Medusa's Shadow Brush Review

I received this brush from Medusa's make-up a few weeks ago now but I have only just gotten around to trying it and honestly, I really love it! It picks up eye-shadow fantastically, and when I say this, I mean it does it with so much ease. I have models own brushes and they set me back around £30 but this brush which costs £5.94 ($10), works 100 times better. 

I used this brush with my Bourjois trio eye-shadow set and used the lightest colour which my models own brush has so much difficulty getting any of the product on (which I thought was due to the eye-shadow) but this brush, picks up a hell of a lot of it and in all honesty, I am really really impressed. The bristles in the brush are really soft against the skin and the brush is really gorgeous. It's bright pink with Medusa's make-up printed on one side and on the other side is the type of brush, in this case, shadow. I am completely blown over by this brush! 

I would definitely recommend this brush if you use highly pigmented eye-shadows or baked as it picks up a lot of product. The bristles are really delicate on the skin and the brush feels very high quality. It's a very well priced as well but if you live outside the US, be aware that the shipping costs $23.75 (£14.11) which is a lot of money (nearly triple the price of the brush!), but, if you are buying multiple items, I would say it is definitely worth it. I'd give it 4.5/5 due to the cost of shipping being so damn high!

Autumn 2014?

Autumn 2014? by cbear214 featuring lace boots

Reiss black camisole
reiss.com

Black long sleeve shirt
$20 - lotmart.co.uk

Mango ripped jeans
mango.com

Dr. Martens lace boots
planetshoes.com

Plastic umbrella
overstock.com

Luxury Hot Chocolate
$9.31 - whittard.co.uk

July Favourites!

So July has officially ended and August has now begun. We are only 4 months and 24 days away from Christmas and I have no idea where this year has gone because time has really flown by! I found a few things this month that I have fallen in love with and a few things I have rekindled my love for. So, enjoy.

These little Japanese treats are one of my all time favourite snacks. I have not had these in such a long time, but I ended up picking some up whilst in town during the beginning of the month. They're so light and delicious! The chocolate filling tastes like heaven and I can manage to get through a pack of these in probably 2 minutes. I think I need to buy a very large box of these very soon (or several little packets and stash them away for snack cravings). They're really cheap and made by a great brand called meiji who are known for making confectionery in Japan.

Next up, stargazer nail caviar. I have already done a review on this item so if you would like to read that, click HERE. Now, I am not one for painting my nails but this product really makes me want to sport cute, decorative nails all the time. I have this product in black and in silver, and so far, I have only tried the silver one on my nails, but, I will be trying the black one very soon as I will be painting my nails to match a dress I will be wearing to a party Saturday. These again, are from a fantastic brand and are very affordable, costing £3.00. It's a very simple, easy to use product and I could not ask for more. Buy it HERE!

As a book lover with a wide and extensive collection of books, I had to stick a book in my monthly favourites. A few years ago (back in 2011), I won a set of books by Alyson Noel called The Immortals. The set consists of 6 books which are 300 - 400 pages long. Although they are teen books, or what I would personally class as teen books, they are really good. I am currently on the 4th book (I would have finished them all by now but I've had to give my eyes some rest from reading) and it takes me on average 4 hours to read each book - I was reading one book a night before bed. I have found these better than I originally anticipated and I will finish the collection rather soon and stick up a review on them. I also noticed my 6th book was signed which was an added bonus!

I have also fallen in love with several gaming items this month too! One of which, is no other than a minecraft item. Now, I do not own this yet, but believe me, I will, and very soon. Mojang and J!nx have brought out a papercraft set for minecraft which has loads of different things you can make such as the animals in the game, mobs and the different blocks. There are lots of different sets out and I really can't wait to get them. I have also fallen in love with several plushies of minecraft mobs and animals so these have been added to 'things I will be buying soon'. Find these guys HERE!

What are your favourites of this month? Let me know in the comments below!

TBT (Throw back thursday) - Little bit late

This is a music related post as well as a TBT! This is about the single most amazing day in my life (and after 20 years of being on this planet, let me tell you, it was a very incredible day).

I am a huge fan of fall out boy, more than I could even begin to explain. I have listened to most of their albums, learnt every song off by heart and been very giddy each time one of their songs has been played on a night out of drinking and dancing. After 7 years of being a fan, I finally got to see them live for the 1st time. I saw them in Birmingham (England) on March 16th with The Pretty Reckless and New Politics as their supporting bands. Not only were these two bands great (and I have a new found love for Taylor Momsen) the atmosphere they created building up to the main event was unbelievable!

We stayed in Copthorne's hotel located in Birmingham's town centre and it was a lovely little room. After having a good ol' McDonnalds and a starbucks or two, settling down for an hour or so and just sorting out our bags, taking a few pictures and becoming very hyped up about the event, me and the other half decided to have a quick wander about before heading to the stadium. 

When we got to the queue for the concert, it was a huge line. We got there around 1pm and the doors weren't open for another 6 hours. Because of how long the queue was, they decided to move us somewhere else, so we went from being at the back of a queue with around 300 people in front of us, moving somewhere where there was around 50 people in front of us was a pretty amazing (we walked pretty fast so we wouldn't be stuck at the back...pays to have long legs and being a fast walker sometimes). When we sat down, we met a very lovely couple who were called Tash and Jordan (the nicest two people I have ever met). The boyfriends went on a few coffee runs and food runs whilst we sat and talked about each-other and laughed about random things. We stayed with them through the gig and it was incredible!

What's the best gig/concert you have ever attended? Let me know in the comments down below!

Also, enjoy The full uncut new album from Fall Out Boy

Piercing #2 - Tragus

Let's stick with the ears for this week's piercing post. This week, it's tragus piercings! I really like this piercing and it's definitely been a more popular piercing over the last few years. The tragus is the peninsula of cartilage that lies directly in front of the ear canal: this is the part of the ear that helps us keep earphones in, as an example. For tragus piercings, jewellery is inserted through this nub of cartilage. It can be rather annoying to wear headphones with this piercing as it gets in the way a little.

The procedure for this piecing is the same as most. The piercer will mark the area where the piercing will be and make sure it's in the right spot to prevent any migration of the piercing. Then, forceps are used to clamp that area (it's not as painful as it sounds) then a needle which I believe is usually 16g (1.2mm). The piercer then removes the needle leaving a cannula in it's place which is a plastic tube. This helps the piercer put the jewellery in. They insert the jewellery, remove the cannula in this process then screw on the ball to the jewellery. It's a very pain free process. The video down below show's how this procedure is done.

The piercing takes 2-4 months to heal but you should not change the jewellery until at least 2 months. I have had mine pieced for just over 3 years now and I haven't changed the jewellery as of yet because it can be a very fiddly process but your piercer should be able to change the bar for you of you are struggling to do so yourself, so always ask.

Caring for the piercing is the same as any other. Always use salt water solution and a q-tip to clean it and make sure you wash your hands before and after cleaning it to make sure you minimise the risk of any infection taking place. The piercing may also be quite tender for a few weeks so try sleeping on the other side of your body as it can be too sore to sleep on the side you had it pierced. I would also recommend not using any hair products such as hairspray during the healing process as it may cause infection and irritation to the new piercing.

Pain wise, this piercing isn't too bad. I would probably rate it the same as a normal ear piercing, if not a little higher in my personal opinion. Don't forget though, each person's pain tolerance is different so it may be different for you.

Sims 2 Ultimate Collection...FREE?!

That's right guys and girls. EA has decided to release the sims 2 ultimate collection for FREE! So what do you get I hear you ask? All of these:

• The Sims 2
• The Sims 2: University
• The Sims 2: Nightlife
• The Sims 2: Holiday Party Pack
• The Sims 2: Open for Business
• The Sims 2: Family Fun Stuff
• The Sims 2: Glamour Life Stuff
• The Sims 2: Pets
• The Sims 2: Seasons
• The Sims 2: Celebration Stuff
• The Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff
• The Sims 2: Bon Voyage
• The Sims 2: Teen Style Stuff
• The Sims 2: FreeTime
• The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff
• The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff
• The Sims 2: Apartment Life
• The Sims 2: Mansion & Garden Stuff

So why are they doing this? Following EA's announcement that it will be ending support for The Sims 2 and would be giving away all of the game's expansions to players who already own a copy of the game, the company has made The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection available completely free for anyone to download and keep until 31 July. Here's how to get The Sims 2 for free.

Is it legal? Yes it is completely legal!

How do I get this? If you Google search 'origin' and click the EA link, download origin onto your pc. It's completely free, legal and powered by EA Sports. Then once this has downloaded and installed, click the redeem code button and type in: I-LOVE-THE-SIMS and click next. Then? Download it. It will take a while to download as it is a 12.5GB download so make sure you have enough space to do this! Get downloading and playing the sims guys!

Still don't trust this? EA have released this on their website: http://help.ea.com/en/the-sims/the-sims-2/

Couple of drawings?

Thought I would share a few drawings I have done over the last few years. Most of these are random tattoo designs but each one has been drawn by me. I haven't been able to draw in the past few weeks because I just can't focus (and I've ran out of paper which sucks). I really need to get back into drawing as I need to design my chest piece and feet tattoo's pretty soon! Too much space on my body and not enough paper in the world for all my ideas! Either way, enjoy!

Simple mandala design in black and white with some shading. This was drawn a few months ago. 

 Little sugar skill with a mandala design. This has still not been finished off but will be one day! I would love to get this tattooed somewhere on me but just not sure where yet.

Mandala design. (same as the one with the sugar skull)

 A portrait of one of my favourite you-tubers jingleheartart. I don't really do potraits as they never come out right but I was quite happy with this one in all honesty! Click HERE for her youtube channel.

This design was for one of my closest friends. She had a basic design and I wanted to change it up a LOT. She has this tattooed on her thigh and it's a huge piece. It was drawn on A3 paper.

 A random design I got asked to do a few years ago at 4am (or around that time) by someone on vampire freaks. This is a fixed up version I did last summer of the original as the original was just pencil and it wasn't as fine tuned as I would like.

My favourite drawing of all time because it took far too long to colour in (this was all done in pencil and a black pencil crayon). It's a picture of Kyoko who is a character in my favourite manga of all time, Black cat. It took around an hour to draw and around 3 to colour in. This is drawn on paper just a bit larger than A3 and I still treasure this to this day. I drew this back in 2010 so it's just under 4 years old now!

Which one is your favourite drawing and do you have any awesome drawings you'd like to share? Comment guys and let me know!

#Caturday?

So one of the most trending things today on Google+ is #caturday so he're are my favourite cat themed clothes and tattoo's. But first, here's two of my own little babies. Jynx and Simba. They were around 5 months old when I took this and are now not much off 3 years old!

Okay, down to business....

This is so adorable and greatly detailed. The eyes and the look of the fur makes this look really realistic. Great tattoo.

I want this! Or something like this. The colours used makes this look fantastic. Those eyes look beautiful and it's again, very well detailed.

(this one made me laugh way to much)

Stargazer nail polish & nail caviar!

So I finally got around to painting my nails and decided to use the nail caviar stargazer had sent me to try out. Now, I very rarely paint my nails as it is so using something which is really small put me off massively but as I have a free day today, I thought hey, let's give this ago.

Price: £3.00

Colour: Silver

Click here to buy

Nail caviar is basically very small metal beads which can be used in nail decoration. All you need to do is prepare the nail by filing, buffing and sticking on an undercoat. Then you use a nail polish as a base then pour these over the nail. Best to do it inside a box or on top of a plate as these little balls have a habit of getting everywhere! They're surprisingly easy to use. Any left over, just put back inside the tub. Finish off by putting a clear nail polish over the top to give them a bit more support so they stay on longer. It is as easy as it seems. They can be a little fiddly if you need to a bit of clear up but that's the only problem I have with these. Try and use a nail polish close to the colour of the caviar as well because they can become coated in the nail polish.

Price: £3.50

Shade: 129

Click here to buy

I've used this for a long time now and refuse to use many other black nail polishes because they are far too light and you have to apply either a really thick coat or 101 coats before your nails are actually black. This, however requires 1-2 coats to achieve a nice black colour and any places where you have painted your finger by mistake, it cleans up with ease, unlike a few stubborn nail polishes. It's a great colour and really does last pretty well too. Anyone wanting a decent black nail polish should definitely go and buy this one.

So how do my nails look now...

I think they turned out much better than I could have hoped. I did a french tip (sort of) with the stargazer nail polish and I used the caviar on my ring finger and on part of my thumb. I think they look rather fancy but it did take me a while to do. The most time spent however, was doing the french tips. They just took forever to do but the caviar took probably a few minutes on each finger. 

I would definitely recommend both of these products. Overall good price, easy to use and they let you create fancy looking nails in your own home. A must buy if you want something new to decorate your nails with or even just to try out these products because at that price, it's definitely worth it.

Lush Snow Fairy!

I'm pretty surprised I haven't written anything up on this product yet because it's my all time favourite lush product. It's only sold for a few months of the year before disappearing again, leaving fans of this product crying. It is sold in 3 sizes:

• Small (100g)
• Medium (225g)
• Large (500g)

I can not remember the prices of these because they do change them every year (and the fact I haven't bought any since November 2013 - it's sold between October and January each year) but they generally range from around £3 (for the smallest) to £12 (for the biggest) if my memory serves me correctly. I usually end up buying a large bottle or two for myself to last me the year and family members always buy this product for me as well as it is in a lot of the gift boxes which are sold at Christmas time. I have been buying this product for nearly 4 years now (it may even be more than 4 years) and even when I smell it, it reminds me of Christmas. 

It's a very bright bubble gum pink in colour and smells fantastic. It smells like a sweet shop. A mixture between candy-floss and candy canes, just pure bliss. If that wasn't enough, there is also glitter in the bottle which just makes it look even more brilliant. A little bit of this product can go a long way. It can be used to wash your body but also your hair, and it lathers up really well.

If you haven't tried this product yet, you really need to! It is absolutely great and I will be buying some more as soon as it's back in shops. 

I've fallen in love?

Okay this is not make up or fashion related but I have fallen in love with a game. Yes a game. This game is basically a mix between day-z (a zombie game) and minecraft (a game where...you mine and craft..)

This game is amazing! Seriously, I can play this constantly for quite a few hours at a time before I even want to take a break! My other half bought it me through steam by getting a two player pack for £30 which means on his days off from work, or when he is able to play at night time after work, we are playing it and screaming like little girls. It's fantastic. It's still in alpha (alpha 8.8 soon to be alpha 9 in August) so there are a few bugs and issues with the game as it is still sort of being developed and ironing out any issues. 

The basic idea of the game is exactly what it says. You need to survive. There are different ways to do this in this game. Building your own house, living in a pre-built building (after clearing out the tonne of zombies which have decided to squat in the building) and loot everything possible from cars, pre-built buildings, dead zombies, and the various other things situated in the map (old back packs, rubbish, trash cans, ect). You also need to protect your house from hordes of zombies. There are several different types of traps to do this. The game also has structural integrity. If you have played minecraft, you know you can build a huge 1x1 tower and then build a house in the sky. This game however doesn't allow you to do this. If the building is not supported properly, it WILL fall down and collapse. Subsequently, if you do not keep an eye on any material your house is made of, zombies will break it and get their way into your home. You can repair blocks with either a stone hammer or a repair tool. Zombies in this game are also smart. They can dig underground to find way a into the home. Zombies also go at half speed as long as they're in light. So day time they are really slow. Night time however, they are fast as hell! Inside buildings where it is dark they are also very fast! This can be changed in the menu if you are a beginner.

There are 4 different bars which you have to keep an eye on. Health which is replenished by things such as paracetamol. Hunger which is replenished with food (of course) , thirst which is topped up by drinking clean water and sprint which decreases when you run (but it goes back to full when you rest for a little while - as long as your hunger and thirst bar isn't too low). You can also gain damage by being hit by zombies, falling from great heights and starving/dying of thirst. You can also bleed out (this is solved by using bandages) and be infected by radiation, bug bites, I believe being bitten by a dog and  being hit by a infested police officer's vomit can also cause infection (but I am not too sure on these).

There are a total of 5 difficulty modes:

1. Scavenger (very easy) - for beginners
2. Adventurer (easy) - more advanced but yet not so hard
3. Nomad (normal) - default
4. Warrior (hard) - advanced players
5. Survivalist (insane) - professional survivalists

You can also change different aspects on the game. You can increase the drops from planes (supply drops), how hard zombies hit, how hard you hit, day length, ect).

It is seriously a great game and I love it! If you are a fan of zombie games this is one you need to buy! It's currently available on PC for £18.99 or £29.99 for two player pack. The game was released in December 2013 so it's still a fairly new game but with how greatly it's been developed and how fast updates are happening it's a game that holds a lot of possibility. You can play on your own but it has the option to play on multi-player too with a server. It's compatible to host a hamachi server which is great for smaller multi-player games with you and your friends. It also lets you set up a password so no one is able to come join the game without this password.