Urban Decay Electric palette

Stop everything and look at this. Hello beautiful.

Urban Decay - Electric pressed pigment palette* 

This is the new Urban Decay make up palette... which is a bit of a step away from Naked, the neutral collection that they are super famous for. It is BRIGHT. 

Eight of the shades are brand new (Revolt & Chaos are repeated from other sets), and they've used pressed pigments instead of traditional eyeshadow formulas to create heavily saturated bright colours. Now, I don't really know the difference between a pressed pigment and a traditional eyeshadow, but I do know that it is super annoying when you see makeup that is bright and beautiful in its packaging, but chalky and pale when applied.

L-R: Revolt, Gonzo, Slowburn, Savage, Fringe (top row)
Chaos, Jilted, Urban, Freak, Thrash (bottom row)

So here's how they look on! They were pretty smooth to apply, and the colour was actually just as bright as it looked in the case (although I should say that I used a couple of strokes for each shade - these could be a little more subtle if you only used a bit and blended it in). 

I am a sucker for bright colours, so a couple of these (Gonzo, Slowburn and Savage) really stood out to me. Fringe and Urban had really nice metallic tones throughout, and Revolt is a really wearable silver shimmer. I doubt I'd wear Freak or Thrash on their own, but I like the idea of using a pale gold eyeshadow on my top lid, and using either of these colours to line the lower lid.

I had a play about with a couple of my favourite colours (Slowburn and Savage) to make a corally-pink smoky eye, with a wee bit of gold (Maybelline Colour Tattoo) in the corner of the eye and under the brow. At first I wasn't sure how wearable this would be, but I actually really love it! It's not a Sunday brunch look, but I'd definitely wear this look to the pub, or on a sunny day. I also applied Slowburn over a clear lipgloss, and I'm impressed at how well it works as a lip colour too. 

The Electric palette is released on April 1st, costs £38, and can be bought from Debenhams, House of Fraser, Look Fantastic or BeautyBay.com.

Andy Smith illustration

I've reached a nice point with my new flat where I have finally unpacked everything (hooray), and now that the house sale is all finished & keys have been handed over, I know that I won't have any more unexpected ohhh-I-forgot-about-those-things boxes. This means I get to start decorating properly. which is a good excuse to buy some new art.

I came across Andy Smith through pinterest, and got a bit obsessed. There's a spot in my living room that is desperate for a bit of colour, and I think one of these could be perfect...

Top row

Always right | Lonely | Sunny | Pretend

Bottom row

Party in space | Lose the blues | Stars | Relax

Fox hair!

I've got new hair! After two years of absolutely loving my badger stripes I thought I was well overdue for a change, and I wanted to embrace my ginger locks a wee bit more.

I changed hairdressers too, and have started going to Boosh, a lovely hair & beauty salon in Edinburgh's Cowgate. I don't know why I left it quite so long to try them out - loads of my friends go and absolutely rave about it!

So this is it! About four years after ombre hair was cool, I'm giving it a go. I wanted to have hair that looked like a fox tail when it was up in a ponytail, and I'm so pleased with it.

We picked a red colour that was a really vibrant version of my natural hair colour, with super coppery undertones. That was put on the top third of my hair, with bleach on the bottom to lighten up the ends. Then when it was time to wash it out, my hairdresser did some magic blending trick, so the two dyed sections and my natural hair colour (the colour in the middle) all come together in a lovely soft gradient.

It's taken me a week or so to get used to it (the first day or so any time I caught my reflection I would almost double-take!) but I love it. Hooray for new hair!

Win tickets to the Edinburgh International Science Festival!

It's festival time! Well, almost. The Edinburgh International Science Festival (which I've mentioned a few times on here) is fast approaching, and thanks to my lovely pals at work, I have a few pairs of tickets to give away...

This year the Festival is celebrating science at the heart of everything - which basically means no matter who you are, or what you are into, science is connected in some shape or form. 

The Festival isn't all white coats or stern lectures either (although both can be found if you're into that sort of thing), there's food and fashion, comedy and film screenings, live music, robots, codey things, vampire, cocktails, theatre, musical pinball tables, and the chance to pretend to be a big kid and play with slime, eyeballs and potions (with beer in hand) at the opening party.

I've got two pairs of tickets to giveaway, and you can pick from one of the following events....

Science Festival Lates  Thursday 3rd April, 7.30pm

Fancy embarking on a Jungle Safari? Or having a go at keyhole surgery in A&E? Science Festival Lates is just the ticket as we turn our flagship children's venue over to adults only for one very special night. Celebrate the opening of the 2014 Festival with us as we explore science at the heart of things – we’ve got blood and guts, eyeballs and slime, bubbles and robots all mixed in with music, bars and fun. Don’t miss the chance to get hands-on and get your geek on – grab a drink and join the party!

Mathemania! Wednesday 9th April, 5.30pm

Mathemania has broken loose! Equations have broken through the ivory towers of academia to infect every part of our daily lives. Banking, betting and betrothing now have maths in their DNA, and you’re next. Your only antidote to this epidemic is to understand it. Luckily, stand-up mathematician and Australian Numeracy Ambassador Simon Pampena can help. He finds the whole situation hilarious... as will you!

Sin Academy  Thursday 10th April, 8pm

Merging science and sin, author and ‘hedonism expert’ Zoe Cromier of Guerilla Science leads an interactive celebration of the unholy trinity of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll as she explores the science of hedonism. From tortoiseshell condoms to superstar athletes on hallucinogens, expect stories from some of the more sinful annals of science. But you don’t get off that lightly! Get up close and personal with science in a series of interactive experiments that will give you the chance to smell your way to your perfect partner, extract DNA and feel electricity when you kiss. Naughty? Perhaps, but rather nice! Hosted by science songstress Helen Arney.

The Hangover Hypothesis Sunday 13th April, 11am

We all have a routine for the morning after the night before, but is it really effective? Bring your own hangover along (optional!) and join us as we attempt to stretch, slurp and scoff it into submission. Under the supervision of Milton Crawford, author of The Hangoevr Cookbook (sic), we’ll try morning after cocktails, a spot of yoga with Linda Douglas and – experiment with the classic cure – a bacon roll. Learn what science has to say and seprate the myth from reality.

Gotta Get Up to Get Down Sunday 13th April, 8pm

If you had to express your personality through dance, what would you be? A cheeky Charleston? A proud Paso Doble? Or a cocky twerker? Let dance psychology expert Dr Peter Lovatt, AKA Dr Dance, show you how the way you are and the way you feel can influence how you move your body. No need for a leotard and dancing shoes are optional in this terpsichoreal tour of wonder.

To enter just fill in the following form. I'll pick two winners and let you both know by email by April 1st. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

p.s. please only enter if you are able to attend the event (which is in Edinburgh!) on the date listed above. Thank you!

February instagram

I'd like to say that I have a good excuse for posting my February round up so late, but really I just temporarily abandoned my blog in favour of hanging with my favourite people, long lazy breakfasts & days spent reading books & playing video games. I regret nothing!

Anyway, here's what I've been up to over the last few weeks...

Instagram username: eversojuliet

1. I brought this headscarf home from Sri Lanka, and I love it. I used to think headscarves were too difficult to put on, but that's so far from the truth! They are super easy and, more importantly, hide all sorts of mucky hair sins!

2. My flat was missing a bed when I moved in (good times!) so it was pretty exciting when it finally arrived! Excitement soon faded though, when I had to build it solo, and I almost snapped a side panel through my clumsy DIY (diwhyyy) attempt...

3. In the lead up to the Science Festival launch, a few work pals came round for a lunchtime scifest-inspired nail art session (you can see my attempt here).

4. I've been getting pretty brave with eating fish (which I used to hate) over the last year, so it was really fun to have a go at making sushi one night. Joshua & I "accidentally" ended up spending a fortune on fancy ingredients in Waitrose, but it was soooo good...

5. .. And looked like this! The sushi mat was a bit fiddly to start with, but it all worked out nicely in the end.

6. Dark nights & slightly skint days means I've been pretty quiet this month, but it has been nice to stay in and be cosy. I tried painting a fox, because I love them, and I was a wee bit nervous... fur looks pretty hard to do! I'm pretty happy with the end result, but I think I'm still too keen to put dark outlines on everything - I need to keep reminding myself to put down the paintbrush!

7. Another cosy evening in, with the hint of spring in the air. When my house was up for sale it was filled with lovely fresh flowers all the time (so it looked pretty for potential buyers). I'm determined to try and keep this up in my flat, even if it's just for me!

8. Yet another cosy night in (can you see a theme for this month?). I'm so pleased with this pie, it was ridiculously good! It's chicken and bacon and rabbit, in a cheesy sauce with a puff pastry (bunny topped) lid. SO GOOD. (Sorry bunny lovers).

9. While Craig was moving into his new flat, my favourite fat cat came to stay! Riley seems so unfazed by moving, within a few hours he was already strolling round my flat like he owned the place. He's off to live with Craig (cause he's got a bigger place), but I get him for cat holidays, which I'm so pleased about. Even if he is shedding his winter coat at the moment...

 

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