More Budget Goth - the £20 makeup challenge

Please forgive the greyness at the start, it disappears after a few moments.  I don't know why it happened!

This is a really basic face that I usually do better but I wasn't feeling terribly good when I filmed.  I apologise for the sniffling!

Products:
Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour foundation in 100 Ivory - £6.99
Stargazer pressed white powder - £3.99
MUA matte black mono eyeshadow - £1
Bourjois Kohl & Contour 16h eyeliner pencil in Noir Expert - £2.99 from cheapsmells.com
Angled brush - £1
N.Y.C. Liquid Lipstick in 438A Betti Ann - £1

Total: £16.97

I did this one by raiding my own stash and checking receipts/shops/site where I originally bought the products for prices.

IT LIIIIIVES!

I do apologise for the unannounced hiatus., dear readers.  I had a lot of work to do regarding sorting funds and debts for university and am also organising an event for our city's wonderful Steampunk society, so I have had to pt my blogging on the back burner.  I'm now drafting an introduction to the Sisters of Mercy which, for simplicity, will be a text post with accompanying videos for their songs rather than a vlog.

For those who are reading for fashion/makeup/general style purposes, here was my hair and face-a-me-doo for last night's Danse Macabre, a monthly night co-run by my partner with the theme of Goth/80's/italo/disco (I know, right?).  It's a brilliant evening.  All the makeup aside from the powder was from high street brands at the lower end of the price range, hairspray was the utterly amazing got2b Glued Blasting Freeze Spray.  It's the strongest stuff I've ever used, and my word, does it do the job.

 I forgot to adjust my webcam for this one, apologies for blurriness.

Foundation: Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour Foundation in 100 Ivory 

Powder: Gothic Geisha white mineral makeup (eBay).
Eyeliner: Maybelline Eye Studio Lasting Drama gel liner
Mascara:  Maybelline Great Lash

Eyeshadow - MUA Matte Eyeshadow shade 20 (black) & white shade from beautyUK eyeshadow collection 4

Lipstick: Rimmel Lasting Finish in 128 Starry-Eyed

WHOOPS!

I have no eyebrows now.  This could take some getting used to (and getting up earlier each morning)...

Big Hair 'Secret'

Right, this is another one for the people with hair that just doesn't 'do' volume.  When I want big hair I use the following:

• A teasing brush and/or a fine-toothed comb.
• Strong or Freeze-hold hairspray
• hair that's not been washed on that day (shiny clean hair just slips straight down)
• AND... THE LATEST THING WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED THAT NO-ONE TOLD ME ABOUT: mattifying root powder.

What's that you say?  POWDER for your HAIR?  Good gracious, woman, we aren't living in the 18th century! To which I reply, STOP BEING SILLY AND TRY THIS MAGIC DEVIL-DUST.  The basic idea is that it gives your roots a bit of texture and more 'grip', allowing greater volume at the roots from which to build.  I first read of this stuff from a post by uber-goth hairdresser Iva Insane, and you can see the results she gets!

Last night I tried such a product for the first time.  Batiste XXL Volume is, as far as I can tell, powder mixed with dry shampoo which gives it a nice convenient spray-in formula and was pretty cheap (around £2), but you can also buy jars of just the powder such as Osis Dust-it or Label M Resurrection Style Dust - I think Schwartzkopf also do a cheaper high-street version in their Got2Be range. (I've not tried any of these.)  Spray in at the roots, scruff it about to distribute (and to make sure you don't have big patches of white powder giving you a 'going grey' look) and notice your hair instantly start standing a bit.  You can leave that as-it and just tousel it a little if it starts to go down later, or you can do what I did last night and continue with normal teasing and hairspray.  The result was MASSIVE and GRAVITY-DEFYING, but wanting to go for a slightly more subtle look I tamed it down to get this (which lasted all night):

I hope this little tip helps.

More Dogventures.

Need more regular stuff?

The reason I haven't uploaded the music vid is that it has become monstrously apparent that I cannot edit videos well at all.  If anyone can recommend me a simple editor that'll allow me to adjust both video and audio tracks then let me know, otherwise I'm going to resort to a continuous shot of me rambling, half-cut/half-asleep/completely clueless, about music stuff I just learned whilst falling off my chair and insulting everything for your entertainment to make up for a lack of anything decent.  In the mean time, I have a Tumblr called The Cupboard Under The Stairs where I post pictures of my face, my dog, bands I like (one way to learn about a few goth bands if you're interested) and various sewing projects that I'm working on.  Mainly.  There are occasionally other things, but it's where you can find whatever I can't say enough about to write a proper post on.

Deflating the Deathhawk

There are tutorials all over the internet on teasing, spraying and drying one's hair into the great tangled crest beloved of goths and deathrockers - but if, after you have petrified your hair to defy gravity, kept it there with touch-up spritzes and backcombing sessions in the loos, danced the weekend away and then decided to return to a more civilised appearance only to discover that you're going to need a MUCH stronger comb, what do you do*?  I once tried a detangling spray but it only seemed to make things worse and, bizarrely, stickier.  Here's what I doing right now.

YOU WILL NEED: Wide-toothed comb, deep-conditioning hair mask, clarifying/deep cleansing shampoo, patience and a bit of time to spare.

1. Detangle any 'easy' bits carefully.  Take your time over this - hacking and tugging away with the brush will lead to serious extra damage and potential bald spots.
2. Get in the shower and SATURATE.  
3. Grab a bottle of deep-cleansing shampoo and work it right into your scalp's birdnest, taking care not to be so vigorous as to further tangle the hair. Rinse thoroughly, repeat.  Detangling is mostly difficult at this point because there's so much dried-in spray, so you need to get that OUT.
4. Wring out excess water, coat the lot in a deep conditioning hair mask.
5. (Optional) Apply ultra-sexy shower cap and go watch an episode of your favourite TV show.  I'm watching a re-run of the old Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes, Hound of the Baskervilles.  This has no effect on my hair but makes me feel sophisticated.
6. Once you've left the conditioner in for 5-10 minutes minimum, you can either rinse and get on with detangling or begin to comb out the tangles whilst the conditioner is still in. Start from the ends, work towards the roots.  There will still be knots dotted about, and you don't want to suddenly snag one and rip hair out.  They shouldn't be hard to undo though, whereas before you would actually save hair by cutting it out.
7. Enjoy your hair in its natural state.
8. For goodness' sake, don't do that to your hair again for a wee while.  Use hair pieces or clips or something else to decorate your head, but give your poor hair a rest.

 Pictured: pure, unadulterated essence of goth.

*One thing you could do is improve your backcombing technique so you don't end up matting.  But we all make mistakes or overdo it sometimes, and that's what this is for.