose gold) and a Three Sim card loaded with £10 of credit.

9. The prize is only as stipulated and cannot be transferred and/or exchanged for cash.

10. Confirmation of the prize will be made by email to the winner by 14th August 2016.

11. Reasonable efforts will be made to contact the winner. If the winner cannot be contacted, or is unable to comply with these terms and conditions, Fashionicide and Three reserve the right to offer the prize to another eligible entrant. Failure to respond and/or provide an address, or failure to meet the eligibility requirements may result in forfeiture of the prize.

12. Fashionicide and Three reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions at any time. If we do this, we will publish the amended terms and conditions on the competition page.

13. Fashionicide and Three reserve the right to end this promotion at any time, and without notice.

And Finally...

I've always been a bit of a hair abuser. I don't mean to, I mean, I just want my hair to look pretty. Is that really too much to ask? For the hair, actually it can be. I've bleached, toned and dyed my hair all manner of colours - from turquoise to platinum blonde, from lilac to white blonde with rainbow hues. Putting my hair through all that torture has meant I've needed to up my haircare game.

You might find that there are some decent products out there on the high street, but it can be a bit hit and miss, so I've moved to high end-ish products, as I find they tend to work a lot better with fragile hair. And no matter what anyone tells you, coloured hair may look awesome, but it's not all sweetness and roses. It's hard work!

Also, when your hair is coloured, you have quite a tense relationship with heat. When I first coloured my hair, I didn't realise quite how much I'd taken blowdrying and straightening for granted - it's just the normal thing to do and doesn't really cause many issues. But with coloured hair, it's not so straight forward. The hair has been chemically treated, and therefore weakened, so it does not deal with the heat well.

Luckily, there are plenty of life-saving products out there to ease the pain. Kerastase's Ciment Therminique is one that I've repeat purchased from HQ Hair countless times, but of course, the Hair Junkie in me is never truly satisfied. Just because something works well, doesn't mean there isn't something better out there.

This is when I was sent *GHD's Advanced Split End Therapy:

 

GHD claim it's a lightweight cream (but to me feels more like a creamy serum), that uses heat to help fortify damaged ends and nourish the hair leaving you with sleek, silky locks. Here's a bit more detail, straight from the horses mouth:

"Utilising a propriety Thermo-Marine Bonding System, this treatment fills and binds broken hair fibres together, instantly repairing split ends while the Super Nutrient Complex prevents future breakage by surrounding each strain with a protective coating."

They're literally promising the earth here, so how could I not give it a whirl?

The instructions suggest you shampoo the hair, towel dry it then apply the product. Once your hair is fully covered, you blow dry it out and seal it with your straighteners. Honestly, this all sounded nuts to me - doing all that with damaged hair felt like I was asking for trouble. And so it turned out - I just couldn't comb through without my beloved conditioner, and my hair felt awful as a result.

So, to hell with the instructions then! I attempted to use it in the same way I use my Ciment Therminique instead, applying conditioner after shampooing, and it actually worked really well. My hair felt sleek, silky and moveable - almost as if it wasn't even bleached, a bit like those Timotei adverts from the 90s. And if you've ever bleached your hair, you'll know just how precious that feeling is!

Sadly then, *GHD's Advanced Split End Therapy is no miracle cure for your split ends, but if you want my advice, use it as a standard heat treatment, and your hair will start to feel as good as it looks. You can purchase it from HQ Hair at £19.95 - you'll just have to wait till it's back in stock again, it's actually so good, it sold out!

*PR Sample

Ok, so this look isn't quite the typical Poison Ivy look you might have expected, with all manner of greens and generally planty-looking colours, but it draws inspiration from her character, that is for sure. It's very easy when taking inspiration for a look, to go for something just a little too cliche, so I thought for this look I'd move away from that green, earthy look and go for something that appears as more of an evolution of the traditional character - you might even say her secret lovechild!

I created an 'Ivy Effect' above the eyes using shards of iridescent film stuck on using eyelash glue, which gives an ethereal feel to the Ivy - it's not just ordinary Ivy, there's something edgy about it. Aside from the film - in certain lights at least - there are none of those green, earthy colours to be found. What I have done, to remain true to the character, is bring a rosy-pink eyeshadow, to reflect her undying love for beautiful, and deadly, flowers.

// EYES //

Makeup Academy Pro-Base Eye Primer

Kryolan Matte Eyeshadow - Flirt (lid)
MAC e/s - Carbon (lower lashline)
Lime Crime Venus: Grunge Palette - Muse & Divine (crease & lower lashline)

Sugarpill Loose Eyeshadow - Lumi (inner corner & brow bone highlight)
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil - Perversion
Daiso False Lashes
L'oreal Paris False Lash Sculpt Mascara

// LIPS //

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil - Perversion (lip liner)

Lime Crime Velvetines - Black Velvet

Inglot AMC Lip Gloss - 541 

I think I should also draw some attention to those venomous looking lips! Whilst the original Poison Ivy was a fan of luscious, full, scarlet lips to seduce her victim (usually Batman!), I thought her secret lovechild might prefer something a little less classical, and a little more ominous. The base is simply Lime Crime's Velvetines in Black Velvet - gorgeous enough in it's own right - with Inglot's AMC Lip Gloss in 541 applied liberally with my fingers to give that alluring oil slick effect. Lips to die for? I think so.