*insert excited squeals*... (KvD's MetalMatte palette!)~

I'm pretty sure I mentioned a while back that I was sooo lusting after this palette, and guess what... I FINALLY HAVE IT! OMG HOORAY!! xD*

It feels almost pointless talking about this palette now, seeing as how it has long since been discontinued due to it being a limited edition piece, but I'm gonna talk about it anyway, as a) it's awesome and I'm so excited to finally have it, b) it might help give a little insight into Kat's other eyeshadow palettes, and c) it technically might still exist?!

The MetalMatte palette was originally released via Sephora sometime late last year and reached the UK a couple of months later (i think around december maybe?). It was briefly available via Debenhams, but is no longer on sale online, though I will say, I have seen the palette still in their flagship store on Oxford Street recently...

The palette retailed at £50 and if you have a look at the size (thus, the macbook air for scale) and the amount of product you get in this thing, you'll see that it was actually quite the bargain! 

Beautiful, isn't it?**

As you can see, on the top is a row of Kat's Metal Crush eyeshadows (pretty sure this selection is exclusive to the palette, but other individual colours are available at debenhams!) and the bottom consists of matte shadows, hence, the palette's name. While I haven't played around with this palette very much, I will say from swatching previously in-store, swatching randomly over the last week and having tried it out for the first time earlier today... wow, this palette is flipping amazing!

(apologies for the funny lighting; i didn't have a lot of time and the sun was playing games with me!!)

The eyeshadows are super pigmented, easy to blend, and so far seem to be pretty long-wearing (i'm writing this after having worn these shadows for about 10 hours), and the selection covers so much ground that it feels nearly impossible to choose which colours to play with first!

Honestly, it might be early days, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say, if you love eyeshadow and happen upon this palette, don't hesitate, just snap it up immediately! And if this palette really is gone for good and never to be seen again, no worries, as KvD does have other palettes available that are (apparently) just as amazing! Goodness knows that I should be satisfied now that I have this bad boy, but silly me, I'm still chasing after the Shade and Light quad in 'Sage' too!! Help!

Philippa. x

*in case you're wondering, btw, i bought this via sephora.my and had family send this over, as it was released a little later there so i had a little more time to snag it, SO, might be worth checking other international sephoras...?

**and might i also add that this thing is not light?! those are not some half-filled pans!

Hide and seek...~

Dress - Dresslink

Belt - Boohoo

Harness - etsy (@modministrymerch)

Boots - Topshop

Photo credit - Mac Honeyman

This shoot was a weird one. Very weird.

I don't really know what possessed me to dress up like this, other than that it was really hot out and for some reason I put on wayyy too much make-up and so figured, why not go all out 'wtf'? Sure, it might not look all that crazy here, but let me tell you, it's the pics that didn't make the cut that tell the story of how this basic look was actually just that little bit too much! Maybe I'll post some in like a bloopers post one day...

However, I do like this outfit; the boots are my favourites, the dress is lovely and light (and the closest i'll ever get to owning a blackmilk piece, seeing as how it's a knock-off and all...) and the belt always makes me feel cool and feminine and super skinny, even though I'm totes not! ^^

AND, best of all, despite wearing all black, I was not completely roasting! Win! Still not sure about that hair though - what should I do?!? xP

Philippa. x

Contrasting Comfort~

Top - Motel Rocks

Dress - Motel Rocks

Shoes - Irregular Choice

Photo credit - Ama Charles-Adarkwa

Hoho, what's this? Three posts in three consecutive weeks?? Did Philippa get fired from her job and suddenly have free time for her blog??? Jokes aside, I figured it was about time for another OOTD post, as it has been a hot minute since my last, no?

Though you'd never guess it from these photos, the main part of this look was meant to be the shoes, i.e. I dressed for the shoes. Did it really work out? As an outfit, yeah, I guess, but for the photos? Nahhh, sadly not, as much to Ama's annoyance, any time we got a good shot of the shoes, my top half was being silly, but oh well! You get the gist though, right? And even though it was kinda doomed to fail from the start, I reaaaally wanted to wear these shoes for the first time since, like, ever, as I really don't have any occasion to ever wear them (and they're not exactly 'everyday' shoes, are they?), so... yeah! That happened...

Also, on a kinda unrelated note, I really need a haircut, don't I? I was thinking of just going full goth and finally dying it black when I give it the chop in the next month or so, what do you think? Full on darkness or should I retain some sort of colour, let me know!

Philippa. x

Review? Zoeva Cosmetics~

… well, sort of. As mentioned in my eyeshadow palettes post (from like a million years ago…), I really wanted to get some Zoeva palettes to add to my collection, and so I did! However, I sadly haven’t really had many occasions to test these lovelies out so can’t really give a fair review, BUT, will show some swatches and a brief rundown on my opinions so far on the palettes and all that jazz… so yeah!

Zoeva En Taupe palette - £17.50 / £18.00 - available from the Zoeva website and Beauty Bay respectively

The first palette I got my hands on was the En Taupe palette. It’s a very light, cool-tone, almost girly palette (at least in my opinion) and I like it for really subtle, everyday semi-smokey looks. I was a bit unsure about whether or not to get this palette at first, as it’s cute, but didn’t really stand out to me, but I’m so glad I did, as out of the three it’s definitely the one I use the most! The matte transition colours are very soft and easy to build up and the metallics are really buttery and pigmented, so yes, very happy with this one.

Zoeva Mixed Metals palette - £17.50 / £18.00 - available from the Zoeva website and Beauty Bay respectively

I fell in love with this palette as soon as I saw the swatches online as OHMYGAH the pigmentation is amazing! I will say, I definitely use this palette the least as it is all metallics, apart from that black eyeshadow which is matte, so unless I have time on my hands, I don’t really use this much as it requires me to pull shadows from other palettes too. I can say first-hand though, that the pigmentation is wonderful and this is my go-to palette for big pops of colour.

Zoeva Smoky palette - £17.50 / 18.00 - available from the Zoeva website and Beauty Bay respectively

This is the palette that first really caught my eye (as who doesn’t love a good smokey palette?!), but I was hesitant to buy as, really, did I really need another smokey palette? And the answer was yes, I did! It is a mostly matte palette, which is already a win for me, but in particular I love that slightly metallic dark olive green colour which really did seal the deal for me. As it is the newest of the three for me, I really haven’t used it at all, but let me tell you I am excited to and will definitely do so as soon as any somewhat relevant occasion arises!

… and that’s everything! Like I said, while I haven’t used these palettes that much yet, I am so far loving what I’m touching and seeing and if nothing else I do LOVE the packaging (even if there is no mirror included) as it is very lightweight, easy to identify at a glance and easy to travel with!

Right, so that concludes another post! As always, sorry for the long gaps, I just suck like that I guess! xP

Philippa. x

Miss A Mini Haul! (and review?)~

Being as poor as I am, I don’t get to shop all that often. So instead I choose to live vicariously through others on YouTube posting their many haul videos and THUS, I discovered the gem that is shopmissa.com!

(sorry for the rubbish glare in the pic, but i really wanted to show off what little packaging i had left and there is next-to-no lighting in my room so flash was sadly a must!)

The real treasure about Miss A (particularly if you live in the US) is that everything, and I mean everything (well, sort of…) is $1! Oh my gah WHAT!? But that’s not all! According to the many review videos I have watched, the products, despite their unbelievable price point, are pretty damn decent too! Can this be true?! I decided to make a little purchase to find out for myself!

As you can see I only bought 5 items totalling at $5 (roughly £3.90) and at a glance they all look pretty promising…

AOA Scrubby Facial Cleansing Pad - $1 - available from Miss A (also available in other colours!)

AOA Brush Cleaning Egg - $1 - available from Miss A (also available in other colours!

AOA Hand Mirror - $1 - available from Miss A

While I haven't fully utilised these yet, I can say from at least playing around with the ‘tools’ (and by playing i mean touching and rubbing them…), the quality is really quite amazing for being so cheap - the hand mirror in particular - and while I have yet to use the face scrubby or the brush cleaner I have poked at more expensive equivalents in shops and these feel pretty darn comparable to those, especially the brush cleaner. One thing for sure is that they don't feel cheap.

AOA Wonder Metal Liquid Lipstick (in ‘Sleek’) - $1 - available from Miss A

AOA Wonder Matte Liquid Lipstick (in ‘Tease’) - $1 - available from Miss A

These beauties, however, I have already used and tested and they are the BOMB! Lame I used that terminology, but seriously, they’re great! I’m really sad I only bought two (and i will elaborate on why in a bit) but am really quite happy with the ones I did get so far. 

The metallic one is the slightly less awesome of the two, as it requires a little bit of work to get the coverage full and even, but is still a great colour, very metallic and does dry down completely matte! The other one however… ugh! I love it so much! The colour is absolutely gorgeous and despite looking more pink in the tube, once it fully dries down is more purplish in colour, which is right up my alley! The pigmentation and coverage is great, really easy to work with and again, this dries down matte and is completely budge-proof.

All in all, Miss A is one heck of a remarkable discovery and I am so happy to have found it! Not only are their products pretty darn decent*, but there’s tons of them too! From socks to hair accessories to brushes to individual eyeshadows, they have them all!

Now for the boring (but important) bit of this post. The reason I only bought 5 things, despite them all being so cheap and there being soooo much to choose from, is because of shipping. Miss A’s international shipping is a flat rate of £9.95, which is pretty fair for something coming from the US. But then there’s customs and sadly, the limit before having to pay customs (which in my experience so far has totalled in at between £8 and £25) is currently £15. However, that being said, I honestly don’t mind making a few small orders of just under £15 just avoid potentially painful and unpredictable customs charges, as in the end the value of everything, including postage, is still a really decent price. So yeah, just a bit of a warning for those of you looking into doing a bit of a shop with Miss A!

And on that note, I shall end this post! Hope you liked it and see you in like 4 months time when I next post! xD

Philippa. x

*Miss A carries their own brands AOA and a2o, as well as other brands like Elf, Kleancolor, LA Color, Beauty Treats, etc. Obviously the quality of the products will vary from brand to brand, but I only purchased from the AOA line, so my comments on how AMAZING everything is is, for now, exclusive to that line.

Before the sun goes down...~

Top - Brandy Melville

Shorts - ASOS

Hoody - Wildchild Industries

Boots - Dr Martens

Photo credit - Ama Charles-Adarkwa

Yes, yes, it is I, alive and well, HELLO AGAIN!

I seriously suck at maintaining this blog, don't I? But worry not, as now that I have a little more time on my hands and the natural lighting of London is getting a little easier to work with, I shall be able take photos to finally accompany the many posts I started writing last year! At last!!

But enough of that for now, on to THIS post! So, I figured it's been a while since I've posted a more casual look of mine, if ever, and so kind of just threw this outfit together very last-minute and went for a walk with Ama until we found a nice location to do our first shoot of the year (which you can so tell by the awkward posing, ...)!

While you'd never have guessed it from my various OOTDs, I am very much a creature of comfort and prefer hoodies and baggy t-shirts for my attire, so aside from the boots that I was just trying to get some wear out of for the first time in forever, this is pretty much what you'd most likely find me in on a normal day. Pretty boring and lazy, huh? And DAMN, has my hair grown long or what?! xD

ANYWAY, until next time (and there will be a next time!!),

Philippa. x