Pink Haired Princess

Post contains affiliate links, lipstick is not a PR item.   It's a long running joke in our house that each lipstick I buy is the same shade...erm, do they not know that every nude is different? Not that my family read here, but if they did, the lipstick I'm swatching today would surprise them as it's...green. Yes, really!! The L'Oreal collaboration with fashion house Balmain isn't a new one, but I found this lipstick online earlier this year and it just so happened to be the colour I was really intrigued by at the time of launch. I don't get out often to Boots or Superdrug to test their makeup brands (well with Covid, nobody does now), so I don't buy much in the way of drugstore/high street brands these days and after initially eyeing this collection, I'd forgotten all about it, until I stumbled upon it here .

Today in the UK, it's Mother's Day.  I usually have to rely on my sister to find a card for me as my Mum is really into card making and makes them for me to give to friends, etc.  Obviously I can't ask her to make her own (!) and I'd be with her when shopping, so can't pick one up then either.  The past two years though, I haven't been near a shop, so I had to buy my gifts and card online.  My sister had been unwell, so I didn't want to hassle her to go searching for a card for me.  It's Mum's birthday in a couple of weeks too, so I decided to get both at once.  I was organised with a present, but left the card until the last minute!

I've been wanting to write this post for some time, considering how much my beauty regime has changed this year, but to be truthful I wasn't sure if it was of any interest to you . I've had to learn and deal with a lot of changes in my appearance over the past few months and of course that's had a knock-on effect to my confidence.  So I decided any pro-self-esteem post was worth writing if it helps anyone else out there. For a little background and to hopefully clear up those " the shoe girl diaries illness " or " what illness does pink haired princess have " searches that are leading to my blog, I have M.E. I know I still haven't finished my (When Life Sucks) posts about my illness and how it came about, but it's not forgotten I promise. I've been ill for over 12 years now and finally got to a point where I was able to get dressed up and 'look' ok, even when I wasn't feeling that great. This year though, my iron dipped ...

Last month I shared with you what was inside my travel bag, after I'd spent the weekend away. If you'd like to familiarise yourself with that post, click here (it'll open in a new window). That post included the skincare items I took and I'll be showing you the makeup in this one. Like I said before, I wanted to pack light, but didn't want to find myself without a necessary item. The annoying thing about your beauty bag is you need the same amount of stuff whether you're staying one night or two weeks! A lipstick is a lipstick, whether you apply it once or a hundred times, it'll stay the same size, so it wasn't as easy as my skincare edit where I packed almost entirely 'mini' items. I've tried where possible to choose lighter and smaller pieces and did a sneaky little multi-task trick that I'll tell you about later. Before I let you know exactly what was inside, here's a close-up of the bag itself. This photo (above) is f...

Long time, no Monster High Monday huh? I've just not had time for it recently as it's so very time consuming finding dupes and applying them in a way you wouldn't normally, so it's not something you can do quickly. It's back though and I thought I'd ease myself in, with something relatively simple. I have to add my attempt was a little half hearted and I was lucky it turned out as well as it did, because my head was elsewhere, spacey girl! Anyway it's glitter galore, which was rather scratchy to take off last night!  Oh and we've got a little post-Halloween effect to the photos this week! Clawdeen Wolf is one who often changes her hair colour, which is rather lovely. For the Roller Maze line everyone had a flash of lime green in their outfit or hair and makeup, so the gorgeous lilac hair (seriously loving that hue) has lime streaks and on the lids, you'll hopefully just be able to see green before the gold and glitter. Her lips are a shade o...

One of these days my Monster High Monday post will actually be uploaded on a Monday. Maybe! It's usually late afternoon until I sit down to start writing the post and see how the photos have turned out and by then I only have an hour or so. Plus Monday is a busy TV night for me (Hart Of Dixie (trashy I know) and hooked on Under The Dome), so I never have time for more after that. Totally going off on a tangent here, but I feel like I didn't watch anything on telly recently and all of a sudden my evening schedule is full! I've decided to watch X Factor USA again which is on twice and don't even get me started on the fact CSI: NY is on four times this week, er hello, when am I supposed to do anything?  Plus I have Covert Affairs, then our X-Factor at weekends.  Phew! Anyway yesterday was like a summers day, it was actually warm and sunny. So I thought I'd look for a nice bright dolly to replicate and of course that would involve Lagoona. Did you know the reas...

I have to confess that I haven't watched any of the Monster High webisodes for some time now (just haven't had time). I have seen the 'newer' character Operetta in some of the DVD releases though.  Although the way MH are releasing new characters, Operetta is pretty ancient by now! I think the doll looks more 'grown-up' than the rest of the gang (definitely not school age) and comes across as older than the others. In the cartoon series, she does have an air of maturity around her and can be quite snooty towards the others which is rather amusing! She's not an enemy of the central characters, but I wouldn't say she's in that inner circle either. Anyway, I think she's a really beautiful doll and character. She always has pin-up, rockabilly type clothes and accessories.  Her fiery red hair with black streaks is usually styled in quiffs or victory rolls which look awesome. As the daughter of The Phantom Of The Opera, she's marked dow...

This week I decided to go all-out with MHM, in my most daring yet. I tackled a glitter mono brow, one leopard print eye and completely lilac lips. Oh yeah! Monster High released a DVD to coincide with the Ghouls Rule range and as the characters attend a Halloween party in it, the clothes, hair and makeup is a little more wild than usual. Clawdeen Wolf gets a makeover with long lilac hair and shaved leopard print sides, with crazy makeup to boot. I'd just written my review of the new L'Oreal eyeliners when I realised I could use them to their full potential on a Monster High Monday as mad as this one. I found the Blackbuster marker pen one was the easiest to use and you can read my full review of the liners here , where I've used them more conventionally. If you look closely at Clawdeens eye makeup, you'll notice there's actually two different shades of green around the eye. On the 'plain' eye she has a dusky green up to the brow and under the ...