Body Shop Monoi Miracle Oil Review

Holy moly, the last of February already? Time sure does fly when you're having fun :) And this means that Barefoot Girl has now been in existence for a month. Wow. It also reminds me that in a months time, my blog as a whole will be reaching the big two years of age which sounds ridiculous, because it doesn't feel long ago that I was writing about the blog turning a year old!

Anyway, here is a fresh new review for you, of a product that I've been meaning to review for absolutely ages. It's been on my to-blog-about list for nearly a year now, and to be fair, I've only just started using the product properly anyway, so now is probably the better time to be blogging about it.

I was first introduced to Monoi Oil about a year ago, when I wrote a few pieces about the ingredient for a client, but other than that, I'd never really heard of it.

I actually decided to buy this pretty much on a whim, on a P&O Ferry between Hull and Rotterdam, for a few reasons: A. Because it was cheaper than in-store, B. Because I remember hearing good things about this kind of product, and C. The Sales Assistant told me that it did good things for her skin. Okay, so I know I shouldn't be swayed by Sales Assistants, but even without her input, I'd probably still have snapped it up, purely out of curiosity!

The packaging is quite basic really. The oil comes in a clear bottle, that allows you to see the yellow-orangey colour of the product, that contrasts weirdly well with the blue of the decoration on the label. I thought that the decoration was quite stylish and simple, but nothing exciting. I quite like the colours, however, I couldn't help feeling like the front of the label was a little too much information. When I'm buying a product, personally, all I want is to know what it is. If I want more details, I'll turn it around and look on the back. For me, that is the way to entice me in, because I'm as curious as a cat and you need to tempt me to want to know more.

I'm also curious to know why the packaging includes both English and French? Is it because Body Shop is owned by L'Oreal? It seemed a little weird, and yet adding to the excessive packaging.

At first, I didn't think that the Monoi Oil had much of a smell at all, but it's one of those subtle scents that seems to hit you all of a sudden, but as soon as you've noticed it, it's gone again. It's kind of like when the wind blows the scent of a flower in your direction, but as soon as you smell it, the wind has changed, and taken the floral smell with it. It's a very light smell, which you'll know I'm a huge fan of.

Monoi Oil is promoted, by Body Shop at least, as being a hair and body oil, but honest to blog, if you have hair that gets oily really easily, I cannot stress enough how much you should not use this on your hair! Remember that it's an oil, and your hair and scalp already has enough of that, so don't add any more to it. If, on the other hand, you have coarse and/or dry hair, I couldn't recommend this enough for softening it up and bringing it back to life.

Personally, I've been using this as a Bath Oil and I absolutely love it. I'm one of those really sad people who drops the oil into the water and then watches with great fascination as the blobs of oil float around, like little glass pebbles...except, floaty glass pebbles, which probably aren't made of glass, because glass wouldn't float, would it?

Having never used bath oils before, it was a really weird sensation to use this one, because you can genuinely feel the oil in the consistency of the water, even if you only put a small amount in. And I really do recommend only using a small amount. I decided to be experimental, the other day, and poured half a gallon in (slight hyperbole there, but y'know!). This made the water feel quite heavy, and just turned everything from my hands, to everything that the water touched into a complete oil slick, which isn't good when you're trying to open a slippery bottle of shampoo! Just trust me on that one! But honestly, you don't need much to notice the oil on your skin, from the moment you get in the bath.

Whilst I won't be using this on my hair, as a body oil, this is fantastic. After getting out of the bath, my skin, especially my legs, which are definitely a long ignored area when it comes to moisturising felt really lovely. Luckily, for me anyway, it didn't leave that much of a scent on my skin, which I like because strong scents make me feel ill. However, my skin still had a sort of "clean" smell, if that makes sense. It didn't smell like it would if you'd literally just washed the arm in water!

I paid £8 for a 150ml bottle, and for the price, it's easy to look at the size and think that it's over-priced. I certainly felt like that when I was handing over my money. However, as I said before, you only need to use a few drops in your bath to feel the benefits, so the old expression of "a little goes a long way" does count. And, I think that if a product has longevity, then it's generally worth a higher price tag. Well, as long as the product is good in the first place!

As stated, I picked this up on the P&O Ferry between Hull and Rotterdam, in one of their "Duty Free" shops. Are they still called "Duty Free" by the way? I had a feeling that it wasn't specifically duty free, as such, any more, but a lot of ferries still do discounts. Oh, I don't know, I'm sure you all know what I mean :) So, yes, you can pick the oil up on P&O Ferries for a reduced rate.

Or, you could do it the good old traditional way, and pop into your local Body Shop, where it's priced at £10 (considering you don't have to pay to travel on a ferry, this option probably works out cheaper really!!). You can of course, also buy it from the Body Shop website.

Has anyone tried Monoi Oil, from Body Shop or any other brand?

What do you think? Worth the money? 

Did it leave your hair and skin feeling great?

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NOTD: Pink Kitty

It's been a really long time since I got out my Konad Nail Art Stamps, and now that my nails are getting a little bit longer (when I'm not filing them into oblivion, because I still cannot get the hang of this filing lark! Seriously, someone come and file my nails for me. I'll pay you in chocolate!!). So, this Nail of the Day is dedicated to that slightly forgotten art form that is Konad.

I actually tried something very different this time, and used a full nail stamp. I've never used a full nail one before, because I've never had the nails to warrant it and didn't really see the point. But, I fancied something different and here is how they turned out!

I really need to stop using that pink polish don't I? But honestly, that polish alone was worth the price I paid for the whole set. It's just such a vivid colour that really sparkles, on it's own and I love it....if you hadn't already guessed!

I initially started out doing the tiger print stamp, using Konad's Black Special Polish, however, I had two problems using the Black:

1. It didn't stamp very well, at all. As in, most of the polish remained on the stamp, which was a bit rubbish.
2. What did stamp onto the nail didn't show up very well.

So, I changed over to the white polish instead, and I love the overall look that I (eventually) got from this stamp/colour combination.

As you can imagine, it was a right pain in the bum, to photograph the Image Plate, so say hello to my Camera, and the reflection of the window. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do about that, but it's still annoying none-the-less. Maybe one day, I'll learn how to do it without getting reflections. Like, how do retailers take photos of mirrors for sale, without the camera in the image? Interesting, thought!

Anyway, the image plate that I used was M57, and I used the spots image in the top left of the plate.

The polish was, yet again, OPI's Be a Dahlia Won't You? which featured in my Mirror Mirror Pink Delight NOTD look a few weeks ago. The image above, of the polish, is a much better representation of the colour, than the picture I used in my previous post. Probably because this time I used natural lighting!

Whilst I do really love this look, it wasn't the easiest one to do, and I don't think I have the patience to do it again, personally.

Anyone who is familiar with Konad, will probably know that sometimes, it is just a pain trying to get it right. Either I wasn't scraping the polish off the plate fast enough, or I stamped it in the wrong place on my nail, or I was just getting polish all over my hands!! And god, I wish I'd taken a photo of how messy my hands were by the end of doing this look, not only on the palms of my hands, but also all over the fingers.

Basically, I think that the problem with doing a full nail stamp, is that the image is never going to be the perfect size for all of your nails. And in my case, it was the perfect size for absolutely none of them! For my finger nails, the stamp was just too broad, and I ended up stamping just as much onto my skin, as I got onto my nails. On the first image, at the top, on the left, you can see that there is still some white print remaining on my pinky finger! 

In the end, I can just about get around them being too wide, because I can at least remove the excess polish from my fingers.

But, the thumb nails are the complete opposite, in that they just weren't broad enough for me and hence I ended up with nails that only looked half done, hence why there are no images of my thumb for this one! I know some people would just say to do another stamp in the space, but I don't know about anyone else, I just cannot line up stamps to do that. So, I didn't bother.

If you haven't yet had chance to try out Konad, and are interested, but don't know where to start, I actually wrote an FYI post regarding Konad, last June that you might find useful. It offers help and tips for which products to buy etc. 

What do you think of this look?

Are you a fan of tiger and leopard prints?

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Make Up in Film: Hunger Games Special: Stanley Tucci

This week's Make-up in Film was supposed to be a tribute to whichever film won the Best Make-up Oscar, but since that film was The Iron Lady, I didn't really want to tread over the same ground that I've covered before, so I decided to start with my Hunger Games Special Series which will be running each week until the film opens, on March 23rd.

This weeks post, isn't specifically about make-up, but more about the idea of transformation, of changing appearance to become a specific character, and generally looking very unlike the way that the actor ordinarily looks. So many actors have done this so successfully, for example Charlize Theron in Monster. And, for The Hunger Games, this actor was absolutely no different. Whilst his transformation wasn't quite as extreme as Theron's, it is still an interesting one nonetheless.

Over the past year or so, there has been an actor who catches me out every single time. I'm literally watching a film, and I see an actor, in some random role and I convince myself that I recognise him from something. Now, me being me, if I allow that niggle to fester, it'll drive me nuts, so I always have to look it up before it gets to that stage. And so many times, that actor has turned out to be the actor who I wanted to look at today. As I said, every time I see him in something, I know that it's him, but he always looks so different to all of his other roles, that he gets me. I don't think that I've come across an actor who takes on such a different appearance, in such diverse roles as he does.

That actor is, of course, The Hunger Games' very own Caeser Flickerman, or to the rest of the world: Stanley Tucci.

Tucci's role as Nigel, in The Devil Wears Prada, is probably one of those roles when he looks most "normal" and like himself. The make-up is minimal, and Nigel's most defining aspects are his round glasses and the smart, designer suits that are stylish and he's very clean-cut, in facial hair especially, which is in keeping with the fashionable area that the character works in.

Despite the harsh and biting industry that he works in, Nigel has this great sense of warmth about him, especially in his smile, that makes it no surprise that he would become Andy's confidante.

The only real difference between Nigel and Stanley Tucci, is really down to that facial hair, as Tucci is generally photographed with a beard. The glasses that he wears in this film, are also very similar to the ones that he is often snapped in.

George Harvey is perhaps one of Tucci's most interesting roles, especially to anyone who has read the book of The Lovely Bones. It's a character that when you read the book you get this specific image inside your head, and initially, I remember not thinking that Tucci was going to fit that image at all. Especially when you have this image of him as a "nice guy".

Harvey's overall look, however, turned out to be perfection. Tucci has that warm smile that makes you want to trust him, but the messy, floppy hair, and the unkempt facial hair both make him look that little bit more sinister, in a way that you know that most people wouldn't notice. His appearance is certainly one that you'd want to trust, even though you know that you probably shouldn't.

What makes Tucci look so un-Tucci in this role, I think is really down to those eyes. They look much smaller than in anything else I've seen him in, with more bags and lines underneath them. It's also interesting to see how different the glasses make his face look. Tucci is typically seen wearing black-rimmed spectacles, however, these ones are gold, much thinner rims, in a more square-shape rather than the circular ones, and it makes me realise just how much of a difference frames actually do make to a face.

Captain America's Dr. Abraham Erskine is definitely the role that really caught me out, because I knew that I recognised the face, but I couldn't place it, and I spent a long time, sat in the cinema, trying to figure out who he was. It's weird, because Tucci wasn't covered in that much make-up for this role. However, he doesn't have that clean look to his face like he normally does, plus the fact that he actually has hair on his head, well that's going to be my excuse as to why I didn't catch this one!

The character is indeed a lot more scruffier than Tucci's normal persona, especially in the beard, which isn't as neat as he seems to keep it. Like George Harvey, Tucci wears gold-rimmed glasses in this role, and again he looks different to himself, and even to how he looked as Harvey.

And finally, we come to Stanley Tucci's role in The Hunger Games, as Television Interviewer Caesar Flickerman. In the books, Flickerman is portrayed very much like most of the citizens of The Capitol: Flamboyant, with wild hair and fashion sense. Indeed, Flickerman sports rather fetching brilliant blue hair and matching coloured eyebrows that represents The Capitol's obsession with quirky hair colours. 

Seeing Tucci with hair, in Lovely Bones was really strange, because, of course, he doesn't really have that much, but seeing him with the amount of hair he has as Flickerman, is just really weird, and it's amazing how much that hair changes the overall feel of his face, and the aura that he gives off, without even knowing what his personality will be portrayed like.

Another strange aspect is actually Tucci's lack of glasses, and I feel like I want to give him some, because this is one of the few roles that I've seen Tucci not wearing specs, and I can't quite get my head around him not having any on.

The look of Flickerman makes Tucci look less soft and warm, as he does in his other roles, but especially as Nigel and there's something "harder" about his face, and kind of more masculine, which is odd because Flickerman is a lot like Nigel, more than any other role that Tucci has played. They're certainly both very stylish and fashionable, with the suits and a look like that is neat and tidy, if otherwise very different from each other.

I think that Stanley Tucci is always going to be one of those actors who's transformations are always going to baffle and intrigue me. Perhaps I'm the only sad person who gets caught out every time, but Tucci really is an amazing actor who adapts so well into his varying roles. He is one of those rarities of Hollywood that is an Acting Chameleon, not only in his acting skills, but also in his appearance, and I think he's fantastic.

What do you think of Stanley Tucci's ever-changing looks? 

And as which character do you think he looks the best?

Any guesses as to which character/actor from The Hunger Games will be featured next week??

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NOTD: Ruby Reds

Just a really quick post today, to show you how I've been wearing my nails for most of this week. The main colour in this look, is actually a polish that I've been craving since before Christmas, and I spotted it in a Blog Sale recently, so obviously I quickly grabbed it. It's also a polish from a company that I've never tried before, so I was pretty excited to try it out. I started the week by only wearing the main colour, by itself, however my Mum thought that perhaps it would look nicer with a bit of glitter over the top, so I decided to give it a shot.

Anyway, this is what they're looking like today:

The red is a very shimmery red, that wasn't quite the kind of red that I'd been expecting, but it's a really weird shade, because under different lighting it look different shades. Sometimes it looks like a very dark red, whilst outside it is of course a much bright red.

In the images you can definitely see that this is a very shimmery polish, which you obviously can't tell on my nails, because of the glitter over the top, but it really is a pretty colour. It'd probably a bit better suited to the Christmas period, but heh who cares right ;)

The top coat was the exact same one that I used a couple of weeks ago, in my Mirror Mirror Pink Delight NOTD, but here is a better image of that polish, because the one on my previous post wasn't that good quality:

As I said last time, this is more like chunks of foil that glitter, and the chunks are definitely larger and more random in size than other glitter-based polishes that I've tried.

Overall, I don't think that I like this NOTD as much as I liked the Mirror Mirror Pink Delight look. And that seems really weird for me, because I'm a much bigger than of red polishes than I am of bright pinks, which I don't normally favour.

What do you think of this weeks look?

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Barbara Daly Luscious Lip Balm: Cherish Review

A while ago, Tesco's Your Beauty ran a Survey where you would receive a "free gift" for filling it in. I don't think I really need to tell you that yes, I filled that survey in and yes, I did get a little free gift. Although, I do have to say that when it arrived, I was like "Errr....when did I do this??" because I had completely forgotten about it. Whoops!

The product that I got was Barbara Daly's Lip Balm, in Cherish:

I'm not going to beat around the bush. I know very little about Barbara Daly, or even who she is. I'd heard a few murmurs across Social Media regarding her range, at Tesco, but since I only have a small(ish) Tesco in the town where I live, the only cosmetics range I ever find there is by Rimmel! I know that she is a Make Up Artist, but my knowledge pretty much ends there.

The packaging comes in two main parts: First of all, is the outer box which looks pretty standard really. The only thing that I really have to say about it, is that I really don't like the fact that it's made out of plastic, rather than cardboard. This is because I found that when I was pulling it open the edges, and most especially the corners are quite sharp, and dangerous. I know of at least one person who has actually cut their finger on the packaging, so that's not good really.

I do like the fact that the packaging has a clear window in it, because you can see the product inside, however, because the box is black, it's hard to judge the colour of the product (but then again, you shouldn't necessarily judge this product how you see it anyway, but I'll get to that in a minute).

The actual jar that contains the product is made from plastic, even though for some unknown reason, I expected it to be glass (not really sure why!). The lid is quite plain and non-descript, which is a bit of a pain if you have it in a container. I think that this is one of those products, actually, that is probably better stored upside down, because as you can see from the above picture on the right, you can see what the product is, what shade it is and a glimpse of the product through the clear plastic, which is handy.

The lip balm has a very subtle, but sweet smell that reminds me of summery fruits. I quite like the smell actually, and was impressed because I usually find that lip balms like this tend to smell more like plastic than anything else.

When I first opened the lid for this lip balm, I was instantly hit with the thought of "hmm, this is really, really dark" and I am definitely not a fan of dark shades, especially on my lips. Personally, I prefer lighter shades. However, when I tested it on the back of my hand, I noticed that the colour was absolutely nothing like the way it had looked in the container. And so I dared to try it on myself, and yet again it looked completely different to both the product in the jar, and on the back of my hand. I put together this picture to show you how different the product colours are. In fact, it barely looks like I have any on my lips at all, but trust me, I honestly did:

Aside from the colour, I was impressed with how un-sticky the product was. I really hate lip balms and glosses that have a tacky feel to them, and make me feel like I'm about to glue my lips together. I also liked the fact that I couldn't taste them too much, which was nice. I was also impressed that the lip balm stayed out for quite a while.

I like the product, however, if I was to go to a Tesco tomorrow, that sold Barbara Daly products, I don't know how confident I would be buying this lip balm. The problem for me is that I wouldn't know what shade I was really buying, and I'd feel a sense of "okay, I like this shade in the jar, but what is it going to look like when I put it on?". The fact that they're so different is a little irking, because I don't want to be wasting money on a shade that doesn't suit me and/or I don't like.

All I can tell you on this one is Tesco!! Basically, I looked up the product on the Tesco website, and I couldn't find any lip balms in the Barbara Daly range at all (perhaps I'm going blind!!). I'm assuming that they're available in-store, but unfortunately I can't even tell you a price, which is a little annoying.

Have you tried a Barbara Daly lip balm? What do you think? 

And does anyone know how much they cost?

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Thoughtful Thursday: 23.02.2012

Source: google.com via Stacy on Pinterest

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Eos Lip Balm: Sweet Mint Review

Almost exactly a year ago, I finally got my mitts on a lip balm that I had been dying to try for absolutely ages. i'd heard so much about it from Beauty Bloggers and You Tube Guru's alike, that I'd finally bagged myself one from Ebay, for a fiver. That lip balm was of course my Eos Summer Fruit lip sphere:

I absolutely loved my Lip Sphere: I loved the smell, the flavour and the quirkiness of the packaging. And then, one day a few months ago, I *sniff* lost it.

Luckily, a Blog Sale came to my rescue last week and I bagged myself a new one! Oh yes! And happy for me, it was a different flavoured one, so I got to try a new one *yippee*

I'm still adoring the packaging, and it's nice to have it in a different colour. I really wish I knew where my old one was, because I can imagine they'd look so cute (did I really just use the words "so cute" together?) next to each other.

It's really difficult to know what to say about a product that I've already reviewed, but I do have to say that I'm not really loving this one quite as much as the previous one.

When I first opened my original lip sphere, the smell just blew me away, in fact the other half's words had been "yummy", and wearing it had been like a little piece of Heaven (yes, I know how corny that sounds) because it lasted for ages on my lips, smelt gorgeous and tasted delicious (what? it did taste good!). But, I'm not really feeling that with this one.

To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of mint-flavoured lip products. However, I'd opted to give this one a go, because I'd remembered how subtle the flavour of the Summer Fruits one had been, but in comparison, I personally found this one to be just too overpowering for me, and if I apply too much it tastes a little sickly too.

I do wonder though, if a minty lip balm would work as a back-up breathe mint for desperate times. Yeah, random thinking there ;D

 I'm not a huge fan of this product. I still love the packaging, and I love that it's all natural ingredients wise, but the flavour and scent just really put me off. I'm still intending to use it, because heck I'm not wasting my money, but unfortunately, it probably won't be the go-to product that the Summer Fruits one was.

So yes, a little disappointing. But, just as a quick disclaimer, if you honestly LOVE minty products, then really do give this product a try, because I'm convinced that you will love it!! However, if you're not particularly a fan, it's perhaps best not to chance it on the possibility that you might.

Other Flavours are:  Summer Fruits, Sweet Mint, Honeysuckle Honeydew, Lemon Drop, Tangerine, Strawberry Sorbet and Passion Fruit (these last two come as a duo!)

You can pick this up from Ebay, or the Naturally Fabulous website for £4.75 each. The Strawberry Sorbet and Passion Fruit Duo, which both sound yummy are £9.25.

Have you tried the Eos Lip Spheres?

Which is your favourite flavour?

Or, which flavour do you really want to try?

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Make Up in Film: The Joker

When you think of make up in the film industry, it's easy to want to focus solely on the female characters, because it is so much more obvious. Make up is designed predominantly for women, however, men need to get a mention sometimes too. This week we're looking at an actor and a character who are both incredibly tragic, and it's hard to write this post without a little bit of deep thought about it. Because even though it was over four years ago now, it still seems incredibly sad to have lost someone who was such an amazingly talented actor, and it seems so creepy that this would be his final (completed) work:

When Ledger was first cast into the role of The Joker, a lot of critics didn't think that he could possibly fill the big boots of previous Jokers, such as Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson. But, if there is one thing that the Batman films taught me after Batman Begins, it was: Trust Christopher Nolan. And I did, and Heath Ledger did not fail to impress in the role that he so rightly deserved. I'm a huge believer that this was always going to be the start of big things for Ledger, it's just a shame he never saw the chance to see it for himself.

Sentiment aside, Ledger really did have a lot to live up to, because both of his main predecessors had created characters that were memorable in their own ways. I could spend a life-time comparing and contrasting the characters, but this isn't an entertainment blog, so I'll curb that back and just look at their make up and behave myself ;)

When the original Batman TV series was created, the world of television was a completely different place. And as someone who was born just under twenty years after they were made, I find it difficult to watch them with a straight face. The whole concept was simple, down to the action sequences, the outfits and of course the make up.

You probably couldn't get more simple than Cesar Romero's make up, who I can imagine probably didn't spend that long in the Make Up Department each morning putting his slap on. In fact, I think it's fairly certain that the biggest challenge for the Make Up Artists, was probably hiding his lovely moustache.

Rumour had is that Romero refused to shave his moustache, and so the Make Up Team were forced to hide it as best they could!

Ultimately, it looks like all it took to create this "look" was a slathering of white make up over the entire face, and a bright pink lipstick applied to the lips, the the area around the lips (and not necessarily tidily either) and up at the corners! Sooo, basically like a man did it then...!!! ;)

Flash forward to the late 1980's when Tim Burton made his first "Batman" film, and Jack Nicholson's Joker was very similar to Cesar Romero's, however, he was somewhat "tidier". Whilst Romero's make up looked like it had been slapped on in ten minutes flat, Nicholson's make up looked more like a neatly choreographed painting.

It certainly feels like a smarter version of the original idea, but with more attention to detail. There is of course the continued emphasis on the huge clown-type mouth, with the use of make up creating a much wider mouth type of look that is more creepy than the typical Circus Clown.

When it first came out that Heath Ledger would be playing The Joker, a lot of people wondered how Nolan would convert this pretty boy into the classic Batman villain. And knowing how important getting The Joker right really was, it was no surprise that it was this character that would take up a large chunk of the films very early teaser promos:

The above teaser really gave very little of Ledger's make up away. However, it is undeniable, focusing on the hair alone, that can be seen through the frosted glass, that Nolan had taken great inspiration from Cesar Romero's original get-up, as it became evident that the hair would remain the same, as would the overall concept of the clown face.

However, when the first snap shots of Ledger in full make up began trickling into light, it became clear that that was where the similarities really did end,  because the creature that was created was so similar and yet so completely different to both Romero and Nicholson:

The idea of creating a look where the clown face is an extension of some very sinister-looking scars is a very dark one. It gives more depth to a character who already has so many question marks around his head. Of course the scars create plenty of questions, and offer no answers, because each suggestion that the character offers completely contradicts another story he has already told.

The picture on the right, was actually the first ever image of Heath Ledger, as The Joker, that I ever saw. And to say that there is very little of Ledger visible is kinda intimidating. In fact, Tom Hardy's current role as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is a very similar feel to how I felt about Heath Ledger. I know that it is them playing the part, but to look at them, and not actually know that fact, I honestly don't think that I would have ever guessed it (indeed, in Tom Hardy's case, I actually thought that my other half was pulling my leg when he told me that Tom Hardy was Bane! I'm still not 100% certain I believe him, and I'm going to have to see him in the role to really believe it!)

Nevertheless, if that alone is not a perfect example of how incredible the make up and prosthetics used on the Batman films really is, then I don't know what is!

Just looking at the above image, of Ledger with the prosthetics alone, and no make up, it's hard to believe that it is just pretend. He really looks like he has scars, and it's strange to look at.

One of the things that I love the most about Heath Ledger's make up, is that even though you know that almost every little detail has probably been planned meticulously, in a way to create the desired look, by the Make Up Artists. It still has this sense messiness and the feel of self-application, as if The Joker got up that morning, and I can imagine him standing in front of a dirty mirror, inside a cockroach-infested bathroom manically applying this make up. His aim? Who knows. But the effect is so befitting to the psychopath that Christopher Nolan and Heath Ledger created so beautifully.

For me, Heath Ledger will always be the perfect Joker, especially in the make up sense. I know that a lot of Stalwart Batman fans prefer Romero and/or Nicholson, but I'm not a fan of the originals. I think they look out-of-date and more a symbol of the time period that they were created in. That was of course fine in the sixties and eighties, and Ledger is the perfect example of how it should be done in the noughties, and personally I find this one so creepily more appealing.

Which Joker do you prefer? 

And how do you think they did with Heath Ledger's make up? Did it work? 

How might you have done it differently?

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Sunday Summary: 19.02.2012

Oh my gad, it is far too long since I wrote one of these posts, but the past week has been such an awesome week for posts, that I really needed to share them with you lovely lovely lot :)

Blogging has been a bit quiet, at times, over the past week. So, there's not really much to report in life, really. It's been a quiet week overall.

Last weekend, I'm sure a lot of you will be aware, that Twitter was not a very friendly place to be, in regards to the Beauty blogging community. I don't know all of the facts, because I wasn't personally involved and if you don't know what I'm talking about, honestly, keep it that way. But for those of you who do know, you can probably sympathise with what I'm talking about. However, as someone one the sidelines, who didn't really know what was going on, it got to a point where it felt easy to want to step away from the whole community entirely, which is really sad, because we are a community, and okay, as girls we might not agree about everything, but it really is not necessary to act in a nasty manner to each other. Life is too short, and for most of us, blogging is a munch-loved hobby and we do it because we want to be doing it.

With that in mind, my first shout-out is a very huge one:

Peace, Love and Lush Products Campaign. 

Becka is new to the beauty blogging community, and instead of allowing the tensions to scare her away from wanting to blog she launched this campaign, completely supported myself and the other lovely ladies from the Facebook group BBloggers Worldwide:

The idea is easy: stop the bitching, work together, support each other and basically if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it. Of course we're not going to agree, and criticism and disagreement is fine, but just saying that someone is wrong is not the way to go about. Constructive criticism is much nicer than just being plain nasty! So c'mon ladies. Check out Becka's blog, and support a great cause :)

Another blogger who took it into her own hands to calm down the blogging community was the awesome Kellie of Big Fashionista.

Thank You

Anyone who is familiar with Kellie will know that the sub-line on her title "Just saying what you're thinking" is so true, it's almost as if she has somehow made it into your brain! But her idea this week was to hand over her entire page (for one day only) to the blogging community to encourage them to say thank you to each other for something amazing that others (or the community as a whole) has done for them. It was an excellent idea, of course, as most of Kellie's are!

If you don't already follow Kellie's blog, get your ass over there now!!

The next blog that I wanted to share with you, is one that I've been following for a while on Twitter, but have really only just properly discovered the delights of her blog, and seriously, where have I been?

With so many awesome posts aimed at encouraging us to keep thrifty and save money, it was hard to choose just one, but this one definitely stood out for me:

8 Uses For Old Mascara Wands

Most of us probably use mascara on a daily basis, and when we finish one, or it dries up or goes gloopy, how many of us just throw the entire thing away? I know I do. But, A Thrifty Mrs offers eight fantastic things that you can do with the wands. I won't share what they are, because that would defeat the purpose of encouraging you to check out her blog, but there were some fantastic ideas that I definitely had never thought of!

Waste Not, Want Not! ;)

Check out A Thrifty Mrs for tips and tricks and all sorts of interesting stuff!

The final post this week that I absolutely loved was actually one that I requested (oh yeah!):

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How To File Nails Properly

Basically, the other day I put up a request on Twitter for anyone to share with me links to blog posts with tips for how to file nails properly. It's no secret that I'm a nail biter, that I am slowly getting out of the habit of, but one of the things that I just can not manage is filing my nails properly and they always end up with this weird dip in the middle. 

So, Joanna kindly wrote up a really useful blog about how to file your nails properly and I love her for it. Filing your nails is a task that seems to be so simple, but for people like me who have never had the nails to do it, well, I need all the help I can get ;)

So, huge thanks to Joanna and if anyone else struggles as much as I do, I really do recommend checking out her post.

So c'mon ladies, share some love. 

Which blogs and/or bloggers have you been loving this week?

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