It's that rainbow time of the year again.

Yeah, yeah... I haven't updated in a while and blah, blah, blah, but my last two weeks went with me stressing over Uni work, pulling all-nighters, and so on... so I really wasn't in the mood for any updating x)

BUT HERE I AM NOW.

Munching on Pantteri-sweets, which my Finnish friend kindly brought as she's visiting England at the moment, writing something to you about last weekend and Eurovision.

Let's start with last weekend, when I went to Birmingham to a convention, and happened to meet some of my online friends IN REAL LIFE, and made new friends.
It was crazy. We were crazy. And we met some of the most beautiful people out there such as:

 

Matt Cohen. Damn that man is gorgeous in person. Photo by yours truly.

And Kim Rhodes (everyone should know her from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody), who is an amazing person and I got to enjoy her and Carrie Ann Fleming's coffee lounge. Photo by yours truly.

All the actors I got to meet and talk to were AWESOME. So amazing and funny and nice.
And the friends I made and who I hung out with... OH MY CHUCK. So many Dick jokes. SO MANY. And let's not forget muted Hollyoaks with our own dubbing. It was HILARIOUS and it was a great weekend to finish my second year of university.

Anyway, it is pretty much summer here, and I am dying because of the heat. 26C is NOT cool.
Yesterday, after my counselling, I went to the racecourse with my flatmates to have a small picnic, but I was lying on the ground, head covered with my cap and sunglasses, suffering. Over 23C heat pretty much kills me.
At some point I went to a nice, cool restaurant called Café Rouge for a dinner with my Finnish friend and her friends who she's visiting Worcester. Minute steak with the most awesome garlic butter ever and lemon sorbet + chocolate ice cream for dessert? DON'T MIND IF I DO.
Those people also managed to remind me that it is once again that time of the year when bunch of different countries gather under one roof to listen to some amazing, and some less amazing, music.

Yes, it is time for Eurovision song contest once again. My life is once again complete.

As I was watching the first semi-final yesterday, one of the stars being interviewed referred to the contest as this "circus extravaganza" which had me thinking that I want to do a make up to go with that sentence.
Now, I haven't ever been to circus as a performer, but I know that the make-up is similar to what singers, dancers, figure skaters or any other performer usually have to use in performances.
It has to be visible to the very back row, and considering it's circus, should probably be rather colourful as well.

This also a good excuse to re-do one of my older make-up looks, which I probably never posted here, and change it a bit:

Green, orange and pink with black eyeliner and Sleek Amped lipstick.

I did this look in February already, and I really can't remember posting it (I checked and couldn't find it in my blog) and as you can see, it was quite soon after I had dyed my hair red since there are no roots.

Now then. Circus. Extravaganza.

circus  /'sks/

▶ noun  (pl.  circuses)
1. a travelling company of acrobats, clowns, and other entertainers which gives performances, typically in a large tent, in a series of different places. ■ (informal) a large group of people travelling together on the circuit of a particular high-profile activity: the Formula One grand prix circus. ■ (informal) a public scene of frenetic, noisy, or confused activity: a media circus.
2. (in ancient Rome) a rounded or oval arena lined with tiers of seats, used for equestrian and other sports and games.
3. [in place names] (Brit.) a rounded open space in a town where several streets converge: Piccadilly Circus.

- ORIGIN late Middle English (with reference to the arena of Roman antiquity): from Latin, ‘ring or circus’. The sense ‘travelling company of performers’ dates from the late 18th cent. 

extravaganza  /kstrav'ganz, k-/

▶ noun 
an elaborate and spectacular entertainment or production: an extravaganza of dance in many forms.

- ORIGIN mid 18th cent. (in the sense ‘extravagance in language or behaviour’): from Italian estravaganza ‘extravagance’. The change was due to association with words beginning with extra-.

These definitions are provided to you by Oxford Reference Online.

In short circus extravaganza is a spectacular performance by various entertainers, performing in a large space.
Exactly what Eurovision is about. Costumes, hair, make-up and the show.

Something about these words made another thing in my head snap and this morning I took out my make-ups and went half-crazy.

 Yes, I re-dyed my hair red and got complimented by Jim Michaels and Kim Rhodes about it, just FYI.

Also, I've been hearing some complaints about how "you can't do nice, colourful looks with the cheap eye shadows", which is (in my very honest opinion) complete bullshit.

You don't need to spend all your money on the most expensive eye shadows, when you can spend that money on a good base and primer.
Let me tell you from experience, the "cheap stuff" on a good primer and base is enough to get noticed and get compliments. I should know since I my most expensive eye shadow is M.A.C.'s Electric Eel satin, which I don't even use extremely often even though I love it.

Sure, more expensive stuff is usually better, but like I said, it's complete bullshit that one can't do colourful and nice looks with the "cheap stuff".

For this look I used:

♥ A bit of Gosh X-Ceptional wear to hide most of the imperfections around my eyes.

♥ Collection 2000 Pressed powder

♥ Gosh Velvet Touch eye primer.

♥ Lumene Arctic Definition Mineral Eyebrow Pencil.

♥ Green and yellow eye shadow from Gosh trio eye shadow palette TR20 Tropic Fever (upper lid)

♥ Orange and pink eye shadow from beauty UK's eye shadow collection 2 (upper lid)

♥ M.A.C. Electric Eel Satin eye shadow (lower lid up to the eyebrow line)

♥ Sleek Flamingo 937 blush

♥ Sleek Mystic matte lipstick

♥ Wet 'n' Wild Mega Shimmer illuminating powder brush 11 White Glow
♥ M.A.C eyelashes

Now, before any of you go off and start yelling at me that "M.A.C., Sleek and Gosh are not cheap" let me say this: I KNOW.
I know they are not the cheapest, but compare that to stuff like... gee I don't know, Lime Crime or L'Oréal, the cost-effective with M.A.C., Sleek and Gosh is so much better in my opinion.
They're affordable, their eye shadows are pigmented, and M.A.C. and Sleek's lipsticks are so good to apply, not to mention Gosh's foundation.
My Gosh Tropic Fever was about £7, and since it's really nice, easy to apply and lasts long, I don't think it's a bad prize. I can't remember how much I paid for my Sleek blush and lipsticks, but they couldn't have been over £10 per product.

BUT beauty UK is not expensive at all. I got my 10g eye shadow palettes (which both have 10 different eye shadows) for £4 pounds per palette. That's £8 for 20 different colours.

Granted, the palettes are not that big, nor are the colours massively pigmented, but they do their job just well with the primer, so I don't feel the need to go and pay myself sick with expensive eye shadows when these work well.

Eurovision, here I come~

Now after that rant, let me get back to my point about this make-up and Eurovision xD

Usually the ladies of the contest wear natural-ish make-ups and bright lips, and what the make-up lacks they make up in hair and costume. For once I would LOVE to see an extremely colourful make-up on someone on top of those costumes and hair. I would love it. Circus extravaganza at its best.
What do you think?

Anyway, this post got waaayyy longer than it was supposed to, so I'll be finishing now.
I really want to throw an Eurovision party on Saturday when the final airs, but I'm afraid no one else is willing to come and watch it with me, so I'll be dressing up alone x)

OH! Before I go, I'd like to know if any of you dear readers have any good recipes for light food that's nice during summer? My "counsellor" told me that I should eat regularly, but I barely feel like eating when it's hot outside...

But, I'm gonna go out now and see how long it takes all my make-up to melt in that heat, so stay human and blog ya later~!