Ladies Dance Night in Melbourne - OOTD and Make Up

I've been in Melbourne for the past three days now. Hanging with the fam, and enjoyed seeing most of my friends at a ladies only dance night tonight. It's been awesome the past few days... However, just received news that hubby has severe flu and is sick in bed. 

Unfortunately he found the wrong time to be sick. Nothing worse than being sick and all alone. :((( I wont be back until Wednesday, so he has to endure it alone. Please make du'a that he gets better soon.

As for the night... I really didn't know what to wear, so I just threw in a couple items in my luggage when leaving Sydney, so I was stuck with it. I've worn the skirt and blazer before, but who cares. Different scarf transform it into a different outfit. :P One of my friends told me I looked like a strawberry and that she wanted to eat me, so I guess that's good. LOL

Oh and did I enjoy the night? It sure was awesome, but now... I am aching all over, tired, sleepy... yet I cannot sleep!

Took off the jacket once we were inside and dancing away :)

Also did my niece's make-up

She wanted something dark, but I thought even this was too much for her age

Jummah mubarak - Happy Friday :)

Posted on 8:16 AM / 0 comments / Read More

Smokey Eyes or Smokin' Eyes? :)

I just realised that I hadn't done any make-up look posts for a while... sooooo the other day I was too early for work, and guess what I did? I played with my make-up! :)

I always go for the natural look, especially since I ain't going anywhere, so I thought why not do something different? I had the colours, so I went for the smokey eye. I was embarrassed all day at the shop.. I can only imagine what the customers were thinking about this crazy woman with full on make-up, but oh well... they are only women, so I didn't think too much about it except for the fact that I was conscious of my heavy eye make-up each time ladies walked in. :)

Actually, it could and should have been darker, but I opted to use dark grey instead of full on black which I absolutely love... Peeps, invite me to a hens party or wedding! Duh! It's Ramadhan! :))

Eyeshadows were all Inglot... Nothing beats it! Would not budge all day... Don't mind the eyebrows :)

Eyeliner is MAC's jel pot

Mascara is my latest favourite, Max Factor False Lash Effect

Foundation is Bella Pierre's mineral foundation in Ivory which I always get compliments for

Blush is Inglot, but can't remember the colour code

The full picture... I opted to go totally nude/natural on the face as the eyes were already dark enough for the day... I also wanted it to blend in well with my hijab, which I think was a success :)

Little Long Note: I had a request a while back on make-up courses in Melbourne/Australia. I am very sorry about the delay, but here is some brief info:

If you are interested in just basic skills, you would probably benefit from attending a one on one 2-3 hour session at an Inglot store or even better, Gorgeous Cosmetics. Inglot offers the 'course' at any store you visit. You need to pre-book and it costs around $90 AUD. The best thing about it is that you can ask specifically for what you want to learn, and in the end your course fee is redeemable on products. So at the end of your session you are able to choose $90 worth of cosmetics/tools of your choice to keep! Gorgeous Cosmetics has a similar offer, but you would need to call (see their website) for the full details.

If you want to do a full on course with certificate and all, then I would strongly recommend The Academy of Make-up. I have looked into their course structure, spoken to someone about the courses they have on offer... and basically you can choose how much detail you want to get into. To be honest, the price is quite high, but government grants are available. They have open days 2-3 times a year, so if you call and have your name taken down, they will update you and send you invitations for any open days that may take place.

I'm not an expert, so that's all I know to pass on.

Posted on 4:57 AM / 0 comments / Read More

Style: Something Special

Tis me again, live from Turkey! :)) It's past midnight and the air is JUST starting to get a little cooler. kay, so I have been shopping like crazy for customers the past few days. So far I have some hot stuff from Armine, and I have "used" my sister-in-law to model the outfits for me. I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the styles I put together to give ideas to fellow hijabis.

So today's combination is "Something Special" as I think that it is more suitable for a special occasion, wedding, etc. etc. It is a full length A-line dress with gold coloured embellishments around the neckline. The dress is quite fitted up top, so personally, I believe it is more suitable for a ladies only event --- your choice!

When I look at this dress, I feel it has a certain Arabian air to it. So I decided to wrap the scarf accordingly, and use heavy Arabian-like make-up for a night look.

The scarf is a plain satin twill black square one, but I just wrapped it as if it were a long/rectangular one. I used gold and charcoal eyeshadow from Inglot for the eyes, MAC gel eyeliner pot, Revlon compact foundation, MAC bronzer blush. I decided to go for a light coloured lipstick as the eyes are dark/dramatic.

Another rule with styling such a dress would be "less is more"! Do not over accessorize, do not add colours to it. I personally believe that even a plain gold scarf or patterned scarf would be too much for this dress. To keep it elegant, you can opt to use another scarf. There are some you may be able to find... They are plain black with gold border details. So either that or plain black is the best way to go I say!

Some nice gold bangles and/or gold cocktail ring would also add to this outfit. As for bags and shoes... Go for a gold coloured clutch and gold coloured spaghetti strap heels.

I would like to thank my beautiful sister-in-law Filiz from here for helping me out. Isn't she just gorgeous mashaallah? :)

Oh, and before I got, some credit to myself :)))))

Amateur Photography by me

Make-up by me

Hijab styling by me

Outfit put together by me

Blog posted by me

me me me me me meeeeeeee :))))))

Posted on 2:56 PM / 0 comments / Read More

Bella Pierre - Mineral Make-Up (Trial)

For those of you who are interested in make-up, there is a new brand that produces mineral cosmetics and foundation. They are called Bella Pierre. You may have heard of them previously, but I only found out about them a couple of weeks ago. There is a Turkish blogger over @ Makyaj Gunlugu (Make-Up Diary) where she posts daily about make-up looks, make-up items, brands, etc... Basically everything about make-up. You may not understand Turkish, but she has make-up videos and photos which you may benefit from.

Anyhow, so that was the first place I heard of the brand. A few days after that, a friend of mine mentioned the same product on her Facebook group Make-Up and More where she regularly posts up detailed product reviews. Feel free to join and browse through her group. Until then I didn't know the product was available in Australia.

I popped over to the Bella Pierre website and saw that they had a free trial offer. They have these "Get the Look" packs containing the eyeshadow colours you will need to get a certain look (e.g. smoky eyes). The kit contains 3 shimmery mineral eyeshadows, 1 eyeshadow base, 1 eyeshadow brush, and 1 eyeliner brush. It normally costs around $100 AUD, but for the first 100 people, they have this free trial offer. You can select the look kits you are interested in, and you can test the product for free of charge for 16 days. You only pay a small fee for postage and that's all. However, if you do not return the product within the 16 day time-frame, your credit card will be charges $100 AUD per kit!

I ordered 2 kits: Deep Ocean and Purple Storm which I got for free under the trial offer. I also ordered a kabuki brush, a blush brush, 3 mineral foundations (I got the sample packs which only cost $9.95 AUD each) to test which colour is best for me, and I also ordered one of their shimmery mineral foundations in green (colour name: insist).

I couldn't experience the joy of tearing my package apart when I received it, because when I got home, I saw that my husband did it for me! He usually wont open any envelopes that come in my name as he knows they are bills!!! But when I receive parcels, he opens them as he can only wonder where I spent the money. :)) His other excuse is "parcels are always sent to you, no one sends me anything! I want to experience the joy of opening a package too..." I tell him all he has to do is order something online, but he's tight. :))

Well, I didn't get to rip into the package, but I did love and caress my products when I laid hands and eyes on them. :))) The brushes are just absolutely wonderful. They are made from 100% natural hair. You can soooo tell the difference between the synthetic ones and these ones. I will write about brushes in a later post.

So, I have 16 days to test and send the 2 kits. That's not a long time considering that we do have other things to do. :)) When I got home last night, I sat down and opened up the Deep Ocean Look kit. I have to say that I absolutely loved the eyeshadow base. I don't know how I ever used eyeshadow before this without using the eyeshadow base. It's amazing stuff!

Now the kit doesn't contain the mineral foundation, but I used the one that came in my order. Apparently I am a "Cinnamon" person. I discovered this after testing the "Ivory" and "Latte". The 3 colours I ordered were the lightest in the range after the "Ultimate" which is like white! The other great thing is that this company has foundation colours to suit women of all ethnic backgrounds and colours. I was amazed at their range of colours available for all. So if you are very dark or very pale, you should check out their website (once again, nobody is paying me, but I wish they did! LOL) as I know of many people who fit into these categories and have a tough time finding the right foundation colour for their skin tone.

I have never before used mineral make-up. I thought it wouldn't look so good on my skin, because I usually cannot use the matt foundations. They look cakey and that's a sore sight for eyes my dears. :) And now, again, I don't know how in the world I loved without it! I'm absolutely in love! My skin looks airbrushed with this foundation - but I do have to add that buffing up with the kabuki brush did wonders too.

Once I try out the Purple Storm kit, I will post that also. In the meantime, check out the photos below. :)

As you can see, these are my before front/side profile shots. Not a gram of make-up on my face!

The one on the left is what the kit pack looks like. The photo on the right is the look (Deep Ocean) that is promised to be achieved with the items in the pack. There is a step-by-step guide under the top cover of the pack explaining what should be used and how. Although I have to admit that I didn't find it too practical. I mean, for those who don't know too much about make-up application, (I personally believe) it may be a little confusing/complicated. But that's just me, someone else might find it very helpful.

This is the result that I achieved. It's not 100% like the original photo, but I think I did pretty ok. I used the sepia effect on the rest of the photo so you could see the intensity of the eyeshadow a lot better. They are so pigmented and so soft... After my Inglot shadows, I am now in love with the Bella Pierre shadows. Also, please note that the Bella Pierre shadows (they call them shimmer powders) can also be used as eyeliner, blush, lipstick, nailpolish, mascara. I will probably do another post on this, but I tried it as an eyeliner and I didn't find it as intense as I would like it to be.

Front profile shot. This look was created using the following:

Bella Pierre Eyeshadow Base

Bella Pierre Foundation in Cinnamon

Bella Pierre Get The Look Kit in Deep Ocean

Prestige Eyeliner Pencil in Black

Inglot Blush in Freedom B2

Inglot Long and Curly Mascara in Black

Inglot Eyeshadow in Brown (used to fill in eyebrows)

Revlon Lipstick (an old one, don't know colour code)

So from the photos, it is obvious that the Deep Ocean Look is intense and "out there". I don't think it's a look that I would personally wear. Maybe once in a blue moon at an exclusive ladies only event if it really matches my outfit, but other than that, it's just too much colour for me.

Do you like the colours? Have you tried this brand before? Let me know what you think about the product/look. :)

Mwah

Posted on 12:10 AM / 0 comments / Read More