Christmas Fashion Photoshoot

Hi Sweeties!

I recently did a Christmas themed fashion shoot with my wonderful photographer friend Louise Cantwell - Check out her work over on Facebook here: Louise Cantwell Photography

Louise is one of the most talented people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and becoming friends with, and when she decided to make this amazing Christmas Tree outfit I had my fingers crossed that she would ask me to model it for her - and lucky she did!
 Shooting out on location in a derelict barn with natural light was a lovely change from shooting in my house/in a studio - I really love natural light and the different mood it gives the images. ^_^

 

  

For this look, we decided that we should try out some more Avant Garde makeup, instead of anything plain and simple. (I'm sure this is why she picked me - I've been itching to do something more 'out there' for a while! hehehe ^_^)

I actually didn't have many idea of what to do makeup-wise until the morning of the shoot. I looked at the outfit and then raided my craft drawers and came across some feathers, bead sprays, lace and a pair of primark earrings that turned out to be perfect!

Here are some headshots of the makeup and a wee product breakdown.

For this look, I started off with my normal base foundation, and since it was photoshoot makeup, I made my contour with the sleek palette a lot stronger than I would for daily looks, to add some drama and shape to my face.

For the eyes, I went with a few dark brown shades of eyeshadow from my new Makeup Revolution palette (I'll post about this soon) to add some depth to my eyesockets/crease.

 I then went over this with a red shadow from the same palette, followed by BarryM dazzle Dust in the red shade, and blended this up to my eyebrows, which I had blocked out slightly with concealer. I winged out the shadow at the outer corners of my eyes and brought a sharp line down the bridge of my nose with an angled brush.

I lined my eyes with BarryM white gel eyeliner, which I have to admit isn't a the greatest product product, but it was the closest I could find to a white liquid liner the night before - it did the job well. I strengthened up the colour by pressing Etude House Crystal Tear powder over the liner, which also gives a lovely frosty sparkle.
The lower waterline is filled with maybelline black and white big eyeliner pencil.

For my lashes I used a L'oreal  2in1 mascara, and only used the white first step to allow my lashes to be white. I added more of the crystal tear powder around the bottom of my eyes for extra sparkle.

Now comes the fun part!

Firstly, I started attaching the feathers on my forehead with Revlon lash glue (this stuff is amazing) and attached them over my brow area, followed by the bead sprays to add dimension.
The most difficult part here was attaching the earrings to my head as they're pretty heavy and made from metal. However, this is why I love the Revlon lash glue so much! I held the earrings on (I cut off the loops on the top so they wouldn't look like I just chopped off the bottom of some earrings) and waited about 5minutes, and they stayed on perfectly without even a hint of movement for hours!
Well done Revlon!

Then I had previously thought that I'd use eyeshadow to create a lace pattern on the rest of my face, so chopped up a lace appliqué to use as a stencil and stuck it on. After looking at it for a few moments, I decided that the lace on it's own would be a far better (and easier) option, so I replicated it on the other side!
Finishing it all off with some little crystals, and filling my lips with Rimmel Apocalips matte lip lacquer the look was complete!

I'm personally really thrilled with how this came together, and can't thank Louise enough for getting me involved in such a fun concept - some of the images from the set have been published in Surreal Beauty Magazine too, which you can pick up here: Surreal Beauty Magazine 

 So, what do you think?
Leave your thoughts below ^_^
Love,
          Kasumi x

Seeing SuG Live in London (Japanese & English)

昨日、私はロンドンに行った時、SuGのLiveに行きました！(When I was in London, I got to see SuG Live!!!)
本当にすばらしい！(They were so amazing!)

ありがとうございます！(Thank you so much for playing here!)

たのしかった！(I had fun!)

Best day ever! I've waited so many years to see SuG live!!!!

スコットランドに住んでいますだから、友達は私に迎えに 来ました。。。
。。。道に迷った！（笑） ( /)u(\ )
(I live in Scotland, *this was actually my 2nd ever time in London*  so my friend had to pick me up after the gig because I didn't know where I was, or how to get back - I get lost really easily!)
Live会場外のまえで、一時間私の友達をまっていました！心配していました...(╯•﹏•╰)
(I waited for my friend for an hour outside the venue for her to come and get me - I actually thought something happened to her!)

その後なにかすごいなりました！男の人が私にプレゼントをくれた。。。

。。。ギターピックス！！！
(Then something amazing happened whilst I was waiting! A nice gentleman came up to me and handed me something, said they were for me, and walked off. When I looked into my hand it was 2 guitar picks!!!!! )



 びっくりした！
(I was so surprised!!!!)

私は本当にラッキーですよ！
(I'm really so super lucky!)
(/￣ー￣)/‥∵:*:☆*゜★。：：＊☆

すごくうれしい〜！！！！！
(I'm so happy!)

ありがとうございます！！！ (୨୧•͈ᴗ•͈)◞ᵗʱᵃᵑᵏઽ*♡
(Thank you so much Mr. Gentleman!

Love,           Kasumi x

Sleek Precious Metals Highlighting Palette

Hi Sweeties,

After the horrifically upsetting task of discarding old makeup, I decided to treat myself to a few new items to rebuild my collection.


This time I picked up the Precious Metals highlighting palette from Sleek MakeUP @ Superdrug, priced at £9.99

totally getting better at this photo taking thing >.> <.<

This is the pretty swish palette! It looks so lovely and classy appearance wise, and comes with 3 cream highlighters, 1 powder, mirror and an applicator brush (which as usual, I don't/won't use)


The creams leave a lovely dewy glow on your skin, and the choice of shades are perfect for mixing and matching to different areas of your face! The powder (antique bronze) gives a lovely shimmer for adding some contouring/depth too.  

Ok so, I just went for a natural look, and hoping that once again pictures will show just how nice a highlight you get from this.

 

I used a combination of Renaissance Gold & Royal Gold for my highlights on cheekbones, browbones, cupids bow & chin.
I used a little of the Antique Bronze to add some shimmer to my foundation base contour.
For the inner corners of my eyes, I went for the Platinum shade, which is the lightest and coolest toned of the 4, as it added such a great pop to brighten up my eyes.


I really do like the dewy, radiant glow that comes from using the palette, though it is a bit of a luxury product for me (Rarely do I spend £10+ on individual products, but I totally couldn't resist!)

 For the rest of the look, I used black liquid liner from Makeup Revolution (£3 if I remember rightly) 

I also used the Astor Eyepencil that I picked up from Poundland in my last post for this - as you can see it's just lovely, and stays on perfectly without setting with powder. 

For my lips, I picked up this nude lipstick called "The One" by Makeup Revolution, for a whole £1!
This stuff, much like the last lippies I got from them, last really really well! Eating, drinking, excessive yapping - stays on perfect! Definitely one to add to your budget buys list!

So what do you think? Have any of you tried this palette? Let me know below! 

Love,
          Kasumi x

Mini Poundland Haul - round2

Hi Sweethearts,

I took another rummage through my local Poundland store after a little tip off about new items from a friend that works in store (I have the best friends ^_^ )

This is what I came out with!
*Remember, I paid £1 per item*

Amazon brings these up for around £2 each +-

Astor Mono Eyeshadow

I've been interested in trying out products from Astor after having seen them about recently in the beauty blog groups. I picked up this charcoal eyeshadow since I really liked the appearance of it - the packaging is quite classic which I like.

 It applies ok, though not with those horrid applicators that keep being put my way XD I'm going to look forward to creating a look with this.

£4.59 in Tesco from my searching.

Barry M Dazzle Dust

I was actually hunting for a red eyeshadow when I spotted this to my luck in store. Same great quality as always from BarryM dusts, and the colour is fab! I used it for the look below!

Currently £6.49 in boots

Rimmel Apocalips Lip Velvet - Burning Lava! 

Ok so, I was really really looking forward to wearing this as it is a lovely lovely colour and the packaging is also pretty cool and on theme for this time of year.

 This applies effortlessly and you need only the tiniest bit of product to cover.

The downside of this however, is that it does leave a lot of residue on things like cups etc even after blotting. After eating it is half gone, which is a problem but it doesn't bleed out so that's a plus. (again used below for todays' look)
 I think with this I'm going to get crafty and see if I can use it for some sfx style things to keep with the Halloween Spirit heehee.

Not sure where else to get it in the UK, but can pick up on amazon/ebay for just under £3

Astor 24h Perfect Stay Waterproof eyeshadow pencil/crayon

Finally another product from Astor - this time an eyeshadow pencil.
 I tried this out shortly after photographing, and I absolutely love it! This stuff goes on super easy and soft, has real staying power, doesn't slide off unlike other creamy type shadows, and can blend super easy if you do it straight after application.

This is super quick to apply to your eyes which is perfect for those days I literally am running out of the door! I'm definitely going to try and pick up some other shades of this since I'm so pleased with it.

Todays' Look
(click the picture to see the colours better)

So here's a quick little look I threw together to play with my new red shadow and lip lacquer!
My selfie skills were most definitely not en point today though! >.<

Products:
Rimmel Match Perfection liquid foundation
Max Factor Pan Stick (for initial contour)
Makeup Revolution Concealer stick
Rimmel Stay Matte powder
Sleek Contour Palette
W7 the cheek of it blush
Makeup Revolution Highlighter - golden lights

Rimmel Glam Eyes HD Golden eye  - (black shadow & silver)
BarryM Dazzle Dust - (Red)
2True White Eyeliner Pencil
Barry M Eyeshadow Trio Shade: Tes2 Pretty Pastels -  (Blue)
w7 super brows pencil - (brown)
Miss Manga Mascara
Makeup Revolution Liquid Liner - (black)

Rimmel Apolalips lip velvet - (burning lava)

That's all for this time, but stick around for next time, where I'm going to go through some other things I managed to pick up! ^_^

Love,
          Kasumi x

Black Gold

 Hi Sweethearts,

I've decided that I'm definitely going to use my days off to post some fun makeup looks as it's the only chance I get to play around!

This time I've went for a darker look, inspired by the wig I uncovered in my back bedroom aka the walk in wardrobe. >.<

Now that Halloween (one of my favourite times of the year!!!!) is coming up, it's giving me a lot of motivation to have some fun with my face again!
    I'm also currently trying to learn to drive, so had my first experience of night driving this week - I was so scared!!! We did see a badger on the way back though - something I've not seen in a while!

This is a little hark back to my more gothic, darker styled years - with a dramatic smokey eye and dark lip combo.

It feels really weird to see myself with super dark hair and makeup again, but somehow I can never stay away from it!

I really do love how the dark colours bring out my eyes in this!

Products used:

Rimmel Match Perfection liquid foundation
Max Factor Pan Stick (for initial contour)
Makeup Revolution Concealer stick
Rimmel Stay Matte powder
Sleek Contour Palette
W7 the cheek of it blush
Makeup Revolution Highlighter - golden lights

Rimmel Glam Eyes, Golden eye 5colour shadow
Barry M Dazzle Dust - Gold
Makeup Revolution liquid liner - black
Etude House play101 pencil - black
Miss Manga Mascara
False lashes - active
Etude House Play 101 Pencil (used as lipliner) brown
Rimmel Kate matt lipstick 107 wine red


Such a short post I know, but next time I'll have something slightly longer as I picked up some new products after having to throw out a binliner full of old and unused product *sniff* - so now my collection is looking super bare!

What do you think? Are there any products that you think I should check out? Let me know below! 
Love,
         Kasumi x

Playing catch up!

Hi Sweethearts!

Jeez, I feel like I'm always starting off with an apology for irregular updates here, but I've just been so swamped. Maybe I should try bulk writing and scheduling them for each week?

I've also got into a bit of a rut as to what to post about. What do you think?

Anyway!

Lately I've been trying my hardest to get out and see my friends, as some I haven't actually seen since the start of the year!

Having my first try of Korean Bibimbap at Kimchi Cult - so good!

Yummy scallop & fish roe/grilled eel sushi & Chicken Katsu curry at Oko Express

I've also managed to do a big charity shop...shop! Trying out different styles for Onee Gyaru looks, and trying to look more age appropriate!

All of this came to £15 - Bargain!

Also, recently my beloved hair extensions came to the end of their life after 5months of long luscious locks!
I actually feel really bald and self conscious now that they're gone. It sounds silly, but having long, thick tresses gave me so much more confidence in myself - I just feel even more unattractive now that they're gone.

I'm desperately in need of some more hair, but the price tag that comes with it is far too much for me :( Saving up some pennies to get some clip ins to wear on my days off work, so that I won't feel that much of a train wreck.

Thinking about going a darker shade of brown with some blonde highlights to add some interest - what do you think? I'd love to go back to having crazy coloured hair, but it's gotten a lot healthier and thicker since the keratin bonds went in, so I don't want to bleach and thin it out again...even though it's super tempting!!!!

It's also getting scarily close to Halloween ahhhhhh!!!! I'm getting a little excited even though I'll be working all day - do you all have any plans?Let me know below!

Love,
          Kasumi x

Sleek Contour Palette

Hi Sweeties!

This is my second post of the week!

My local Superdrug just recently had a massive overhaul, and have added a LOT of new makeup to their store, that normally I'd have to go elsewhere to find! I'm so happy about this since it's not far from work so I can pick things up when ~I pop out to buy lunch! ^_^

I figured that it's about time I tried out a contour palette, and so picked up one from Sleek (which I'll be talking about today) and another from Make Up Revolution to compare it with next time! 

#

This is what the palette for Light skin looks like!
On the left is the darker contouring powder, and on the right is the highlighter powder. It also comes with a nice mirror, though I really felt like it was missing a brush to complete the palette. At £6.49 however, you can't expect to get a decent brush anyway, so it's not a big loss at all.

The powders have quite a creamy texture, and the contour powder is pretty strongly pigmented, which means you don't need to use a lot of it. Bonus for long lasting!
The highlighter is quite natural compared to what I'm used to, due to it's peachy flesh tone, but it leaves you with a lovely natural glow. 

Here are a couple of obligatory selfies using this palette!
For this look, I used the contour palette as eyeshadow too, to maintain a lighter feel.
For under my eyes I lightly blended some of the Brown Play101 pencil by Etude House that I got earlier this year, and finished with black liquid liner and lashings of mascara.

For the lips, I gave my brown play 101 pencil a good clean and used it as a lipliner, then blended it together with the reddy/plum toned Reckless lipstick from Makeup Revolution, that I'll talk about in a different post, all about lipsticks that I picked up lately!

I'm really loving a dark lip right now, and think that it's going to be perfect for Autumn looks!

So, what do you think?

I'm quite feeling the Sleek palette - decent price and does the job pretty well!

As usual, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Love,
          Kasumi x

Day out to Deep Sea World

Hi Sweeties!

Phew - I've been working on a few posts to get this blog back to a more active state.

First up - a little post about my recent trip to Deep Sea World in Queensferry, more fondly known to me as the Fish Museum heehee!

I've wanted to go for so long, and after finally being discharged from Therapy after around 12 years, I thought the day trip would be a perfect little celebration of being on the road to recovery.

Here's the outfit I chose - I rarely get a chance to dress nicely, maybe once a week if I'm lucky! I got this dress for under £5 from a local charity shop, and picked up the jacket/cardigan from ebay for cheap! I figured this would make a nice OneeGyaru co-ord, although you can't see makeup due to wearing my glasses that day.

We stopped by Seewoo in Glasgow to pick up a few things before heading to the Aquarium, and we got some cake for breakfast! 

The first thing we saw when we got there was the rock pools with all the cute fish & sea creatures that we have on our own UK shoes!

 Going to spam you with lots of pictures from some of the cool exhibits that we saw!

Deep Sea World has the largest moving walkway in Europe at 112 meters long, where you can see all the fish right around you in the underwater safari tunnel - it's definitely worth a visit!

After we left, we ended up going back to Glasgow and hit Yo! Sushi! at House of Fraser for some lunch! (yes, I know, going to an aquarium, then eating fish for lunch isn't in the best taste, but it sure was yummy!)

Here's some pics of the sushi fun!

So that concludes my little sum up of my day trip to see the fish museum :P

Stay tuned for another post this week on the makeup/fashion & style front!

Love,

         Kasumi x

Gathering some new basics

Hi Sweethearts,

I really feel that I'm falling so behind in trying to get new blog posts out to you all, and it's just because I'm so busy at the moment.

What's new with me? 

Well, not terribly much! I've been doing well at being an ex-smoker (which isn't easy, let me tell you!), working and failing at being healthy.
 Being so exhausted after work leaves me no motivation to cook or eat healthily at all. Even though I'm at spin classes 3 nights a week, and generally eating less, I've still managed to gain weight due to the amount of crap I'm polluting my body with.
 However, I have managed to lose an inch off my thighs, which is great, however I've gained that inch back around my waist....what kind of sorcery is this?!?!!?
 I suppose that means I'm on the look out for an ab workout that won't affect my back, in addition to attempting to eat right and not just quick and lazy!
If you have any ideas for me, please leave me a comment below! 
I'm also looking at those waist trainer fad-trend-current product - do they really work? 


Moving on, I've been trying to renew some basics in my wardrobe (read: my current ones are literally falling apart or are ripped to shreds with wear and tear) so took a little trip around the high street with my other half before dinner to find some staples.

So, these are what I came away with today!

I've been in desperate need of these items for a while, and after being moaned at for the state of my work jeans (they were ripped from the inner thing almost 3/4 around to the other side!) I finally gave in and got some new ones.

 These 2 pairs came from Primark, for £9 & £11, and DAMN is it difficult to find bootcut jeans on the high street! I had to venture to Glasgow just to get some. Everywhere is skinny, Skinny, SKINNY...and I'm sick of them!
 They don't look good on someone pear shaped and short like me, unless I have a long top and heels on. I much prefer to try and balance myself out with bootcuts, that to be honest, are far comfier on my legs. (does anyone else find that skinny jeans are uncomfortable on the calves after a while, or is that just me?)  

Unfortunately, as usual, I'm going to have to either roll these up or cut them to make them a proper length for my 28inch legs...it's either that or I fork out 4times the price for ones built for shorties!
(whilst I'd have no problem doing this for nice jeans, work ones will just get ruined anyway so it's a waste of cash) 

I also bought a few Bras from H&M as I don't really have enough that are the proper size, so in order to throw them out I needed to restock.
 I got the same style in black, white and light pink as they're super nice, comfy and most importantly...really padded! I have a bit of a complex about my bust size, much like most women on the planet, so I don't feel comfortable wearing bras that aren't padded...I guess that makes me a cheater/let down...right?
They came in at £14.99 each.

Finally...something even less exciting (can you handle it?) SOCKS.
Seriously. Socks.
I am utterly convinced that either my cat steals them all, they magically grow legs and run away at night, or that the washing machine eats them!
 No matter how many pairs of socks I have, I can guarantee that before long they will be long gone! Even a full gutting out of my flat yields no results...this can't be normal, can it? Do they really grow legs? 


Moving on to something a little more interesting to look at, is my outfit for the day!

I really do have a thing for white jeans at the moment. Even though I have to be super careful not to mess them up, I always seem to feel really good and dressed up in them...even if my outfit is casual.
I recently picked up this knitted slouchy Cardigan from Ebay after being after one for a good while!

I never really thought that I'd wear something like that until I saw a picture of Ozaki Sayoko in something similar, and I absolutely love her style so I just had to find myself something similar!

I teamed this up with some white heels (on sale at New Look the other month), offbrand dangly earrings, bracelet, and a strappy black top that my mother gave me a long while back.

I actually used this Cardigan for a photoshoot on Sunday, where I did a little experimenting! Here's a sneak peek/behind the scenes from the shoot whilst I wait for the images! Hopefully you'll like them!

Silly VS super Serious face!

Anyway, that's all I have to report for the moment, as usual please leave me your feedback below! ^_^

Love,

           Kasumi x

Germany Trip 2015 (image heavy)

Hi Sweethearts,

Sorry for the delay in getting this post to you!

As I mentioned before, I was spending some time with my family back in Germany earlier on this month (unfortunately it wasn't under the best of circumstances) and I thought I'd share some pictures of my adventures with you!

So, my Mothership & I flew from Edinburgh to Hamburg this time, before commencing the most stressful 3 hour train journey to my family in Wolfsburg.

Travelling & Touristy photos:

(Left:Edinburgh Airport air traffic control/Right: Touching down in Hamburg)

Hamburg

Whoever said that Germans were efficient and punctual was totally lying - out first train to Hamburg Hbf was perfect, however our transfer from Hbf to Uelzen ended up being delayed due to the lines (unfortunately we arrived at the start of the 38degree heatwave) which meant on getting to Uelzen we had to literally run to get the connecting train to Gifhorn, which luckily waited for the passengers coming off the Hamburg-Uelzen train. 

Luckily my sister came to collect us at Gifhorn, as due to delays we narrowly missed the train to Wolfburg. 
(The train journey back was even worse for timing - we almost missed the train due to delays again, and the heatwave was over) 

Gifhorn Train Station

Eventually we got into Wolfsburg, and after some family time, I took a couple of days to wander around and feel all nostalgic about the city I lived in after I left school.

Left: VW factory/Right: Phaeno

We also took a day trip out to Braunschweig, to have a look around the shops and see some pretty architecture! I really love this city - it's just so beautiful.

Food

Anyone that knows me at all, knows that I have a major food addiction, especially when it comes to cake!
Here are a few of the yummy things I came across this time round. I really didn't eat much cake or bad things this time, as I'm actively trying to lose weight and it was heartbreaking not to eat every single yummy thing I wanted!

I couldn't resist picking up this beauty from Happy Donazz in the Schloss Arcaden, Braunschweig!
I absolutely adore these guys - they make the best Donuts ever....this one had crunchy nut on it! OMG! 

In true Me fashion, I found myself a good place to get some Sushi! 

Seriously, I have a massive addiction to Sushi, and it's usually the first thing I look for when I'm out and hungry. 

This box was just under 20Euros from Sushi Bar Viet Express in Kaufhof, Wolfsburg and was super lovely. On top of that they also gave me a discount randomly, so it was even cheaper. 

As far as value for money goes, this is definitely great and much cheaper compared to Scotland!
If you're in Wolfsburg, you should check them out: http://www.sushiwob.de

Left: Puddingbrezel for Breakfast/Right: Strawberry & Blackcurrent slices!

Baked Gyros with Cheese and Potatos from the Thission Greek Restaurant in Wob-stadt.

I also want to share with you some of the most delicious cherries, that came from my Omas' Cherry Tree! They were so good! 

Pets! 

I also want to introduce you all to my Sisters' cat, Lumpi. 

He's such a snuggly cuddly boy, that only gets to go outside when he has his jacket and lead on, so that he stays safe!

Isn't he a sweetie?! 

 

Fashion:

When we got to Germany, I was SO thankful that I packed light, girly, summery items! It was reaching almost 40degrees over the majority of the week, so I was absolutely melting! I even managed to get a ridiculous tan line from sitting on my Sisters' balcony for a few hours!

I wish that I could have put more makeup on, but for most of the week I had to hide it in a cold dark cupboard as my lipsticks and other cream/liquid products were taking the heat badly and things were beginning to melt! I dunno how you all in hot countries deal with makeup - short of keeping it in the fridge!

Travelling face! Hat: New Look 

Dress: H&M
Waistcoat: Primark

Necklace, Bracelet, Tshirt & Jeans: Primark

 Cardigan: Ebay

Dress: Offbrand from local Sunday Market/Car boot trader
Hat: TkMaxx
Sunglasses & Belt: Primark 

My Super Ridiculous tan lines! >.<

So this is a little rough sum-up of my week - food, sunshine and awful train services!
I've not posted any family pics up here to protect their privacy - however if you know me personally you'll have seen them on my personal page!

Next time I'll be back to chattering about makeup/looks/products and my usual geekery!

Until then,

Love,
          Kasumi x