Kit Essentials

While cleaning my kit today, I realised how many things I consider essential that aren’t actually makeup! These are mostly pretty bog-standard items, and I’m sorry if this is a boring post but I’m very nosy when it comes to people’s essential makeup must-haves of any description and I love writing them as well!

Bioderma and Cotton Buds
Pretty obvious really! Bioderma is my favourite remover, and cotton buds are essential for touch ups and whoopsies – I forgot them once or twice and it’s not the best! Of course you can use brushes to correct makeup as well, but I’d rather not dirty and brushes I don’t have to!

Hand Sanitizer
Yes, I HAVE seen other MUAs without hand sanitizer. I tend to have a large one and a mini one knocking around as well so I can reach out and grab one and keep one in the pocket section of my brush belt as well.

Huggies Wipes
Ok, wipes aren’t the best for removing makeup, but sometimes you’re in a hurry to leave the studio because you’ve been shooting until the end of your booking, and you don’t have time to take someone’s crazy makeup off before you all have to go and these can come to the rescue.  Also good for spills, etc. I really like these Huggies wipes as they always seem to be on offer, they’re nice and soft, they tear easily without going fluffy and they don’t dry out.

Long Hair Grips
For keeping hair out of people’s faces.

Active Cosmetics Lashes
Ok, so these are KIND of makeup, but I really couldn’t live without these lashes. At £1 each, they’re not as cheap as the huge boxes of lashes off eBay, but they are MUCH better. They’re less heavy, more flexible, have a thinner lashband and come in more fashionable styles as well. Absolute essential for me, I always stock up. This brand also has a great 5-pack online from Fragrance Direct, etc.

Disposable Lip Wands
I use these for lipstick as well as gloss. I much prefer these to a lip brush for lipstick as I hate washing lip brushes with a passion (sorry, Earth :( ) and these allow you to correct or shape the lipline easily, as well as applying a really thin first layer of lipstick which will then act almost like a lipliner.

Alcohol
For giving things a sanitizing spritz! Not an option in my opinion.

Breath Drops/Mints
This is more due to my own paranoia, as it’s not nice to have someone all up in your grill if they’ve got stinky breath. Shoots can be mad – I do lots of group shoots with 4913198 people running around – and you eat what and where you can. Cheese and Onion Sammich breath is nobodies friend.

Inglot Duraline
My favourite mixing medium – for creating liners and lip products from loose powders, foiling eyeshadows, etc. Love this, can’t live without it. I mix it with loose black eyeshadow to get a really fluid liner.

Small Scissors
For trimming lashes, opening new products, cutting labels out of new clothes, etc. You never know when you’ll need scissors!

Vaseline
Not my favourite as a lip conditioner, but good in a pinch. Good for sheering out lipsticks, grooming brows, adding gloss to the skin, etc.




More of these kinds of posts or not? Yay? Nay?

Labyrinth Mini Series Part 6: The Fireys

“GOOD TIMES, BAAAAAAD FOOOOOD!”

Not gonna lie, the Fireys creeped me out when I was a kid. Also, cheers for taking up a song space in which David Bowie could have been singing. With that in mind, I um… glued a bunch of stuff to my face?

Products: Lid and brows, Sugarpill Burning Heart Palette, Rimmel Brow Pencil in Dark Brown. Liner, Sugarpill Love+ and Elf Lock And Seal (Love+ scraped off with back of brush and mixed on back of hand so it didn’t ruin the pain). Inner corner, Sugarpill Tiara, white from Sleek Circus palette. “Feathers” from a pair of lashes, flakies are nail supplies from eBay.

Hmmm, not too sure of this one. It looks more like my eye is ready for Mardi Gras than looking anything like a Jim Henson character! I think I took the “fire” part a bit too literally. I should have also taken the fluffy parts down along to the end of the brow but it was a pain in the ass and they weren’t standing up. Ah well, any excuse to use Sugarpill Flamepoint, I suppose!

Monday vs. Friday

This is what I can be arsed with on a Friday – Duochrome! Vampiness! Yeeeeah!





Eyes: Darling Girl Papercut (lid), MUA Glamour Days Palette (lshlines, crease)
Lips: Sleek True Colour Lipstick in Cranberry
Cheeks: Sleek Suede, Benefit Moonbeam

 

Quick and easy – duochrome yo! – but still says “Today is a sexy day. Let us party!” Aaaaaaand by contrast, this is what my makeup says about how I feel about Monday:

Eyes: Mascara, touch of brown from MUA Glamour Days, highlight from Glamour Days
Face: Sleek Suede, Benefit Moonbeam
Lips: Maybelline Mauve Diamonds

These looks both took me pretty much the same amount of time and used some of the same products– it’s just a question of what I can be arsed to do in the morning! Pull this shadow out, this lipstick out, find a clean blending brush… bleh. Mondays are not a good makeup day for me!

Do you wear more makeup at certain times in the week?

Fyrinnae!!! (Swatches and LOTD)

A wee little Fyrinnae order popped onto my doormat yesterday (kicking the arse of their own TAT by arriving around 11 days after I ordered!)





L-R: Superstar, Orangutan, , Sequinned Master, Futuristic Glamrock, Knickers in a Twist

Well, well, well! I don’t order from Fyrinnae too often, but every time I do, I wonder why I don’t!

Superstar is an amazing bright pink with a very subtle blue highlight. It’s not super shimmery, but I wouldn’t say it was a satin either.  Orangutan is BEAUTIFUL. It’s described as “pale soft copper (or dusky peach),” and I’d say that’s pretty spot on, although it looks more coppery to my eyes than the website swatch.  Sequinned Master (Arcane Magic) is a light grape-purple with pink and blue sparks. When you get it. When light hits it directly, it looks more pink. Really interesting and pretty shade. Futuristic Glamrock (Arcane Magic) was my free sample! It’s a cool, bright icy blue with tons of pink sparks which show when the light hits – can’t wait to pair it with Sequinned Master. Knickers in a Twist is a dark grey-taupe with a coppery/bronze shimmer. I can tell already this is going to make it’s way into my regular routine.

 

“Isis”

This looks MUCH brighter in real life, I promise – see below for a more colour accurate swatch. It’s a beautiful, beautiful colour. I wouldn’t say it’s fully opaque, but it’s less of a sheer-feeling formula than some other Fyrinnae Lip Lustres are and certainly has enough coverage to  wear it alone. It’s very metallic and very awesome, and I think I’ll be purchasing a full size!



“Narwhal Nuzzles”

One, awesome name. I love a narwhal. Two, it’s gorgeous. A touch more turquoise than straight blue like my swatch shoes, but it’s got pretty good opacity – I think it looks really unattractive when your natural lip colour shows through blue and green lip products. Really, really awesome colour. I used to buy my blues from a now defunct indie company so to get an awesome one from Fyrinnae makes me very, very happy.



“Panda Love”

Again with the cute names! This is a sheerer, cooler mint colour. Saying that I don’t like any lip colour showing through blue/green colours, this actually looks lovely! I’m really interested in layering this over purples – I’m thinking Illamasqua Kontrol or Wet N Wild Ravin’ Raisin would look really awesome.




Just a more colour accurate swatch for you there, but mostly, LOOK HOW TINY THEY ARE. OH MY CHRIST SO TINY. I love, love, love these tiny little vials. They are a little difficult to apply colour with – which is clearly stated on the site - but for $2 you really can catch them all! I’ve taken to rolling the colour from the doefoot on to the back of my hand, and then picking it up on the tip and applying again. Taking a tweezer to the seal on the bottle and pulling it out might also help you pick up more colour. Pictured in the background there is the awesome shiny paper that everything was packaged in!

And now for a LOTD, and then I’ll shut up!







Eyes: Outer lid and crease, Fyrinnae Superstar. Inner lid, Fyrinnae Orangutan. Upper lashline, Knickers in a Twist. Lower lashline, Fyrinnae Knickers in a Twist, Orangutan. Inner and brow highlight, Fyrinnae Moon Child.
Cheeks: Fyrinnae Enchant blush, Benefit Moon Beam.
Lips: Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Visual Kei.

NICE INNIT? What are your favourite Fyrinnae colours?

The Feminine Equivalent of a Beard

Every dude I know who has grown a beard, or a moustache for Movember, has told me that one of the BEST things about having face fuzz is that you slooowly get to shave it off into different shapes. Now, I don’t know about you, but I can’t grow a beard, so the nearest thing I get to doing something like that is when I take my makeup off!

A few days ago I posted this Tyra Banks inspired look. I was sat round the house with it mooching about, and then my boyfriend text me to tell me he wanted to go to dinner, so rather than take it all off, I thought I’d just whittle it down… Shave it off, if you will!

So this is where I started…



Bioderma to the rescue!



This looks kind of cool! I’ll have to experiment with negative space I think!



I thought I was done at this stage, so went in with the brows, and then realised it was still a little out there, perhaps….



At this point I was kind of done with the ‘shaving,’ so I whipped out my Wet N' Wild Comfort Zone palette and some liner and did a little blending…





And now I look “normal” again!

Do you guys ever do this with makeup?

Stay Beautiful Showcase: My favourite MAC Pink Lipsticks

Everyone likes a good old MAC lipstick, right? I’m not super into pink lipsticks, but MAC has a couple in their line that I just love and every time I wear them, I’m impressed. Even though summer is still somewhat elusive in the UK, these shades always make me feel like it’s a bit more sunny!

”Impassioned.”

If you have a way of describing this colour accurately, I’d love to hear it. My description of it is “sort of like a watermelon, but not,” which I suppose, technically, is actually quite accurate, but doesn’t really paint a picture! Impassioned is such a beautiful colour and it’s easy to see why it’s a favourite amongst MAC lovers. There’s something pretty unique about it and I’ve not come across a good dupe yet.

“Lickable.”

 

I’d had my eye on Lickable for a long time, and kept telling myself I probably had, or could get, a dupe. While that still holds true, the lovely Rachael gifted me with some MAC vouchers so I thought it quite rude to not buy it. And I’m glad I did!It’s got lots of lovely subtle blue sparkle, and tt leaves a nice even stain behind as well which is great for lazy bastards like me!

“Candy Yum Yum.”

Do I even need to say anything about this shade? Recently re-released with the By Request collection, expect to see this everywhere in the blogosphere. And with good reason, because it’s fucking awesome. A fairly decent dupe is to be found in Sleek Amped, but this just pips it to the post for me in terms of comfort and longevity. Did I mention it’s fucking awesome? It’s fucking awesome.

 

I toyed with putting Viva Glam Nicki and Gaga up here, but even though they are both beautiful, I don’t actually wear them. Sorry, Nicki. Sorry, Gaga.

What are your favourite pinks?

Dramatic Tyra Banks Inspired Look… And A Rant.

I saw this awesome picture of Tyra Banks on Illamasqua’s Facebook page the other day and I fell in love with it instantly. It’s a really dramatic look for her and I think she wore it superbly well:

Pretty cool, huh? I love the drama! It’s pretty unusual to see the bleached/naked brow trend on someone with a darker skin tone and I love that' she’s doing something different and unusual. I knew I couldn’t pull it off, but wanted to try it anyway!

Eyes: MAC Paint Pot in Blackground, black from Sleek Circus palette, Darling Girl Luxe, pink from Wet n Wild Lust Palette, gold from e.l.f. Day2Night quad.
Face: Marks and Spencer Limited Collection Foundation in Ivory, Kryolan Dermacolor Concealer in D7, used as concealer and to slightly lighten brows.
Cheeks: Sleek Suede Blush, Fyrinnae Moon Child
Lips: MAC Candy Yum Yum, Kiko Super Gloss in 107.

I decided to go all-out and make it a little heavier and more mask like! I really liked how her inner corners looked in the first photo and wanted to use that as a starting point. It’s hard to tell, but the gold does extend across my lids a little more than it looks here. Do I like the look? Yes. Do I think it work for me? Not totally. Do I think if I had a bitching outfit and hair and had my photo taken by someone who knew what they were doing, or if I looked as awesome as Tyra does that I could pull it off better? Fuck yeah. I also wish I added lashes, but Tyra wasn’t wearing any so I didn’t either.

..And now for my rant. Google this look, or look on the Illamasqua page or website for it. The comments people are leaving are beyond belief. “She's just too skinny for such heavy gothic eye.” “You can’t do those eyes/brows with that kind of forehead, sorry.” Um, what the fuck, women? How DARE you get personal! And that is just TWO comments out of many, many similar ones.

You can not like the makeup. You can leave constructive criticism. You can say, “Oooh, not for me!” But slagging of her weight or face shape? It still, to me, beggars belief that people can be SO negative and harsh about other people’s bodies. You can NOT like this makeup on Tyra, and you can absolutely say so, but how dare you talk about someone like that? Her forehead, her body shape, her weight… WERE WE TALKING ABOUT MAKEUP OR JUST BEING ARSEHOLES?! It disgusts me, and quite frankly, whenever someone talks about a black girl not being able to wear X style of makeup, I do sometimes wonder if people are just being racist fucks. Er, she can TOTALLY wear gothic makeup (which I don’t even think this is!).

While we’re on the subject, everyone who is going “she doesn’t know what avant garde is but she thinks she’s soooo fashion trolololol…” Um. Avant garde simply means being experimental, innovative and pushing boundaries. This is NOT a usual eye shape for makeup. This is NOT something Tyra  normally wears. The inner corner application and shape, for example, is pretty new and interesting, and all this more so if you consider it all in the context of the red carpet and not, say, the runway. So, yeah, fuck you all, this can easily be construed as avant garde. 

And finally… I want to shake my head, in person, and in slow motion, at each and every person who clicked “like” on Illamasqua’s Facebook page and then has the stones to criticize anyone’s makeup for being a little weird or off the wall. Don’t you know shit about that brand you supposedly like? Do you KNOW the origins of that brand? Do you know who is the mastermind behind it all? BITCH DID THIS:

 

Just sayin’.

Stay Beautiful Showcase: Darling Girl Golds

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a girl in possession of eyes and a couple of quid must be in want of a good gold eyeshadow. Darling Girl is one of my favourite indie companies for many reasons, but I really fell in love with them when I ordered Honey Pot, which is now my favourite gold eyeshadow. Susan of Darling Girl makes fantastic other golds as well, so let’s have a butchers…

”Luxe”

An easy, soft everyday gold – perfect for slapping on in the morning, as I’ve done so sloppily here! This is still super sparkly with lots of gold glitter in, so it’s a great way of getting a glitter fix without being too cray-cray if you have to wear work-safe makeup. I think everyone should have a gold like this in their collection.

“Mayor’s Daughter”

From the “Only One Can Win” Hunger Games collection, which I was lucky enough to help create. This is a lovely warm gold with pinky/purple glitter, which show a little better in close-up but MUCH better in real life. If you like warm golds and sparkles, you’ll love this. It looks awesome with purples. It was re-branded from “Whiskey on a Sunday.”

Pixie Sprinkles “Golden Child”



Sorry for the ropey application here, I did this super quick as the light was going. Pixie Spinkles are cosmetic microglitter blends – very fine indeed , so you can really pack them on for opacity. This is an absolute stunner – it looks like liquid gold, or as if you’d smoothly applied a gold leaf to your eye. It’s such a bright and happy gold! Sadly, it’s not on the website at the moment, but I hope it makes a reappearance because it’s just so wonderful.

“Honey Pot”

A very old look, but shows off Honey Pot very well. SERIOUSLY HOW GOOD IS THIS? CAPS LOCK GOOD, THAT’S HOW GOOD. This is so rich, so vibrant, and applies beautifully. It’s the sort of gold that grabs you by the balls, kicks you in the fanny, smacks you round the head and says “HEY MOTHERFUCKER, DID YOU SEE HOW GOLD I AM?” Foiled as a liner, it’s stunning. Tapped over hot pink lippy, you’re on trend with some easy lip art. Basically, if you have eyes and you haven’t got this in your collection, get it. It’s my favourite gold ever.



Other notable non-Darling Girl golds are Hi-Fi Cosmetics Mornings of Gold (no longer available sadly), Fyrinnae’s fabulous Polar Bear which I don’t think anyone should be without and the reigning queen of the blogosphere, Sugarpill Golidlux.

What’s your favourite gold makeup product?

Experimentin’

A few looks I was just sort of dicking around with that don’t really deserve posts of their own, but are sort of cool anyway…

 

Barry M Dazzle Dust and 120 Palette green with Inglot Duraline.

Okay, this one looks a bit ropey and my brows are all screwed up, but I *had* been wearing it for a long time by the time I’d got home and took pictures. I was bored at a shoot in between takes so I wanted to play with liner.  I was really brave and wore it home with Illamasqua Apocalips! Quite a feat seeing as I was in Essex…




Sleek Storm palette, Illamasqua Powdered Metal in Thalia, Viva Glam Gaga 2, a random Barry M lipliner.

WELL THIS IS FUCKING TERRIFYING. I was watching drag and wanted to do a deep black eye with dark brows, and use my new Illamasqua bronzer, and then I thought I’d do some sort of nasty, over-liner, wrong-lipliner look just for shits and giggles, and I don’t like it. Ah well. Moving on…



MAC Gesso, Sugarpill Lumi, Royal Sugar and Love+, Inglot white gel liner, Barry M Dazzle Dust in Cherry Red, Inglot Duraline.

A not-very-good photo of not-very-good Union flag makeup! It looked better with my eyes more open, and I had my other eye done the same. From a distance it looked cool, but I didn’t have much time to do it so I wasn’t happy with it. I wore this to go to Hyde Park for what’s now being called “Super Saturday” – Team GB smashed it with 3 gold medals in athletics and more in rowing and cycling. It was an amazing day and I’m glad I wore patriotic makeup, even if it wasn’t much good!

What have you been experimenting with?

Oldie but goodie: Sleek Storm Palette

I’m thinking of doing a few posts like this to honour the bits of slap in our collections that we always come back to – I’m sure a lot of bloggers will agree with me when I say that we focus on our new shinies and don’t give our workhorses the kudos they deserve!

The Sleek Storm palette was my first foray into more neutral shadows and I still think of it fondly whenever anyone brings up something like the Naked Palette or MUA Undressed/Heaven and Earth.

 

As you can see, this is a well loved palette! I’ve not repurchased this palette, but if you’re a makeup junkie, you know that dents in all of your shadows and three with pan showing equals a well loved bit of kit indeed! The pan that’s gone, I used to use for brows and a general soft neutral, and now I use the darker shade for my brows often.

Compared to the neutral palettes that are around these days, it’s actually very mixed! There are a few metallics, some blues, a black, a light highlight and two matte colours, which as you can see have been thoroughly abused. All in all, this is a great palette and you’ll get a variety of looks out of it:

So yeah… I felt this deserved a shout out, because I still love it! What are some of your oldies but goodies? Do you reach for one product on a regular basis? Is there anything you’ve repurchased more than once?