Saturday 30 June 2012

Taken By Surprise Giveaway!

Hello everyone, as some of you may know, Taken By Surprise reached 10,000 views a while back!!

And to celebrate, I promised you all a giveaway, because freebies are pretty much the best thing ever, and because your readership and comments give me the warm and fuzzies, I will be sharing the love by sending one of you lucky readers a little gift in the mail!

The winner will receive three sets of Butter London Nail Applications! (designs pictured below)




As you know, I'm a huge fan of nail applications! They're so easy to use, plus you don't need to sit around waiting for them to dry, or have to put up with the smell! I'm rarely without my nails done, so I thought I'd share the nail art love :)

Ways to enter:
1. Follow Taken By Surprise on Google Friend Connect (GFC)
2. Like Taken By Surprise on Facebook
3. Follow Taken By Surprise on Bloglovin'
4. Follow @hi_JLY on Twitter

Each method will give you one entry, so if for example, you follow on GFC and like on Facebook, that's two entries!

Make sure you leave a comment on this post with:
-your name
-email address (So I can contact you if you win!)
-and what kind of entry you submitted (e.g. GFC, Facebook, etc.) - I'll be checking!

**Readers who came to this post via Facebook, you can enter the giveaway by:**
Liking Taken By Surprise on Facebook, and leaving a comment on the giveaway post so I know to add your name into the draw.

Thanks again everyone, and best of luck in the giveaway!

xxx

Entries close: 00:00 AEST 16 July 2012
Giveaway is available worldwide.
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Saturday 23 June 2012

Daytime Smoky Eye - Makeup Tutorial

Thanks everyone for the great feedback on my last makeup tutorial on winged eyeliner and plum-shade lips! A lot of you said that you would love to see more tutorials, so I answered!

This tutorial is a photo-tute - my last video took hours and I really wanted to show you this one - so hopefully my pictures are clear enough to follow!

For this tutorial, I'm going to show you how to create a brown smokey eye. It's a look that suits every skin and eye colour, so I thought it'd be a great one to show you and hopefully a lot of you get some tips out of it :) Plus, even though the smoky eye is usually reserved for nighttime makeup, the brown isn't too intense so you can wear it during the day to school or work! Yay for versatility!!

Taken By Surprise Tutorial: Brown Smoky Eye


Here I'm using Rimmel's English Oak eyeshadow quad, but if you don't have this, have four colours similar to these and use them. When it comes to smoky eyes though, buying your shadows in a quad like this one by Rimmel is a good idea, because the colours are guaranteed to look great together! 

Rimmel Glam'Eyes HD in 002 English Oak & Sportsgirl brushes























1. Starting off with the lightest colour, a champagne shade, apply all over the lid up to the brow bone. Pat a small amount into the inner corners of your eye to open them up.




2. Using a gold brown eyeshadow, apply all over the lid using a patting motion to decrease shadow fallout. That stuff is messy to clean up!





















3. Using an angled brush, apply a bronze colour into the crease and softly blend.


4. With a chocolate shade, apply into the outer "V" of the eye lid, blending to create a shadowed wing that is angled up towards your eyebrow.




5. Using the same chocolate colours and an angled brush, line your top lash line with the eyeshadow by running the tip of the brush along your top and bottom lash lines in soft feathered motions.




6. Line your eyes with a black liner. You can use whatever kind you like - pencil, liquid, or gel - but I find gel is the easiest to apply over eyeshadow as the pigment is really pronounced. Apply in small feathered strokes to create a straight line that follows your lash line. At the outer corner, flick your liner upwards at a 45 degree angle to create a 5mm wing.

Rimmel Scandaleyes Gel Eyeliner




7. If you're lucky enough to have long eyelashes, you can skip this step! But if you're like me and have short, straight ones, curl your lashes with a curler, holding for about 20 seconds.

Pharmacy eyelash curler.


 8. Apply mascara with a shimmying motion to avoid clumps. Rimmel's Scandaleyes mascara is great for this as the bristles kind of overlap each other, stopping too much product from going on your lashes!

Rimmel Scandaleyes Mascara.
Here I only have my right eye done,
how much longer does this mascara make my lashes!! In love! 


9. As smoky eyes can be intense and dramatic, play it down for your lips. I'd go for a nude or pale pink lippy - the one I'm using here is fairly similar to my skin tone. Then use a lipstick brush to help define the shape of your lips. Apply a clear or lightly pigmented pink gloss over the top for shine.

Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss Lipstick in 14 Rosetto
Rimmel Vinyl Max One Stroke Maxi Shine Lip Gloss in 701 Outrageous
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're done!



I had to share the jumper I was wearing - bunny love!
Do you wear or would you try the brown smoky eye? I'd love to see a picture if you do! If you have any tutorial requests, I'd love to hear them, so leave a comment below!

Ooooh and for all of you that have been waiting patiently for my giveaway - I've bought the prizes! I'm now just waiting for them to come in the mail, and then I can get this giveaway started! Thanks for waiting guys, it'll be worth the wait, I promise :)
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Saturday 16 June 2012

Mecca Cosmetica - 2012 BEAUTY ELECTION Top 100 Beauty Stars

Today a lovely friend of mine and I were whisked away into a world of lipsticks and powder puffs at the Mecca Cosmetica Beauty Election 2012 Event!




In the left corner is THE James Boehmer!!
Located at Chadstone - a huge shopping centre known as the Fashion Capital of Victoria - Mecca Cosmetica hosted an event in-store where there were so many makeup artists you could barely walk!

Even James Boehmer, the Director of Global Artistry at NARS was there, and his work has appeared in countless fashion magazines and was a lead makeup artist at New York Fashion Week!! Oh. My. God.



My friend and I were treated to a free consultation with a professional makeup artist, and the girl who did mine was super nice and took me through step-by-step to achieve this personalised look:

As I wear glasses sometimes, I was looking for a look that would suit my frames while still being a bit quirky. I always wear eyeliner, but was looking for something different from my usual black liquid liner. 

Sally, my makeup artist, suggested a blue liner with champagne to brown coloured eyeshadows, something I would not have thought of without her! But I was so happy with how it looked, I couldn't leave without buying that Larger Than Life Long-Wear Eyeliner in Rue Saint-Honoré - I fell in love instantly!




I had actually had a consultation at Mecca once before, and two of the products they suggested I try on the first visit (the blush and highlighter) were again recommended to me today! It really shows how talented the artists at Mecca are - they really do know what suits you best!

My friend bought the silver eyeshadow that was chosen for her, here's some photos of her wearing it:


And as a present for attending, we both received a little goodie bag, containing mini versions of the NARS Blush in Orgasm (the shade that was used during my consultation - what luck!) and NARS Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Aigle Noir.

Image courtesy of NARS 
Image courtesy of NARS




Our entire makeup haul for the day!
Look for a Mecca Cosmetica store near you.


*All of the opinions expressed on this post are my own.

In other news, I'm hunting around for a prize for my giveaway, so stay tuned for details!
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