Illamasqua Paranormal Black Carpet Event

I recently went to the Illamasqua Paranormal Launch Black Carpet event in Bourke Street Myer. The event had an appropriate black carpet, professional photographer and lots of pink bubbles. XD

It was my first make up launch and it was invitation-only, so I actually felt quite special for being there! My boyfriend James bought the purple UV reactive nail colour to use for an Invader Zim jacket he is currently working on, and I purchased some Pure Pigment in Zeitgeist, which is not part of this collection.

Source: http://www.illamasqua.com/shop/collections/paranormal/

The collection, in case you haven't seen it yet, can be found here. What I'm most impressed with is the eye shadow quad. At the event, I swatched some and said aloud 'Wow, so it's a cream shadow?' and the MUA sad 'Actually no. It's a powder shadow.' And that really is amazing. It has an ultra refined texture that feels as silky as cream yet it is actually a powder, which is what I prefer. I am actually frustrated that the colours of the quad are not sold individually as $50 is still a lot of money just for eye make up.From what I've seen in photos and on models, I have not seen anyone use the green colour, Possession, at all. This would be one of the colours that I would actually love to have individually.

And here is one of Illamasqua's tutorials using this eye quad. There is no green used in this tutorial, even though anyone recreating it exactly would have the quad at their disposal.

The UV reactive nail colours are really creative and interesting and would be perfect for a Cyber look at a club. Considering however than not everyone spends their whole day under black lights  makes me think that these are not really for everyday. If you're interested, Stargazer has a dupe of the UV colour in Geist, which is a clear top coat the glows with a blue hue. 

Here is the Behind the Scenes video from their promotional shoot. It really is so beautiful, and has a Haunted House feel which is so amazing. I actually adore the shoot, but notice that there is no green to be seen on the models...


Hopefully you're just as inspired by this new collection as I am. Please comment with your inspirations!

xxx Lilly

Cyber with a Drop of Pastel

Normally when one thinks of Pastel Goth images come to mind of wanky pseudo Goth dressing that is similar to Soft Grunge. I'm sure you can tell from my previous sentence that I'm honestly not too enamoured with those particular styles.
However, I have discovered a beautiful photo of a style that actually represents the words Pastel and Goth. Pastel Cybergoth!!!

http://laura-aurora.tumblr.com/post/48299516173/pastel-cybergoth

Isn't she cute? I think this is a really interesting combination of cyber aesthetics and pale colours. I adore that icy blue eye make up. It's refreshing to see a proper application of the term Pastel when referring to Goth! XD

xxx Lilly

Cruelty-Free Beauty

Hello my Freaky Darlings

Here's a secret for you all. Slowly, as I refuse to waste perfectly good products, I am trying to convert my beauty, skincare and cosmetic routines into Cruelty-Free products exclusively. I have often used products that were cruelty free, but I didn't really become aware of the impact of not using cruelty free products meant for my fellow animals until recently. Now I am trying to purchase my new products cruelty free, and even better vegetarian products. (Ethically I still have some mental work ahead of me in regards to whether I want to cut carmine from my cosmetics and other similar issues.)
Disclaimer: I am not a vegetarian as I eat fowl and shellfish currently.
It's going to take time because, as I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog in the past, I have extremely sensitive and dry skin and am often allergic to products that contain ingredients such as salts, cheap fragrance, SLS and ethanol.
So far much of my routine is comprised of Lush, Kryolan, Palmers, Illamasqua and ELF products. XD

Oh, and This delightfully dark blog is my new favourite Tumblr. Please enjoy!

http://gothic-art-style.tumblr.com/post/46547824512

xxx Lilly

Emilie Autumn and Green Hair

Greetings, mortals!
A brief catch up? Well, uni is going well, on Monday I'll be in my second week of 2nd year, and beginning my private lessons on flute as well. Things have certainly been getting busy!
Oh, and, did you notice? I'm twenty now! Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! XD
Now it's time to celebrate my Un-Birthday!

So what's been happening in my rather uninteresting life?

(A month later when I remember that this post was unpublished)

We earlier I dyed the side parts of my hair green! I used Stargazer product. (Review may be in the start...)
Also, I purchased my first ever piece of clothing from the wonderful Australian brand Gallery Serpentine! A pair of adorable bloomers! XD

And just on Friday night I saw Emilie Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets live! =D The show was amazing. I could be more critical of her show (remember I am a classically trained musician and a dancer so I am very aware of what goes on on stage!) but I think that can wait. I purchased a poster of Captain Maggot (Signed) and EA's Fight Like a Girl CD.

So actually things have been quite busy for me lately. Moar posts soon!

Now I'm enjoying my token 70% cocoa chocolate mini eggs for Easter. I tend to not care much about Easter but good quality chocolate is always appreciated.

xxx Lilly

My Relationship with Lush

If you've spent any time around me, both online and in Real Life, you would know that I'm a fan of Lush. Ok, maybe 'Fan' isn't the best word to use. I'd even be tempted to use the word Lushie.  But I don't like that word so much as it tends to mean 'loves all of Lush and doesn't hate a single product', and for me that's not the case. I think it would be fair to say that now I have a love/hate relationship with Lush.

So I discovered Lush around 5 years ago. That's not all that long ago I know, but please remember that I lived in a small, remote country town for 12 years and didn't get to the city often.

The first product I purchased was Goth Juice, now discontinued. I still adore this lovely purple pot of moss-scented goodness. I recently had to turf the dregs of my 2nd last pot that had expired and turned gray, so now I am using up my last ever pot.

Since then I've spend hundreds of dollars on their products, often purchasing something once or twice a week. This is a problem for someone like me who is a full time student and doesn't work.

Also, I'm not totally sold on some of the ingredients used in Lush. I recently became aware that they use parabens in their products, and have only recently been changing their recipes to limit plastic glitter that ends up in the oceans.

As of sometime in February this was my collection, not including any empties or dregs of products. Naturally my collection of Lush has expanded considerable since this photo was taken. Also please note that some of these products are samples. Some of my additions since then include Dark Angels, 9 to 5, Shimmy Shimmy, The Godmother, Breath of God Toothy Tabs and Charity Pot.


The Bath Bombs wrapped are Phoenix Rising and So White.

I've became aware that I really need to stop wasting my money on cosmetics from Lush and start saving my money for other more valuable things. Hopefully this blog post will have helped me with my addiction to Lush.

Please share your cosmetic stories!

xxx Lilly

E.L.F 144 Palette

So, for Christmas/holiday season my lovely mother dearest purchased for me the ELF 144 piece Ultimate Eye Shadow Palette that can be found here.

This palette is amazing! There is a range of matte, sheer and glittery hues and almost a full spectrum of colour.
Already I've been using the blacks (obviously), the purples/plums and the neutrals a lot and experimenting with the reds and greens. There are a few unwearable shades in this palette, but I believe that they can all be used to creative character works or something like that. My biggest complaint about this palette is that it is so large it is not really portable, but honestly that's not really a complaint, more of a comment. I only use these shadows with the ELF eye primers, but some of the colours are not really pigmented enough for my liking.

Note: the flash doesn't accurately capture the colours. =)

xxx Lilly

Goth Quiz- Romantic

I've always had a soft soft for silly online quizzes, as I'm sure you would know if you read some of my earlier posts. Lately, we have been doing this quiz, by MalakronikMausi.

Here are my results!

You Scored as Romantic Goth

You are a romantic goth, better known as a traditional goth. You are probably quickly identified as a goth by outsiders. Black lace, bats, and moonlit cemetaries are just a few of your favorite things. Click on my name to take my other tests if you liked this one.

Ethereal Goth

100%

Romantic Goth

100%

Old-school Goth

96%

Perky Goff

63%

Fantasy Goth

50%

Death Rocker

50%

Industrial/Rivet-Head

50%

Anything-Goes Goth

46%

Cyber-goth

25%

Confused Outsider

8%

Understanding Outsider

0%

http://una-combi.tumblr.com/post/36234011038

I should note that this quiz tended to lump in vampire aesthetics in with Romantic aesthetics. While I can see their logic here, and it does suit my personality and aesthetic choices to a T, not every Romantic Goth is going to be enjoying the vampire culture and aesthetics as much.

xxx Lilly