HALLOWEEN HOW TO:PASTEL GOTH MAKE UP

Happy Halloween everyone! It's been such a fun month playing about with Halloween make up tutorials again this year - I've been sparkly and glittery in galaxy-inspired make up, looked a bit startled in Queen of Hearts make up, grunged up as Furiosa from Mad Max, and embraced my gory side with bloody stapled face make up. It's been a bit rough round the edges at times, but it's been fun to do, and that's sort of the whole point of these tutorials - if I can do them, you can too!

River Island got in touch to challenge me to put together a #RITrick or a #RITreat make up look, so I couldn't resist doing one more post. I was sent a selection of accessories and make up to inspire me, including this adorable comb-in hair chalk - which I knew I wanted to use! It reminded me of the type of thing I would have loved as a teenager, so that's what inspired this look - it's grungey, but still a bit pretty, and requires nothing other than a steady hand putting on eyeliner (the mantra of my teenage years!).

So, if you want to look a little spooky, and don't mind channelling 16 year old Juliet, here's what you need to use:

• Black liquid eyeliner
• Black kohl pencil eyeliner
• Eyeshadows in a variety of pastel colours (I used yellow, pinks and purples)
• Black eyeshadow (I used a NARS Shadow Stick)
• Mascara
• False eyelashes (I used Eylure volume lashes)
• Purple lipstick (I used Barry M)
• Fake spiders
• Hair chalk

Start by building up the colours of your pastel smokey eye. I used a glittery light yellow in the corner of my eye, then layered a pinky-peach colour on top of that.

I then took a fluffy little brush and a slightly darker pink, and swept this quite dramatically all around my eye, pulling the colour down onto the tops of my cheeks (I wanted to look a bit grungey - almost like the area was bruised) and sweeping out towards my ears.

I then added purple eyeshadow to the outer corners of my eyes, and used a brush to blend these all together. So far, so colourful!

Now to get a bit darker! Blend in black shadow along your lower lash, and use your finger to make it a bit smudgey (the NARS shadow stick is great for this). Take your kohl eyeliner and carefully go along your waterline, and then use liquid eyeliner to create a cat's eye with a dramatic flick.

Use your liquid eyeliner to draw on small spiders around your eyes (or the best spider-like blobs you can do!). This bit is completely inspired by Valfre - an illustrator who draws super sassy girls with star freckles (she also makes the best accessories, check out her phone cases!).

Then to finish up, put on purple lipstick (I used a light purple, and dabbed a darker purple eyeshadow onto it), and pin some spiders in your hair! Use the hair chalk to brush through the ends of your hair, for a pinky/purpley vibe. Dress top to toe in black, and scowl at anyone you see. Have fun!

MY TOP 10 INTERIOR BLOGGERS

It's official! I get my keys today! I've been banging on about my new flat for TWO months now, so thank you if you've read, commented or tweeted me along the way, it's been so nice to know that I've not just bored you all to tears!

I've now got a pretty busy week ahead of me. I've got to paint, move about a million books and heavy things, and assemble so much flatpack furniture (aargh!). Luckily I've got the week off work, so I can get all of my deliveries in at once - fingers crossed it all comes when it's supposed to!

My internet's the very first thing to be set up (I've got my priorities straight), so my plan is to keep blogging to schedule - but if I go quiet, you'll know why! I'll be tweeting and instagramming like mad, so if you fancy keeping up with my new flat adventures, come say hello there!

I thought it would be nice to share some of the blogs I've been loving as I've obsessed over house and home. A few of them are lifestyle bloggers who dabble in home posts, but if you've liked my rambles, you should like these too..

Top: Conversation Pieces, Apartment Therapy, Kate la Vie
Bottom: A Rosie Outlook, Sugar & Cloth, Burkatron

Conversation Pieces
I've featured Zoe's blog on here before, I just absolutely love her style! She blogs about interior design, thrifty finds and pretty things (and her pictures are always made even better by the presence of an adorable cat!).

Apartment Therapy
This is a mammoth site, but it started as a blog so I think it counts! Apartment Therapy is packed with inspiration for your home, with home makeovers, DIY, loads of advice, and ace tips for small spaces and budget living.

Kate La Vie
You might know her as ghostparties - Kate is the go-to blogger for beauty, lifestyle and interiors inspiration. She's a fan of clean lines, copper and cacti, and I am always seriously jealous of her gorgeous Glasgow flat!

A Rosie Outlook
Rosie's a lifestyle blogger who manages that fine balance between relatable posts and aspirational looks! She doesn't blog about homewares that often, but when she does it's cosy and dreamy.

Sugar & Cloth
DIY and decor to die for! This blog celebrates colour and playful accessories, from mini mountain photo holders to pom pom wall pieces. I want to craft it all!

Burkatron
Another DIY darling, Caroline is a master at simple and stylish tutorials for your home.

Top: A Beautiful Mess, What Katie Does
Bottom: Studio DIY, Llymlrs

A Beautiful Mess
If you have any interest in DIY or decor blogs, A Beautiful Mess will DEFINITELy be on your list already. It's packed with tutorials, tips and inspiration, and will make you want to grab a paintbrush and start a statement wall!

What Katie Does
Katie's a designer, and blogs beautiful imagery and tales of her life. Her home is calm, crafty and colourful.

Studio DIY
This is sort of cheating, as Studio DIY absolutely doesn't call itself an interiors blog, but I love their DIYs! If you ever want to throw a party, this is the site to look at.

Lily Melrose
Lily is a fashion blogger, who has been branching out into interiors over on her youtube channel. She's just moved house and vlogged every step of the way, and I've really enjoyed her videos. She's got an ace taste in homeware, and it's been so nice to see someone set up house by themselves and be so honest along the way!

PIN CLUB

I think it's well-known that I'm a sucker for a subscription box (see here, here, and here!) so I was quite excited to come across the newest kid on the block, Pin Club.

Each month Pin Club design and create a brand new limited edition enamel pin, that gets posted to you as a surprise piece of post at the start of each month. They've only just started, but so far the pins have been super-cute, and it looks like there's lots of nice things to come - think cute, kawaii and kitsch, festivals and summer adventures, sugary treats, sprinkles, 80's retro, 90's cool, iconic faces, affirmations, girl power, stationery geeks and spirit animals. PHEW.

It's pretty cheap too - subscriptions cost £5 per month in the UK or £7 per month for the rest of the world. You can also buy a one-off pin without subscribing for £6.

Most subscription boxes seem to sit around the £20 mark, so it's nice to find something that's a little more affordable as a totally indulgent treat - this lets you get fun surprise post, support artists doing interesting things, and get cute lapel pins for your jacket or bag for the cost of a pint. Who wouldn't want that?

Subscriptions are only open for one day on the 1st of the month, so if you want to sign up, mark this Sunday in your diary!

HALLOWEEN HOW TO:BLOODY STAPLE FACE

I've got another Halloween tutorial for you, and this time I've gone mega gory. I love a scary Halloween costume, it's the only time of year that you have an excuse to cover yourself in blood and spook your pals (that's a normal thing to like, right?).

One of my favourite make up looks I've ever done was my bloody zip face, so I took inspiration from that to do a slightly different version. Say hello to staple face!

You will need:

• Red eyeshadow
• Black eyeshadow (I used a NARS velvet shadow stick, kindly sent to me by HQHair)
• Foundation
• Black eyeliner pencil
• Mascara
• Liquid latex 
• Staples
• Fake blood

Start by taking your red eyeshadow and putting on your eyelids, along your lower lash line, down into your cheek and into the bridge on your nose. If you've ever followed any of my zombie tutorials before, you'll recognise this step - it's my go to way of looking grim! I used a sponge applicator to add the shadow, and used my fingers to blend it into the skin.

Now get the black eyeshadow and add it to your lids and along the lower lash line. Smudge a little on top of the red shadow along the bridge of your nose (or whatever looks best for you - you just want to look grungey and a bit bruised!)

Add eyeliner along your waterline. 

Take the liquid latex and paint a strip along the bridge of your nose. Let it dry for a minute or so and paint another layer on (this bit is quite boring and you will look ridiculous). 

Once it's suitably thick and has dried, tear little holes in the middle of the latex - these are going to be your cuts, and the flaps of latex suddenly become flaps of disgusting skin (ew!). I used a kirby grip to do this bit, but you should be able to use your fingernails - just don't use scissors in case you cut yourself!

Use a sponge applicator to dab on fake blood in the latex holes. I did a few layers of fake blood to try and make it look splodgy and realistic, and also added a little bit of black eyeshadow onto the bloody bits to stop the colour looking too uniform.

Now, add your staples along the bridge of your nose. I just stretched the staple so it would comfortably slot around my 'wound', placed it on, and dabbed a little bit of liquid latex onto the ends to hold it in place.

Once your staples are on and the latex has dried, use foundation and the red and black eyeshadow to go over the latex edges. This will blend it into your face and looks SO DISGUSTING.

Enjoy freaking out your friends! 

SUNDAY LINKS

Happy Sunday everyone! Did you remember that the clocks went back this morning? I can't believe that another week has flown by so quickly - it's been so stressful! I still haven't started packing for my big house move (ha), so that joy awaits me next week.

Here's my round-up of interesting things from the internet this week...

Aristocat shirt (look at that cat collar!)

When I get really frustrated I cry. It's my worst habit, and the thing I most wish I could change about myself - I worry that it just makes me look weak and emotional, but I don't know how to fix it! This article doesn't offer any advice, but it is comforting to see that it's more common than I thought. 

This interview with Daniel Craig is WONDERFUL: "What could we learn from James Bond that would help us in our day-to-day lives?" Daniel Craig: [Thinks for a short while.] "Nothing."

Here's an absolutely beautiful Autumn DIY, how to make an ombre Autumn crown.

I always knew Edinburgh was a beaut, but now it's officially the best place to live in the UK!

This time next week it'll be November 1st, which means National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) officially begins! The challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, which leaves you with a first draft of a short novel. It's perfect for you if you've always wanted to write, but can't quite find the time - the site is packed with advice and pep talks and everything you need to find motivation and keep going. I really want to do it this year, but I can't decide if it's totally bonkers trying to do that AND move house?

I still consider myself quite new to city cycling, but this week I made record time on one of Edinburgh's hilly roads, and I realised how confident I feel cycling in traffic now (buses no longer faze me!). On that note, I really liked these tips for confidently cycling in cities.

Sneaky sexism is just as bad as blatant sexism. This is an interesting look at 8 ways men don't realise they are subtly shaming women.

I want so many things off this list: 25 insanely fun kitchen things you need immediately. How cute is the coaster cactus?

And finally, this is COMPLETELY self-indulgent (sorry), but in a week of major stress, it was so sweet to see I was mentioned as one of Wardrobe Conversations' Blog Crushes. You guys!