May Favourites and Not-So-Favourites

Favourites

MAC Girl Next Door

Anyone who knows me will probably be scratching their head at this entry on my list, but I've been reaching for this a lot! It's a (dupeable) blue based pink, but I've been layering it with just about everything! I've bought tons of pink and purple lip liners recently and I've been using this over them. Also, every man and his dog loves the cute Archie’s Girls packaging! Thanks to Priscilla for sending this to me :)

MAC Nightmoth

I love this. I just love it. It is fucking rad.

MAC Magenta

Last MAC item for this month, I’ve been wearing this pretty much non-stop since I’ve got it. It’s simply gorgeous and doesn’t budge. 

MUA Undress Me Too Palette

This is kind of an odd one to shout about for me as when I look at the palette, it doesn't make me excited, but I find myself reaching for it pretty much every day. For four quid, you can't beat the quality and useabilty and I won't go away without it now.

Boots Botanics Super Balm

I've basically really liked everything I've ever tried from Boots Botanics and I think they generally do fab skincare for bugger all money, which is something I can't argue with! This is a multi-purpose balm that claims to 'soften, soothe and calm skin in need'. I've not been using it on my skin but I have to say it's the best lip balm I've tried for a long, long time. For a few quid, you get tons as well.

Soap and Glory The Fab Pore

I love me a clay mask from time to time but often find they're really drying on my skin which outweighs any other benefits. This one doesn't dry my skin out at all, and I'm giving it full credit for cleaning up the most hideous spot on my chin ever.

A-Derma Sensifluid Lait Demaquillant

I picked this up in Boots - I can't lie here - because I really liked the bottle. If you like milky, lotion-y makeup removers, or you have sensitive skin, this one is a bloody good bet. I don't like using this type of consitency on my eyes, but it removes face makeup like a dream. Sadly it's not online at Boots, so I don't remember the price, but it was less than £10 for sure.

Hates

MUA Undress Your Skin Foundation in Ivory

Hate might be a bit of a strong term but this literally didn’t sit well with me. On inital application it looked nice – better coverage than I was expecting and a nice dewy finish. But it separated horribly on my and for my dry skin that’s kind of weird. I hate to wear skin primers and for the money this cost I really can’t be bothered to find a solution for it.

Benefit They're Real Mascara

I hate this. I hate it. It would be an okay mascara – it seperates pretty nicely actually – but it WON’T COME THE FUCK OFF. It’s not billed as a waterproof mascara and I don’t expect to have to reach for an oily remover to get it off. It has that kind of goopy, gummy texture when you go to remove it and it’s such a pain in the ass. It was a freebie and thank god for that.

 

What are you loving and leaving this month?

Week In Pictures

 

Well, sort of! I’ve recently joined Instagram as @staybeautifulmakeup, please let me know your usernames so I can follow you! I do keep it mostly makeup related but post other stuff as well.

Last week was my birthday! I had a great day shooting, and the photographers wife made me these amazing cupcakes! There are makeup ones and Disney ones and they were all different flavours. So awesome! After the shoot, I watched Eurovision with friends because I’m so cool.

And here’s Darren Flynn shooting the amazing Anna. She is such a babe, I can’t wait to show you the pics from this shoot!

And here’s some weird gothic makeup I did on the amazing Jenna Betts, who is cool as fuck.

And then I went to Brighton for the long weekend! Stared with a dripping double C’s shirt and leather everything else…

And got glammed up for the evening! My lips are actually MAC Magenta and Candy Yum Yum.

This is me and the birthday boy, Ross. I love him lots like jelly tots.

We went out again the next day and this was my makeup – the lip is MAC Nightmoth which I am so in love with…

…and I paired with a sugar skulls dress!

I won’t do these posts too often –unless you like them! - but I’ve been bloody busy so this a bit of a cop-out post.

Lip Maths: Sounds Like LOL

Hahahahahaha, oh, the witty title.

MAC Sounds Like Noise + Jordana LOL in ASAP =

 

My friend Wendy recommended me this combo and I have to say I really like it! I’ll be wearing this for sure. I just got Sounds Like Noise and I was a little apprehensive about it as it’s got quite a pale base and it’s a little yellow on me, but it’s actually more wearable than I thought. Y’all know I love orange lipsticks (dead excited about the Orange collection MAC is releasing!) and I love Paramore and Hayley Williams too, so I had to have it.

 

Everyone’s been comparing SLN to Maybelline Electric Orange. SLN has a paler base and is matte, whereas EO pulls a little more red and isn’t matte. I won’t call dupe, but if you missed out on SLN it’s not a bad alternative.

I put things on my face, and photographed them poorly.

A bunch of random, quick, left-on-my-memory-card looks that are just knocking around. Don’t say I don’t treat you.

Eyes: Maybelline Mossy Green Color Tattoo, Wet N Wild Comfort Zone Palette
Cheeks: The good Lord only knows.
Lips: MAC Viva Glam V

So my hair looks good, my eyes look… all wonky and shit. I still love the Comfort Zone palette, and I still can’t get over how cheap it is for how amazing it is! Bargain town.

 

Eyes: All MUA Undressed Too palette, except the Liner which is Sugarpill Midori.
Cheeks: Not sure, probably Illamasqua Lover
Lips: NYX Pumpkin liner, MAC Korean Candy

Good face angle there, Robyn. Nice work! We had a hot day a few weeks ago, so I wanted something summery. I’ll be cracking this combo out again.

Eyes: All MUA Undress Me Too except inner corner which is Darling Girl Prometheus. Liner is by FAshionista.
Cheeks: Accessorize
Lips: MAC Magenta, Fyrinnae Fan Service

You’re going to see a lot of MAC Magenta because I’m in love with it! I actually wore this look on my birthday because I needed a little sparkle but I had to be super quick in the morning.

Eyes: MUA Undress Me Too Palette, except for the liner which is Darling Girl Obviously a Wig.
Lips: MAC Magenta, MAC Girl Next Door

No full face shots because they’re all horrendous, but I still wanted to share my lip combo again – it’s MAC Magenta again, with a sheer pink from the Archie’s Girls collection over the top. I’ve resolved to start wearing coloured liner more often so I actually use all my 10,000 pigments.

 

So there you go guys, nothing exciting but I’ve been such a lazy blogger recently! I’ll have some proper posts for you soon, I promise!

MAC Lip Liner Swatches: Subculture, Magenta, Nightmoth

It was my birthday this weekend, so a trip to MAC was always in question! I was very restrained and just picked up a few classic lip liners that I’ve been eyeballing for a while.

 

Subculture:

I’ve wanted a nude like this for ages and like with lip colours, there doesn’t seem to be many great options from drugstore brands, which sucks. My favourite lip liners are actually from Barry M and I wish they’d make more colours like this! Anyway, love the shade, it’s like a less pink version of my actual lip colour.

Magenta:

So many people have told me this is so, so dry and uncomfortable to wear. I did find it a little dry, and you can see if you zoom in a couple of patches where it’s pilled up slightly, but the colour is just SO amazing. I’ve been wearing it with a sheer, slightly frosty pink over the top (like MAC Girl Next Door or a gloss with a little sparkle) and it’s just beautiful. Love this, instant fave.

Nightmoth:

I have a TON of dark, aubergine-y liners but I had to have this. My crappy application is just that and not a reflection of the texture of the pencil! This colour is badass, enough said.

 

Do you use MAC lip liners? What are your favourite shades?

Quickie Review: Born Pretty Store Stick On Eyeliner

Applique makeup and nails still don’t seem to be going anywhere, so I thought I’d give these eyeliners from the Born Pretty Store a whirl. The first time I recall seeing stick on eyeliners was the Dior Velvet Eyes back in 2011 and I thought they were pretty interesting, although stupidly expensive. I received these for review, but if you’re interested in trying this sort of thing they’re only a couple of bucks which is cheaper than the ones I’ve seen in Boots, Topshop, etc.

I liked that you got a bunch of styles. As I was pretty sure I was going to screw them up having a few options was welcome!

Aaaw yeah, drying laundry!

You have to cut as close to the bottom on the design as you can, and if there are any gaps underneath after application you can fill them in with a touch of liquid liner. I don’t really feel that this is a universal product that is going to fit everyone, and there’s not much space to work with in terms of reshaping them for your eyes. Also, if they don’t fit your eye shape, they could crease in funny places and basically look a bit odd.

Here I’m wearing the ones second down in the packet – a kind of funky, inverted shape with a glossy finish, which was my favourite part about them. I found this one easy to apply because it had a sharp corner on the outside edge, which made it really easy to line it up on both my eyes. I found the swooping versions with no corners really hard to line up and basically gave up on those ones. Other than that, it’s just a case of wetting the transfer with water and leaving it to peel off, like a regular transfer tattoo. You really do have to get them soaking and make sure you wait the recommended amount of time – nothing worse than not waiting long enough and pulling off the corner or messing it up! A lot of transfers say to apply to clean skin, but I don’t have a problem applying them over makeup – just be sure not to rub at all during the process.

 

While the product itself is fine – it  looks pretty good! – I kind of feel they’re inherently flawed in that if you don’t have a steady enough hand to do funky liner, you probably don’t have a steady enough hand to cut these neatly! They are a bugger to remove as well, which is a bit of a swings and roundabouts situation – they’re not going anywhere, which is great for a festival or a sweaty gig, but kind of annoying for just a regular night out. It look a lot of work with an oil-based remover to get it off and that’s not something I want to put my eyes through all the time. So I’m kind of torn on these – they’re a funky novelty but I don’t like them nearly as much as the eye tattoos I tried out before.

 

Stick on makeup –  yay or nay?

Kiko Smart Lip Pencil Swatches

Kiko is an Italian makeup brand with a couple of stores in London – they’re opening one on Regent Street soon, so expect to hear more from them. They’re really reasonably priced and all of the products I’ve tried from them have been pretty darn good quality! I’m hoping to try out some of their foundations and mascaras soon as the ranges looks really interesting – particularly the mascara range which seems to have tons of crazy wand styles! I do wish the service at Kiko was a little less intrusive –  I’ve been in a few times and been followed round the store instead of being left to shop in peace, which is annoying especially as all the products are out on the shelf, not tucked away like at counters. However, they also have tons of regular promotions on certain items, so I always go back! This time picked up these lip pencils for just £1.50 each!

 

Kiko Smart Lip Pencil in 702

Kiko Smart Lip Pencil in 707



Kiko Smart Lip Pencil in 715

 

I really love all these colours – I tried to pick up ones that were a little more unusual and each colour is different to everything else I have in my collection. 702 is certainly my favourite and I see it being worn under many a sparkly gloss this summer.

They’re kind of soft for lip pencils and break a little more easily than I would like when they’re sharpened, but overall, they’re a bit of a bargain. Long wearing, very comfortable on the lip, some unusual colours and cheap – what’s not to love? I’m going to be picking up more soon!

April Favourites

Clockwise from top left:

Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Heather Mauve – I’ve been wearing this product a ton this month. It’s not actually a mega stellar product in itself, more that it’s suited my rushed makeup routine, which is to say, it’s sheer, neutral and has a little shimmer, so it’s dead easy to apply on the tube! It’s a grey-taupe with slight purple undertone, so it goes with quite a lot of lip and cheek colours, and it’s great to just throw in my bag.

Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer – A favourite in the blogging community for quite some time now, and it’s easy to see why. It does stay put for ages, it’s not cakey, and it’s dead cheap at around a fiver. This month, for reasons unknown, I’ve had some god-awful acne on my chin and this has taken away any redness whatsoever. And I mean really, really awful spots, they were huge!

Soap and Glory Bright Here, Bright Now – Part illuminator, part primer, part moisturiser. I don’t buy the lifting and firming claims whatsoever, but it keeps my BB cream sticking around a bit longer and adds a really subtle glow. A bit of an odd products but I really like it.

Crown Brush C315-A Soft Taklon Foundation – I won’t like to you folks, I bought this because it looked cool, and I wanted it. As a foundation brush, its actually pretty great. It covers large areas quickly and it’s very thin, so great for contouring with cream or liquid products.

Crown C250-1 Taklon Liner – This is just a really basic, thin liner brush, but I love it. I also have the C250-2, which is the next size up. The bristles are well shaped, it’s synthetic and it’s just the right length to allow for nice fluidity of movement. What more for you want for £1.69?

Bourjois Delice de Poudre in 52 – I have a review of this here, so I won’t say too much about it. Subtle, pretty, smells nice, good price.

ProCharts – £12.99 for 35 charts. I’ve never used actual makeup for face charts before, I’ve just done rough sketches. Learning to use these is a bit of a pain, but I can tell already they’re going to help me so much when planning for shoots.

MAC Sheen Supreme in Korean Candy – I wanted this for ages and it just fell into my basket. Everyone knows I love the Sheen Supremes, I basically just want them all. This particular beauty is a punchy orange-red and I luffs it.

 

What have you been loving this month?

MAC Feel My Pulse Swatch and LOTD

I thought I was going to skip the Temperature Rising collection as I’m not a schexy bronzy glowy kind of gal, but my friend picked me up one of the lipsticks and I’m so glad!

This is Feel My Pulse and it’s a Cremesheen. While I’m sure it’s a fairly easily dupeable shade – and probably for the best, as it’s sold out online and in my store right now - it’s certainly the star of the lipsticks from this collection for me. It’s beautiful purply pink, with a slight pink shimmer.  It’s almost like a pinker version of Up The Amp. The packaging itself is really beautiful – it’s rubberised, so it is going to pick up fingerprints, etc. It reminds me of Fyrinnae’s Fire Opal eyeshadow.

 

Annoyingly, this lipstick is apparently £15.50 instead of the usual £14. While the packaging is beautiful I don’t think the price hike is really worth that!

 

I decided that considering it’s a summer collection, I’d try a overly bronzed look. It was a little quick as I was just playing with some shimmery cheek products I have – I wish I done a better base as my skin underneath looks awful, but overall, it’s kind of cool. I backcombed my brows and drew in individual hairs, which looked kind of cool in real life.

Eyes: MUA Undress Me Too palette
Cheeks: Bourjois Delice De Soleil 52, Illamasqua Powdered Metal in Thalia, MAC Whisper of Gilt.
Lips: MAC Feel My Pulse, Illamasqua Kontrol


Have picked up anything from the Summer collections yet? I think I need to get my butt over to Illamasqua and get me some of those Paranormal lippies!

Bits and Bobs from Photoshoots!

I’ve not really updated you all on my photoshoots at all this year, so here is a few little peeks at what I’ve been up to, with lots lots more to come! There is a slightly NSFW shot a little further down, just so you know!

All makeup (and hair, unless otherwise stated) is by yours truly.

Photographer: Rich Newnham
Model: Nadia Elizabeth

A bit of a poor Alex Box rip off there, but I couldn’t help myself! This was actually my first shoot of the year and it was such fun – I’d been dying to work with the beautiful Nadia and we finally managed to do it just before she moved back Down Under! Lots and lots of Inglot used on this shoot on eyes and lips, with an Illamasqua shadow for the blush and good old MUA Shade 9 for the lovely, shimmer purple.

 

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Photographer: Richard Newnham
Model: Jasmina Lasota

 

Another shoot with my good friend Rich, this was such fun too! I was a little nervous because Jasmina is a makeup artist as well as a model, but she was awesome and wasn’t scared off, haha! This shoot was a totally new type of look for me and I think I did okay!

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Photographer: Monika Schaible
Models: L, Lisa Jane Ralph, R, Beth Chambers

Photographer: Nate Togg
Model: Miss Jenna Betts
Hair: Lucia Mameli

That’s Jenna again in the pasties, and I also did Ellen’s makeup in the red dress with Lucia on hair again.

Clothing and styling for all: Dead Lotus Couture
Location for both: LSS Studio, Brixton

I LOVE a bit of latex, it always looks so, so awesome in photos. Nange, who designs Dead Lotus Couture, is freaking awesome and I was really excited to work with her.

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Photographer: Yat Tang Tang
Assist: Nicholas Brown
Model: Mariana Chuleva at Bad Models Management
Styling, clothing and jewellery design: Timea Talian Designs
Location: Rivoli Ballroom, London

This is probably my favourite shoot from the year. The whole team was fab, the location and clothes were gorgeous and it all just came together beautifully.

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Photographer: Darkhorse Photos
Model: Aaliyah Johnson
Headwrap: Karen Salandy MUA (who did the other model)
Location: Adrian Pini Studio

 

Again, this was a bit of a challenge for me! It took so SO LONG and I still wasn’t super happy with it, but I was so pleased to get to try something like that and to have the change to work on my precision (which still needs work, but I’m getting there!) And as always, the behind the scenes shots end up with me looking like the models mum! It was fun working with Aaliyah who doesn’t normally do mad stuff – she liked it and drove home like it!

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Photographer: Twitch Photos
Model: Amber Skyline
Wig: Geisha Wigs


I’d wanted to work with this photographer for a while, her stuff is so cool! This is part of her Runes series and the rune for this shoot was Raido, which means ‘ride,"’ or ‘journey.’ Amber is a bellydancer and her outfits were amazing! I wanted to do something “tribal” (annoying terminology but you know what I mean!) and flowing to fit in with the model.

Phew! If you read all that, thank you! More coming soon!