Passport Photo Day FAIL

I need to renew my passport. I am going on holiday in just over three months, and I realised that not only had mine run out, my surname has changed because I got married. Yes, fine, I know it was almost 5yrs ago, shame on me, but still!

So I decided that today was the day. I wanted my face to look natural but couldn't bear the idea of going 'au naturel', so I cheated. Just a little bit... 

I used the above products to make my face a little more even. I also used two coats of mascara and coloured in my brows... 

Picture above taken with iPhone 4S 8mp camera in natural lighting.

See? No blusher, no contouring, nothing at all that would give away the fact that I was wearing any makeup (maybe except the eyebrows)...

Feeling naturally confident, I walked into town, went to my local photo place and paid for 4 passport photos. I was sat down and then the guy picked up a digital camera, took a photo and asked me if I liked it. I looked and decided it looked alright (come on, who looks fabulous in their passport photo? In my last one I looked like I was on drugs), so I nipped into town, waited 30 minutes and then went back to get my photos. I continued around town, then walked home, then opened my envelope to check out my passport photo's.

And then this happened...

Look at my frikkin' eyelashes!!! Since when did another 8 layers of mascara attach itself miraculously to my lashes in the 15 minute walk to town? Y'know, normally I'm all for having super thick lashes - I'd love to have lashes that are that thick - but these look fake, and the photo's were useless and couldn't be used for my passport! Waste of money! By the time I got home, saw these and then got back down there to ask if they could be re-taken, it'd closed for the day... Pissed off I am... 

Tomorrow I will have to get my photo taken again. Hopefully my lashes won't look fake in the next photos :(

Review: Seventeen Miracle MATTE skin primer

I have a super oily T-Zone, so mattifying primers are always welcome in my life. My skin becomes so oily so quickly that around 98% of the time I wear Milk of Magnesia underneath a primer on my face so my foundation will last over a few hours without becoming an oily mess. So when I saw this little tube in my local Boots, claiming a very bold 22hr shine free face, I picked it up and took it home to try. 

So this is what the tube looks like. See the 22hr Shine Control claim? I had to test this! 

It's a small 15ml tube but I love the tiny nozzle so you won't squeeze out too much - so no waste. Thumbs up!

This is what the primer looks like fresh out of the tube. 

Here the primer partially rubbed in. It's gone clear and slightly glossy. 

And here it's dried down to a solidly matte finish. Promising... 

So this promises to keep my skin shine free for 22 hours. This is a bold claim. To keep this test as fair as possible, I took some steps to help the primer along as much as I could. 

1: I used a light moisturiser for oily skin.

2: Then I put this primer on my T-Zone & cheeks closest to my nose.

3: I used L'Oreal Infallible 24hr stay fresh foundation.

4: Lastly I set my makeup with Rimmel Translucent Stay Matte powder. 

This is my face, at 7pm, makeup freshly applied and set. 

Ok this photo was taken at 1am, 6hrs later. As you can see my T-Zone has become slightly shiny, but not so much that I feel the need to blot or add more powder. 

Another picture taken at 4am, 9hrs after initial application. 

A close up of my nose at 4am. Oily alert! 

A close up of my inner cheek. Yikes! Fried eggs, anyone? Haha! 

After 9hrs I need to blot/add powder, for sure. This primer definitely did not hold up on my oily T-Zone, even though I took steps to help it as much as I could. 22hrs? More like 5. Despite this, my foundation actually held up surprisingly well considering how oily my face became.  

My thoughts: Considering it couldn't stand up to my crazy oily face, it actually isn't bad, and it's pretty affordable at just £4.99. I really like the texture and I reckon that when it's put over a thin layer of Milk of Magnesia, my foundation will last for at least 10hrs without any meltdown. If I'm wrong I'll let you know. Definitely looking forward to using this in the near future. 4/5