Y'all know how much I love my highlighters, right? But to be fair, who doesn't?

I'm a huge fan of Phee's Luxe Holographic Highlighter range, which knocks every other highlighter I've tried out of the park. They're so richly pigmented and leave such a bold, glowy finish I could quite happily and unapologetically rave about them for days - see my review HERE.

But this time, I wanted to try something a little different, and push the boundaries just that little bit further. This time, I wanted to go full on Holosexual Highlighter - and no, autocorrect, I do not mean homosexual - I wanted to go glittery.

The overall look is intended to be pretty simple, with that Holosexual Glitter Highlight doing all the talking, without any real competition from the eyes.

To adhere the glitter to my face, I used something that any self-respecting makeup lover simply needs to have on their person at all times. Yep, my favourite glitter glue: Lit Cosmetics' Clearly Liquid Glitter Base. Forget all other glitter glues, this is the one. It's a clear formula, and if you happen to mistakenly not cover it all up with glitter, there's no need to worry - it's undetectable. To apply, you simply dab the glue onto your cheekbones and up to the temples. Then, you apply your chosen cosmetic glitter(s) using your fingers and just dab it all on.

As for the lips, I also tried something just a little different. Instead of the usual sharp edges we so often see, I wanted something much less harsh. I applied my lipstick as normal, then with the same lipstick I used a brush to smudge around the edges, giving it a soft, airy finish. To round off the look, I applied Lime Crime's Diamond Crusher in Strip on to the cupid's bow and dabbed a little to the middle of the lower lip.

I hope you've noticed a bit of a theme with this makeup look. Aside from being glittery and sparkly, it's also remarkably simple to achieve, and that's what I was going for. Makeup doesn't have to be hard, and it isn't always complicated. There are so many tutorials out there  that make it all look pretty intimidating, you need to know so many techniques, have so many different brushes and use all manner of different products. 

I met with a friend the other day who found the sheer volume of products used for a simple makeup look to be so intimidating, it just makes people want to give up and not even bother to try. Whilst these tutorials are undoubtedly useful to some, you don't need to follow them all to the letter - use them as inspo!

Personally, I never overdo my base makeup, the focus is mostly on the eyes, lips and sometimes the cheekbones. Makeup is art to me, and these areas of the face are the best canvasses for experimentation, and what I post on my Insta or blog, is what I wear outside too because yolo.

A last talking point before I let you take a look at the snaps, is dark skin. Holographic and iridescent makeup looks amazing on our skin tones. And this is a point that I really need to make, because the internet is awash with makeup brands who advocate the whole mermaid/unicorn look, but exclusively feature white girls. Don't get me wrong, it looks great on white girls too, but the way iridescence makeup just pops on darker skin tones is simply incredible. So don't let those brands put you off, or make you feel like it won't suit you. Just look at the photos below, and you'll see just how much it really, really will.

|| FACE ||

As you may well know, I'm a huge advocate of anything Iridescent or Holographic, be it shoes, clothes, handbags, heck - even makeup!

Sigma's Lip Switch Iridescent Lip Glosses have been sending makeup lovers into a bit of a frenzy with their 5 iridescent shades, despite it being first released back in 2014. They seem to have had a bit of a renaissance lately and are bigger than ever - so big in fact, that it's actually sold out! And yes, I did shed a tear or two upon hearing this news, as I didn't manage to get hold of a single shade. :(

But I managed to console myself a little by looking through my drawer of lipsticks and glosses, and dug out something similar to Sigma's Transcend. Yep, a few years back I purchased an iridescent lip gloss at IMATS, by Inglot.

I'm talking about the AMC Lipgloss in shade 541, which sounds a bit dull and sedate really, but my god, it's glamorous AF. And I have to say, it looks remarkably similar to swatches of Sigma's Transcend that I've seen floating around the net, it might even be a dupe. So naturally I thought I'd better have a bit of a play with it!

Describing the colour of iridescent makeup is never easy, but I'm gonna go with a purple translucent, that shifts from purple to blue dependent on your skin tone. Also, the colour that you layer it over, has an effect on the shade that shows up. The texture is different to other glosses I've tried too, it's smooth not sticky with a thin consistency, so thin it actually begins to drip.

For the above look, I applied the gloss all over my bare lid and watched as it shifted to a bluey-purple in front of my eyes! I'd say it looks a little bit like how I would imagine Alien blood to look. Then, I applied Face Lace's Dazzliner on the lower lash line to heighten those iridescent vibes.

Next, I applied Lime Crime's Velvetine in Black Velvet to the lips, before applying Inglot's AMC 541 over the top of it using a brush instead of the doe-foot applicator that comes with it. Why? Well, I didn't want the black of the lipstick to stain the little sponge. When applied over black, this looks like Electric blue alien blood!

Sigma's Lip Switch Iridescent Glosses had 5 shades available whereas Inglot had 6. And yep, I say HAD. I've just looked on their website, and I can't seem to find them so I'm now wondering if they've been discontinued, I bloody hope not though because I'd like to grab a couple of the other shades! If Inglot have stopped making them though, I've got my eye on Jesse's Girl Cosmetics' Glow Stix - another range of iridescent lip glosses. At just $4.99 each, they've got to be worth a go, right? 

Yep, stranded. It sounds quite dramatic, and whilst it all worked out well in the end, for 12 hours or so, the prospect of being stranded in Berlin was very real. And now you're probably wondering: ''but how though?'

Put simply, the ground staff at Berlin's airports have been going on strike over the past few months. In fact, they were on strike until 5am the morning I arrived, so I was afraid my flight would be diverted to Dresden and face a four hour bus journey that would eat in to my precious Berlin-time. As it happened, I flew direct to Berlin's Schonefeld Airport, arriving into this most magnificent of cities at 11am on the Saturday morning, and that was the end of that.

In just three days, I managed to pack so much in, with barely any pause for breath or thought about anything other than how much I loved this place, I'd completely forgotten about all the strikes until EasyJet sent me a text at 10pm on Monday saying I needed to call them as my flight at 10am on Tuesday was cancelled. I called them: "The opening hours are 8am-8pm Monday to Fri..."

You fucking what?

After a few hours scrambling around trying to figure out what to do, I managed to get on another EasyJet flight out of Berlin - on Thursday. Two days later than originally planned. And EasyJet's app wasn't working, so I had no idea where I'd be staying. ARGH. Luckily the OH has some pretty good travel insurance, so we got everything sorted in the end - including an earlier flight back - but hey, at least we got an extra day!

As for Berlin itself. WOW. I've never really been one to travel to Europe, I tend to venture further east because I've always found it more interesting. But with recent political events in the UK and the US, I was struck by a comment from the Mayor of Berlin about tearing down walls, not building them and it kind of hit me that Berlin is the perfect place to visit to get a feel for what might happen if we continue along this populist path we find ourselves on.

And I was right. Everything about Berlin has a certain air of poignancy, and importance. You can't help but wander through it's mesmerising, wide open streets and lose yourself in deep thought. The walls, the roads, the trees - if only they could talk, they'd have some stories to tell, and that feeling just oozes from every corner.

Walking through the streets at first, I kind of felt that it was very similar to Britain in terms of appearance, atmosphere and culture, but by the third day I was starting to appreciate all of the little things that add up to make it so very different. For a start, Berlin is huge - over 3 million people live there, but it doesn't ever feel rushed, congested or claustrophobic. The streets in the central areas are so wide and expansive, I felt like I could actually breathe.

Within the first half hour of arriving, you'll notice there's an awful lot of street art of varying degrees of quality. Some of it looks like it's been created by professional artists, some of it looks like it's been done by school kids who've gotten hold of a permanent marker for the first time, but almost all of it is political or artistic in nature, and often even both. This makes almost every wall in this city interesting, if you're not constantly looking around, paying attention to your surroundings, you'll probably miss out on something special, or strange.

The people aren't especially friendly or unfriendly, they just seem to get on with whatever it is they're doing, without really caring who you are, what you're doing, or more importantly where you're from. This is especially unusual for me, because in the UK there's always been that undercurrent of anti-foreign sentiment, which has become a bit of an overcurrent recently. I didn't experience any of that in Berlin during my stay.

In comparison to Manchester, and possibly even the UK in general, Berlin is a veggie-heaven. Whilst the Germans are madly in love with sausage, they're also pretty liberal with their food, so if you have any special dietary requirements, you'll have plenty to choose from. A few observations about food then:

1. If you order anything without meat in it, you'll quite often get asked "Are you vegetarian, vegan?" - as if they're used to it, and will pre-empt you to make sure you get what you need. Basically, you won't feel like an inconvenient afterthought.
2. Pastries - my god, the Germans love their pastries. Sweet, savoury, breakfast, lunch and probably dinner. The thing is, I love German pastries too! It seems that they have a lot more to choose from than the standard Starbucks, Costa, Nero's or *shudders* Greggs fare. There are bakeries everywhere, and they don't sell Costco stuff either.
3. Overall, I'd say the range of food available is quite eclectic, similar to London in a way. I also love how South East Asian food is quite prevalent, there's plenty of noodle and rice places to go, even at the actual U-bahn stations!
4. For the halal traveller, Berlin isn't quite in the same league as London. There are plenty of halal places around, but they tend be bunched up in certain areas - Kreuzberg and Neukölln in particular have large Arab and Turk communities, as well as the generally positive attitude to vegetarians, you certainly won't be going home hungry.

I also noticed a lot of industrial looking pink pipes dotted around the place, that seemed to fit in with the hipstery-vibe that Berlin gives off. At first I thought they were just some kind of quirky urban decor thing, then I wondered if they actually tracked the former location of the Berlin Wall, before finally I was told that they actually pump ground water away from construction sites and deposit it in nearby lakes and rivers, to stop the foundations of new buildings from flooding. Sadly, the reality is a lot less romantic and, dare I say it, a lot more German-efficiency. Still, they capture the imagination.

There were two main things that I wanted to gain from this short trip - firstly, I wanted to find out what exactly the Berlin Wall was, and why it was built, and secondly I wanted to learn more about the Nazis and Hitler. I never studied history at school at all, so my knowledge of both was pretty basic to say the least. 

To learn about the wall, I went to Bernauer Straße (that weird looking B actually represents 'ss'!) to see a reconstruction of the wall and a museum. I have to say, the wall itself pales in comparison to the separation wall that exists currently in the West Bank, and I found myself thinking how hypocritical it is that we make such a big deal about how bad the Berlin Wall was, yet we don't really learn the lessons of history, and keep pretty quiet about an actual wall that exists today with a very similar tyrannical purpose.

That being said, it was still a barrier placed in the heart of a thriving city separating streets, neighbourhoods and families where it took over 20 years for humanity to prevail, and for the wall to be torn down. Walking through the city, you can still get a feel for whether you're on the Eastern side or the Western side, and along the path of the wall itself, the buildings retain a mysterious aura about them - they've seen real pain and struggle.

As for the Nazis, I went to the Topographie des Terrors museum. This is probably one of the most informative museums I've ever visited, and it's also quite a harrowing experience just to read about what the Nazis did, how they ascended to power, how they appealed to the masses, and how they tortured and murdered millions. It was a very sobering experience, not something for the light-hearted, but certainly a necessary one. Seeing how the Nazis took control of Germany, there are echoes of current world leaders, and I left wondering how soon it is before history repeats itself.

From what I gathered, they were pretty extroverted in their disdain for Jews, non-Germans, people with disabilities and homosexuals, and led a propaganda campaign to convince ordinary Germans that it was ok to hate these groups of people. It seems that those who covet power have learned from the Nazis. They've learned how to apply similar principles in today's world, without necessarily being explicit in their hatred. The leading figures were also cowards, who killed themselves to escape punishment when their reign of terror was at its end.

It was on the U-bahn home from this museum that it started to sink in, exactly where I was, the history this place has actually seen, and it felt overbearingly haunting. I was ready to go home now, but unfortunately my plane wasn't.

Waiting for the U-bahn - you're never usually waiting long though

The Victory Column or Siegessäule

 

Merch

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At the Reichstag - The German equivalent to the Houses of Parliament

 

This little doggy stopped by to say Guten Tag at The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe - a truly haunting place.

A hijabi waiting to cross the road at Stadtmitte U-Bahn station

 

Gotta love Berlin..

 

Almost every street I walked along had cycle lanes in both directions..

 

Where old meets sort of new

 

Berlin's got my aesthetic going..

 

Took the words right out of my mouth..

 

Late night strolls..

 

The U-bahn trains are all yellow..

 

More merch..

 

Insta themes..

 

Any spare.. weed please?!

 

Tasted better than it looks ;)

 

These feet aren't made for walking.

 

Nope, me neither..

 

Whatever you do, don't touch his skateboard..

The Sony Centre at Potsdamer Platz

I hope this post has given you a bit of a feel for Berlin, it truly is an incredible city with something for everyone. Particularly if you're interested in history, there must be few cities on earth with more to offer in that respect. I get the distinct impression that I could come back over and over, and discover a whole new side to it each time. In the meantime, if you're after a little more info, visit the fantastic visitberlin.de website. Failing that, just jump on a plane (perhaps not an EasyJet one though)..

Contouring. Love it or hate it, it's here to stay, and there's nothing you or I can do about it.

We've seen the release of 7.6 gazillion types of muted brown powders, cream based formulas and specialist contouring brushes, it's made people instafamous and it's even made bedroom enthusiasts into YouTube megastars.

But Crystal Clear have joined this contouring house party, and they haven't just brought the tunes. Oh no, they've brought the whole sound system. Yes, they've released their new *'Contour It', which they describe as "The Makeup Free Alternative to Contouring." How can this be so? More on that later, but the kit includes a battery operated wand, an Illuminating Cream and unbelievably, batteries are included - Argos, pay heed! The basic premise of the kit is, use the cream together with the wand, and sculpt the areas you want to be sculpted. Simple!

On the underside of the lid, they give instructions pointing out which areas of the face you can use the device on, and how it's done - handy. As you can see, the wand and illuminating cream are nicely presented in the box.

THE WAND 

So, let's get the childishness out of the way first of all. Yes, it's called a wand. Yes it's a hand-held, battery operated, vibrating tool with a very specific purpose, and yes, it will probably bring you some joy too. *sniggers*

Now that we've all relieved ourselves, you apply the illuminating cream on to the area(s) of the face that you'd like to sculpt or define, turn on the device, press the golden bar against the bottom edge of the area, and roll it upwards. This video shows you how to use the wand, but the general idea is that you always roll it upwards, as we're looking to lift.

As an example, I apply the cream to the hollows of my cheek, press the gold bar to the bottom edge and roll it upwards. Then I move along a little bit, press the gold bar against the bottom of the next section of the hollows, and roll upwards again. Doing this ensures that you're lifting up the area in question, so if you were to pull it downwards instead, you'd be dragging the skin down, and give yourself droopy, saggy skin. This is not what we want.

Also note that immediately after use, you'll probably notice that your skin starts to tingle a little, a sure-fire sign that the wand is working it's magic!

Generally speaking, you'd use the kit before applying makeup but you're not restricted to that, you can use it whenever you feel like it, even at night after you've taken off all your slap. That may seem counter-productive, but I feel that the wand can do more than just contour, it can lift the skin too, almost dipping it's toes in the anti-ageing area.

THE ILLUMINATE CREAM 

The Illuminate Cream comes in a 25ml tube, which doesn't seem like much, but as you can see in the swatch above, it is quite thick and a little does go a long way. Please note, no cream was wasted in the making of this swatch. It went right on my face immediately after.

And the cream does exactly as you'd expect from a product named Illuminate. It illuminates. I've found in the past, that some brightening creams come with glittery particles that kind of cheat a little bit, but there's none of that here. I've used this cream all over my face too, and I find that it perks up my skin quite a bit, makes it look brighter and generally less dull. And it also contains SPF15 for that added little bonus!

THE VERDICT

I'll be honest, my entire family have been blessed with cheekbones that can cut a bitch. But me being me, I don't just want sharp cheekbones, I want samurai-sharp cheekbones! I didn't expect to notice much of a difference though, as I'm quite skeptical by nature, however I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were some subtle changes. I also expected that the shape of the wand would leave some awkward lines on the face, but unless you press down really, really hard - which I suggest you don't - it doesn't even leave a mark.

Whilst I was pleased with the subtle lift around the cheekbones, it was the brow bones where I noticed the most difference. I've been applying a tiny amount of the Illuminate cream to the brow bone, taking the wand to it and rolling upwards. The results are actually instant, I can visibly see that the brow bone has been lifted, and the whole eye area looks just that little bit brighter.

I think it's important to note, that although the results are visible instantly, the effects are only temporary and by the end of the day the areas you've lifted will be back to normal again. Going back to the anti-ageing point I made earlier, my blogger pal Rowena had an awesome idea for those of you who use sheet masks (for those who don't, WHY NOT?) - after using the sheet mask, leave all that excess moisture on the skin, and use the wand to lift up the skin in other areas, such as the under eye area. I have actually been doing this, and found that the under eye area certainly does get perked up!

So back to the Crystal Clear statement - 'The Makeup Free Alternative to Contouring' - does it live up to that billing? I'd say that it does, even for someone like me, blessed with my sharp cheekbones, I notice a visible, if subtle difference immediately after use.