101 Spring Survival Kit in Black

Hello! I promised a look this week but it was impossible to photograph one. I've been fairly busy with school, so I decided to do a post on spring black fashion. For someone who only wears black, sometimes I find it quite tricky to survive the warmth felt in my city during the spring and summer months.
Here's what I have in mind for this spring!

Truth is I usually don't use prints, at least not in fall and winter. But for les printemps it's quite appropriate and flattering because it's much lighter and doesn't wear you out too much.

I thought a simple floral print dress would go well with minimal makeup, just a flush of pink on the cheeks and on the lips, and flats.

Flats are, in my opinion, perfect for spring because they're fresh and delicate.´

Again, the floral print brings a bit of life to this black and white look. How beautiful are those pointed flats tho!!

As always, a very simple and interesting way to give a touch of colour to the look is to wear a bright lipstick or lip tint that stands out from the rest of the look.

I've been looking for the perfect orange coral lip, let me know if you have any suggestions!

This one is a bit more colourful and definitely not something I would go for because it's shorts. Although I find them very beautiful, I can't get shorts to work for me. But it's still a nice option, still in the same theme: wear a print to bring life to the look.

A basic look perfect for a walk with your "person". The basic black dress makes for a beautiful statement piece to which you can add fun accessories and shoes to bring out the best of your look.

Also, no spring look would be complete without an amazing spring scent. My favourite ESCADA perfume is definitely this Born In Paradise one that came out last year, I was blessed to be given one in my two year relationship anniversary when it lauched.

This is a look I would use for a party or a night out. I would probably tone it down a bit on the shoes but it's something I would only do for a special occasion. That purse is stunning! I was out hunting for purses today to go with my prom dress and all I could think of would be a beautiful beaded little clutch that would make my look much more polished, this is something I would definitely use.

Also, despite all the Lime Crime drama that's been going on, I still love their Zodiac Glitters, this one is breathtaking! 

And that's it for this post! I have so much to do this week so I can't promise anything for the next post but I hope it's what I have in mind! Look out for it!

Love,

Anna

Printemps n.1

Hello! This is a non beauty related improvised post. I've been in England since friday and I've gone to some places and I've realised they love flowers. They have flowers literally everywhere! By the roan, in the gardens, in the backyards, in the windows, everywhere. And not just one kind of flowers! All kinds of different flowers in many colours! The one you see the most around are the daffodils, they're so lovely!

I thought I'd show you a bit of what it looks like when it's Spring around here, so that's what this post is about. I went to two gardens today and that's what I'll be showing you!

Ayscoughfee Hall

Springfields Festival Gardens 

All photos were taken by me and have not been edited.
Some of them are a bit blurry because some where taken while walking, so I apologize for that.
The amount of flowers in the place I'm staying at is so huge that it's inspiring me to do some spring looks!

That's all for this post. I'm planning on doing a series of posts with all the locations I visit cause one post only would be too long if I was to show you everything in one. We'll see.

Love,
Anna

Golden Spring

Hello! Today I bring you a Spring inspired look. This is a colorful look that will certainly not be "something" for everyone but it's fun and you can always tone it down, use some neutrals to make it more wearable to suit your daily activities.

Let's get started!

I came up with the idea for this look after I saw Oriflame's spring campaign. They have this girl with gold and purple shades in her eyes and it looked delightful! It was so pretty that I decided to try it out.

I had no idea purple and gold would go so well together!

This look can be toned down by using colder shades of purple rather than warmer, as I did for this post.

The warmer the purple you use, the stronger that sunset feel will be. When blended into the gold, the purple can mix up with the yellow tones of the gold and create a beautiful gradient. 

Any type of purple will suit this makeup really, you just have to find out what kind of purple suits your complexion better.

Usually warmer purples go better with yellow/golden/olive skin undertones and cooler purples will be best for pink skin undertones because they will complement the skin better.

I used only two pigment to achieve the gold and purple gradient. Unfortunately I only have the littlest bit of these two pigments so I store them in tiny Z bags and I did not identify them so I can't identify them for you with accuracy. Instead, I'll be presenting alternatives that will help you achieve this same look.

I used a light gold pigment, that is very reflective, on the inner half of my eye. Some alternatives for this would be Makeup Geek's New Year's Eve or Sweet Dreams pigment for lighter skin colors and Makeup Geek's Afterglow pigment for darker, warmer skin colors.  The pigment I used if very very similar to New Year's Eve and it is best for pale skin tones. If you have a medium skin tone, Sweet Dreams is a great option and Afterglow is best for darker skin tones. If you're not a fan of pigments, Makeup Geek's Shimma Shimma eyeshadow, for light skin tones, and Makeup Geek's In the Spot Light foiled eyeshadow, for deeper skin tones, are also great options.

I used a very warm purple pigment on the other half of my eye, the pigment that I used has no shimmer to it so I think you'd achieve the same effect with an eyeshadow. A couple of options to this are Sugarpill's Poison Plum eyeshadow and Sugarpill's 2AM eyeshadow. Poison Plum is a darker version of 2AM, both are very warm purples tho. I would say that the pigment I used is similar to 2AM because it is lighter and a more vibrant shade of warm purple. If you want to darken up the outside corner of the eye, Poison Plum is a great option. But, if you're going for a darker look, Poison Plum is purfect too.

Both these eyeshadows are matte and shimmer-less.

I blended the gold and the purple together, achieving this sunset'ish effect. I had to darken my lashline, and for that I used black eyeshadow and I buffed it out to soften it. I also used a light beige pencil liner on the inner half of my waterline and black eyeliner on the outer part of my waterline. This gives a more elongated shape to my eye, brightening up that inner corner.

If you want a more dramatic look, go for black in all of your waterline.

Top it up with some mascara and the eye is finished!

I decided to bronze up the face a little, after contouring, and I used a pink blush that will match the eye makeup a little. I used highlighter in the highest points of my face to enhance that glow as well.

For lips I used a lipliner in a brownish color a tad darker than my skin color. A good pencil for this would be OCC'S Cosmetic Colorful Pencil in Pennyroyal for lighter skin tones and OCC'S Cosmetic Colorful Pencil in Sybil for darker skin tones.

I used this to outline my lips. Then I used O Boticário's lipgloss in 223 (which is a great dupe for Nars' Orgasm Lipgloss) all over the lips and I used a little bit of that gold pigment I had used before in the center of the lips. 

This combo gives me a fuller pout that looks effortlessly natural.

And that's it for this week's post! I hope you have enjoyed this spring look. I find that these colors are perfect for spring since they're so colorful!

Tânia told me the other day that one of the girls from her class did a frame inspired in my Valentine's Day DIY frame that I did in January and she showed me the final result and I loved it!

I love to know that someone out there that sees our blog gets inspired by what me and Tânia do, so if you recreate any of our looks or get inspired by our posts, please let us know! We'd love to receive your feedback!

I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll be back in the next one.

Love,

Anna