Favourites roundup!

WAY too late for August but time for some favourites nonetheless! I’ve changed jobs recently and have to be pretty conservative with my makeup. I love *all* makeup and polish colours so wearing neutrals doesn’t really bother me, but does mean I feel I have to make sure my skin is looking reeeeeeal pretty, hence a couple of items in this post.

 

Clockwise from top left:

Kiko Colour Explosion Multi Tone Blush in  03 Active Mauve

I got this beauty on sale from Kiko for around £6. The four swatches on the right below show the blush tones, with the far right one being all the colours mixed together. I just love how this looks lightly applied – a really soft, slightly cool-toned rose that just looks *so* pretty. I love how each part of the pan is large enough to wear alone, too.



Illamasqua Nail Varnish in Hemlock

I’ve raved long and hard about this, so just let me say that a strong duochrome that is work appropriate and long wearing is amazing.



Impulse Cosmetics Opaque Matte Lipstick in Smoking Gun

You can read my full review of this bad boy here, but I’m loving this beautiful bold, bargain priced blue!



Weleda Skin Food

This stuff really is wondrous! I’d seen a lot of makeup artists rave about this stuff, and when my boyfriend had a nastly flare-up of dry skin I bought it to see if it helped at all – and it did! Being a dry-skinned babe myself, I had to try it out and while I’ve been using it for less than a month I have to say I’ve seen a difference. I apply it at night as it take a while to sink in, but when I wake up my face feels wonderful and after a cleanse I just slap on some Illamasqua Hydraveil as opposed to a thicker day cream, so it saves me time in the morning too! It’s very thick and to me smells like Campari, which I don’t particularly like. If it’s good enough for Posh (apparently), it’s good enough for me and at arond £8 for 75ml it really is a bargain. I know I’ll repurchase!

Silk Naturals Eyeshadow in Fusion

I dug this baby out when rooting through my work-safe colours and it’s a pleasant rediscovery! Well known for MAC and Urban Decay dupes, there’s no arguing Silk Naturals makes a banging neutral and this is no exception. They describe it as a ‘dirty copper plum…with golden highlights’ and that it’s one of the colours that’s ‘too cool for the cubicle.’ It’s a pretty, interesting taupe and it’s made me rekindle my fondness for this brand, so expect to see more from them soon!

Silk Naturals eyeshadows in Heat, Glory, Fusion and Hairpin.

Maybelline Baby Lips

I’ve only shown the mint one here and that’s actually my least favourite, but it’s the only one that I had to hand, the pink and peach tints are living in my drawer at work! I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about I first heard of these, and yeah, they’re just lip balms. They’re not the most exciting of beauty products, but I really like the garish packaging and they do moisturise while providing a subtle, non-staining hint of colour that actually shows up. For three quid I can’t not love that!

What have you been loving at the moment? Tried anything here?

Ginger Drag

I had a wig and nothing to do, you know how it goes.

Eyes: MUA Undress Me Too Palette, Jesses Girl gold pigment, Maybelline gel liners in Black and Brown (brows), cheap lashes from discount shop.
Foundation: Illamasqua and Avon Concealers, Revlon Nearly Naked to blend, Jessies girl pigment to highlight, MUA blush, stage powder to set.
Lips: Brown from MUA Undress Me Too Palette, Sleek Eau La La Liner in Melba, L.A Colours lipliner in red, Rimmel Apocalips in Siren
Wig: Anabelles Wigs. Earrings, Primark.

 

I still can’t get the hang of using Pears soap to cover brows, I just feel like if I want to add more it messes it up underneath and I can’t get it to look smooth. Anyway, I did this really quickly because I was bored and probably could have done a much much better job, especially on the eyes, but whatever. Do what I want. I like the fact everything is pretty neutral and still looks really out there!

One look, three lipsticks

Howdy, y’all! I felt the need to wear a fair bit of makeup this weekend. I’d just got back from a week away, and I don’t tend to wear much makeup at all – if any! – on holiday, I just normally fill in my brows a little and add a thin coat of mascara. So I was gagging to wear a ton of slap! I’d bought some enormous lashes a while ago and wanted to wear them so I went for something a bit glam. (I know it’s pointless when my hair is so awful – that’s what a week of massive chlorine doses/pigtails will do to your hair!)

Eyes: MUA Undress Me Too palette. Urban Decay Perversion and Collection2000 Extreme Felt Tip Liner pen. Candy Kitten Glamourous Lashes in Gigi Belle.
Cheeks: Sleek Contour Kit in Light – contour. MUA blush in Shade 4 – blush. MUA Undress Your Skin Highlight – highlight.
Lips: Barry M Red – lip pencil. Sleek Vixen – lipstick.

While I love a red lip, I really like wearing this type of eye makeup on a long day because it’s so easy to change your look just by swapping your lip colour…

LA Colors Pink Parfait lipliner. MAC Sheen Supreme in Insanely It!

… perhaps to a girly pink….

LA Colors Nectar lipliner, Maybelline Captivating Coral gloss.

…. or to my favourite, a kick ass orange!

Do you ever do an eye look with a view to change the lip colour later?

New Lipsticks: Drugstore Brights!

I’ve picked up a few beautiful bright lipsticks recently, and what with the bloody awful weather at the moment and the fact I barely have time for makeup in the morning, I really genuinely feel I needed all of these in my life!

Max Factor Giant Lip Pencil in Vibrant Pink: I haven’t bought a Max Factor product in many a year, but Boots are having one of thier 3-for-2 deals on at the moment and this caught my eye. Having not jumped on any of the pencil bandwagons over the last year or so I can’t say what this is comparable to formula-wise but it manages to be bright as balls and still feel very light and balmy on the lips. Sadly the rest of the range is less exciting in terms of brights, but this one is a winner even though it does stain like a bitch!

Maybelline Colour Sensation Vivid Lipstick in Electric Orange: A present from Wendy who knows my tastes very well! It looks much more yellow based in the tube which worried me initially as strongly yellow based oranges look just awful on me, but it actually wears beautifully and suits me rather nicely. I’ve heard mixed things from other bloggers on the range, but based on this shade alone it gets a thumbs up! Again, the formula is balmy and pigmented which is rather nice.

Rimmel Apocalips in Siren: I’ve been TRYING to purchase the red shade of this for weeks, but everywhere I got it’s sold out, so I picked up Siren, which is more of a pinky-red instead. I think the shade is absolutely gorgeous and the finish is beautiful but there is something about this that makes me not want to scream and shout from the rooftops about it – possibly that every time I’ve worn it it’s ended up all over my face and teeth.

Wet N Wild Centre Stage Collection lipstick in Fuschianista: Another gift from Wendy, only available stateside, this is from Wet n Wild collaboration with Fergie, which to be honest I find a bit of an odd one! I was delighted with this shade as it’s very similar to one from NYC which I loved back in the day. While that shade was a measly £2 it absolutely awful smelling and the lid would not stay on – no colour or saving on price is worth a stained handbag! I’m happy to report this doesn’t smell rank and the lid stays on, thank you and please.

L-R: Max Factor Vivid Pink, Maybelline Electric Orange, Rimmel Siren, Wet n Wild Fuschanista

 

Bought anything bright lately?

March Favourites!

March has been a rather fab month for me… I’ve been enjoying work, been on lots of fab shoots and been having a rather nice time with Boyfriend. I’ve been so busy I’ve not been wearing much makeup, but I do have a few favourites to share! Feel free to link me to your favourites posts/vlogs!

Clockwise from the top:

 

Dr Jart+ Water Fuse BB Cream: I’m not a big BB cream user or expert, but I really, really like this one. Kathy gave me a sample last year and I fell in love. It’s pricier than a lot of non-counter BB creams on the market at £18, but it’s well worth it and I happened to get a surprise discount at the till so this was actually only £11 or so. It’s got SPF 25 which is fabulous as I’m terrible for not wearing sunscreen, and my dry skin absolutely loves it. It leaves a nice dewy finish and just makes my skin look fresh and healthy. I do need concealer with it for blemishes, and prefer to powder my T-zone but it actually lasts rather well.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Light In Purple: Holy shit, I love this product. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and have managed to use it on four models so far – I should probably put it away! It’s a lovely blue-lilac duochrome and while it is slightly sheer, it can easily be built up and it’s just the prettiest, prettiest base for blue and purple looks.

MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder: A lot of fuss has been made over this product! The sculpted product is really appealing in the packaging and looks a lot like the MAC Extra Dimension Skin Finishes that were brought out this year and the texture is very, very similar as well. I’ve seen this compared directly to Whisper of Gilt which is absolute madness – W.O.G is a bright gold, this is a pearlescent pink. It looks more champagne online and in the pan, but translates on the skin as pink, not dissimilar to Benefit Highbeam. I love this type of shade and to have it in a powder form for just £3 is great!

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden: I was gifted this as it didn’t work for the original owner (thank you, Joey!) and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised. I’ve not bought UDPP for a long time after discovering a cheaper alternative that I preferred, but I actually really like how the yellow tone in this dials down the veins on my eyelids and allows me to wear a light wash of colour without having blue veins peeking through.

Makeup Store High Tech Lighter in Stardust: I’ve reviewed this here, so you may as well go check that post out if you’re interested. Great stuff, want more, nuff said.

Le Maq Pro Petite Palette Concealer (Light and Medium tones): Man, these things are freaking awesome. Tiny palettes not much larger than a credit card, filled with all different correcting and concealing cream makeup. They’re about £25 each from PAM, and they are SO worth it. So handy for my makeup kit and everyone is very intrigued by them! I’ll do a full review and swatches for these if anyone would like.

Darling Girl ‘Honey Love’: This is a beautiful pinky-nude lipstick shade, and while it’s not my favourite lip colour ever on myself, it is an absolutely perfect cream blush colour and I’ve been carrying it with me in my makeup bag for ages!

 

L-R: Dr Jarts, UD Eden, Maybelline Light in Purple, MUS Stardust, Darling Girl Honey Love, MUA Highlighter.

What are your current favourites?

Rounded Cut Crease and Glitter Tutorial

First of all, sorry for the terrible photo quality! I did this on a very dark, rainy Sunday afternoon and… well, with this English weather at the moment you kinda have to take what you can get photo-wise or you’d never blog at all! Anyway, not really sure what inspired me to do this look, but I really like this rounded cut-crease shape. It’s a little fiddly to do on my lids which are full of creases, but where my eyes are ever so slightly hooded, I find this shape much easier to do than a traditional cut crease look as I find it easier to make it look good on the outside corners  of my eyes, and keep the look cohesive. If you’ve got creasy lids or struggle with blending eyeshadow in cut crease looks, this might be worth a try as you only  need to blend the eyeshadow on the outside of your eye – there’s not really any belnding on the lid at all.

Here’s the look we’re trying to achieve:

1: Get your base down! I’m using Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pink Gold, as I’ll be adding a pink-ish glitter later. Choose a base that’s the same colour as your glitter, but keep it relatively light.

2: Take a dark matte brown eyeshadow – I’m using one from Sleek Storm - and softly define your crease, keeping it quite high. It doesn’t have to be super neat as this is really serving as a guideline for the cut crease, and it will aid the blending of the black eyeshadow we’ll be using later on,

3: Start to line your lid, and go about 3/4 of the way across. I’m using a pen liner from Collection2000 as I find I can do detail much better with a pen! If not, use the thinnest brush you have. I recommend trying a loose eyeshadow mixed with something like Duraline as you can get a really fluid consistency which will make it much easier.

4: To make your curve, extend the line up toward your brow slightly, as if you were beginning drawing a very thick winged liner. Then draw a curve from the top of this line, and extend it across your lid, tapering down slightly on the inside. This is the hardest part as the line can’t be thick at the end of the curve. You can see where it curve doesn’t go above the brown eyeshadow at all.

5: Now your curve is done, colour outwards slightly from the line. Don’t take it past the end of your eye socket, or too far above the top curve as we’re going to need to blend it out.

6: Ok, so now it’s time to make it look smoky! Blend some black shadow all around where you drew your liner – the brown shade you added earlier will help you blend the black out. You can see here that you’ll be able to tell where your liner has stopped. When you’ve finished blending it out and you’re happy with that, take your blackest black on a small paddle brush, make it so the ‘c’ shape on the brush matches up with the corner of your eye and sweep the black in toward the liner and the join should disappear.

7: Glitter! Easy peasy, take your adhesive and apply it to the non-black half of your eye. I used a small fine flat brush to make sure I got around the curves of the liner and then simply patted the glitter on. I used Darling Girl Stardust glitter in Prometheus.
I then took a little of the brown shadow again and just ran it along my lower lid.

Well, you’re pretty much done! I filled in my brows, added highlights (MAC Gesso, MUS Stardust) and lashes (Perfect 10’s) and a quick swoosh of cream liner on the waterline to finish the look.

On my cheeks I’m wearing a touch of Benefit Dallas and Make Up Store High Tech Lighter in Stardust, with MUA Juicy and Jordana ASAP on my lips.

Hope you enjoyed and that my step-by-steps are making sense!

How Not To Take Photos For Your Blog (Or: FUUUUUUUUU…)

Last week I did what I thought was a really pretty look for a night out so naturally, I went to snap a few photos. Of course, in blogging land, “a few photos” is at least fifty. Loading up my memory card today, I was expected to be greeted with a couple of decent pictures at least to share with you all! Er, no:

I can’t be the ONLY one that this happens to. Please tell me I’m not the only one!

Anyway, this is the ONE even half decent picture I managed to take, and I don’t know what’s going on with my massive hair, and my lipstick looks all skewwhiff.  I even edited out my spot in rage, which I don’t normally bother to do. Ah, well. *I* know it was a pretty look!

Eyes: Maybelline Color Tattoos in Pomegranate Punk and Pink Gold, OCC Loose Colour Concentrate in Triptych, Inglot neutral shadows  (can’t remember which, but matte chocolate browns), Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Perversion.
Cheeks: Beauty UK Peaches and Cream, Illamasqua Emerge
Lips: Silk Naturals Nectar

Mossy Glossy

Sometimes you just feel like doing something really ugly. Just me? Okay then…

 

Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Mossy Green, Illamasqua Intense Lip Gloss in Violate, Inglot Sleek Cream in 99 (Black), Illamasqua Liquid Metal in Electrum, Collection2000 24/7 Liner Pen, Pixie Epoxy, eBay glitter.

 

I could have gone grosser, uglier, and piled on more product, but typically I thought this would be a good idea before I went to work and I didn’t want to run late. It felt good to do something nasty though – I really liked the blobby, glossy eye lashes!
I’ll be doing this again in the near future – it’s fun to play with textures if nothing else.

Would you ever try a deliberately unattractive look?

Soft Autumnal Fyrinnae Look

I fancied something very soft and natural and also felt like using Fyrinnae Fire Opal, so that’s what I done did!

I did my hair for you all especially, can you tell? :P

Eyes: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pink Gold, Fyrinnae Moon Child, Fyrinnae Polar Bear, Fyrinnae STFU, Fyrinnae Fire Opal
Cheeks: Sleek Suede, Fyrinnae Polar Bear
Lips: Rimmel Airy Fairy

I’m really loving the Pink Gold Color Tattoo at the moment – I do wish it had more gold in it, but hey! It made a lovely base for Moon Child.

Even though I really do always prefer to wear winged liner and a stronger lip with a neutral eye, I kind of like how this turned out. Does anyone else automatically reach for the eyeliner with a certain combination of shades?

Super Quick Long-Lasting Face!

Got ten minutes to get out of the door but still need to look fresh and wide awake and like you’ve washed and all the rest of these things that other humans expect of us? Here’s my 10 (ish) minute, long-lasting face!

 

Eyes: Maybelline Color Tattoo in Permanent Taupe, MAC Paint Pot in Blackground. Gold highlight from e.l.f Day2Night, Active Lashes falsies.
Face: MAC Prep and Prime Moisture Infusion, Revlon Colorstay, Illamasqua Lover
Cheeks

For my eyes, I used paint pot-type products as they’re really quick to use – I used the Maybelline colour just with my fingers and then the MAC one with a small brush. I always go netural on the eyes if I have less time as I feel much less likely to fuck it up!   I’m fairly quick at putting falsies on and these ones have a really thin lash band so I find them pretty easy - filling in my brows actually took the most time out of the whole look! If I had to get up super early everyday I’d get them dyed for sure.
If you have time, a gold highlight is always lovely and if I were really strapped I’d do this instead of lashes

Normally, I have to wait ages for my face cream to sink in as I’ve switched to using richer ones in the daytime to keep the flakies away. It works well, but when I have less time I just slap on a wee bit of MAC Prep and Prime Moisture Infusion as it’s a cross between a serum and a primer, so it gives me some moisture but dried right away. I applied that and then used Revlon Colorstay with my fingers, just where I need it.

I used just one colour on my cheeks – I’d normally highlight - and a coordinating, long-wearing bright lippy for impact. And I was done!

 

This is still quite a lot of makeup, of course, and I could certainly do a quicker face (no falsies!). But normally I’d apply colour to my crease, use several colours and bases on my eyes, do winged liner, apply an inner corner, Cupid’s bow and cheek highlight, wait for my face cream to sink in, blah blah blah.

 

What do you do when you need to look presentable quickly?


NB: Though this really did take me around 10-15 mins, this post is mostly bollocks as we all know when we’re in a rush, we do our makeup on the bus and end up poking ourselves in the eye with a mascara wand. Fact.