“…gold of sunshine in her hair, lips that shame the red, red rose. In ageless sleep, she finds repose.”
Who is hella excited for this movie? Hint: me. Like most Disney loving beauty bloggers, I was super excited to hear of this collaboration between Disney and MAC, and like most Disney loving beauty bloggers, I was pretty damn disappointed. The colours were pretty boring, and most items are available permanently anyway. To add insult to injury, MAC have repeated the lazy packaging ethos they rolled out for the Venomous Villains collection. However…. I got the lipstick anyway. What can I say? I love a red lip and I love Disney.
This is not special packaging really, is it? I find the high shine on it actually makes it look cheaper than the regular MAC casing in my opinion. Bear in mind this costs £16.50 compared to the regular £15 for a lipstick. I mean… the Maleficent logo is pretty cool and all, but they could have done SO much more with this. So much. Le sigh.
Anyway. On to the colour itself. Not as deep or blue-based as many of us might have guessed this to be, MAC describes this as a ‘clean, bright red,’ which is spot on. One would guess this is meant to pay homage to Aurora, rather than Maleficent. It has light shimmer throughout and is an amplified formula, giving it a slightly glossy look. Gorgeous.
L-R: True Love’s Kiss, Russian Red, MAC Viva Glam Rihanna, MAC Viva Glam I.
Just a quick swatch of a couple of reds from MAC for comparisons sake. VG Rihanna is indeed pretty similar in terms of base shade, although the VG is a frost finish and has a lot more shimmer, giving it a much more vibrant look on the lips.
So…should you get this? In all honesty, probably not. Even though this is one of the limited edition items in the collection and not a re-promote or a permanent item, it’s not all that super special. While perfectly lovely, the packaging is a bit lazy and it’s similar enough in my eyes to the MAC Viva Glam Rihanna that if you wanted a MAC lipstick specifically, I’d send your money in the direction of charity and save yourself £1.50 in the process. If you’re absolutely bonkers for Disney like I am, it’s a nice little addition to a red lipstick collection.
What does one wear on one’s face when they’re off to see their favourite drag queens? The same shit that they hawk themselves, naturally – a little OCC!
My hair was setting, I didn’t go out like this!
Eyes: Illamasqua Neutrals Palette and Scribe Liner, MAC Reflects Gold Glitter, Kiko Precision Brow Pencil in Shade 03 Lips: MAC Vino lipliner, OCC Black Metal Dahlia Cheeks: Sleek Contour Kit in Light, Sleek Suede blush
Black Metal Dahlia is super gorgeous, but it takes a little work so putting it over a deep lip liner is my favourite way to wear it. This is easily one of my favourite looks I’ve done all year.
And here are the lovely ladies we spent all our rent money on going to see!
DUCK FACE WITH DETOX. It was so hot in the little venue we were in my hair dropped right out, boo! I am 100% ridiculously in love with her. I was always rooting for Detox on RDPR but having met her and seen her perform I can’t even. She is just a perfect being and I want to be her slave or some shit. Absolutely beautiful.
SO QUICHE. I’m sad that this is the photo we got because I am standing at a way dodgy angle which makes me look like a brick. I mean, bricks are fine and all, but I don’t want to look like a brick next to Willam. The boy people in the photo are my cousin and his boyf. Anyway, they were flawless, it was flawless, too fucking flawless. If you get the chance to see them, go. They got it down pat, and they sing and rap pretty damn well!
Rimmel have added some new items to their Kate Moss line this time we’re being treated to some eye makeup. The gel liner in ‘Emerald’ immediately caught my eye – I’ve always loved green liner and in my early twenties, green glitter eyeliner was a staple look of mine. The outer packaging looks very similar to the Maybelline gel liners too, so I was interested to see how they compare.
Very similar to the Maybelline, no?
Like the Maybelline one, this also comes with a brush. Sadly, the brush isn’t as nice as the Maybelline one at all, though it looks very similar. It’s hard to achieve a fine line with the Maybelline one but it is possible and I actually quite rate them, especially for lipstick and spot concealing. I really struggled with the Rimmel one, as you’ll see below.
The liner itself is the main event though. Unlike a lot of other high end and ever drugstore gel liners, the Rimmel comes in a cheaper looking plastic pot, with Kate’s signature on the top. I don’t really care about the packaging of an eyeliner looks wise, but in my experience products like this that are in glass jars simply last longer and don’t dry out as fast. It’s a shame considering that other liners at the same price point do have glass jars.
‘Emerald’ is a slightly misleading colour – this is a blackened green. I was expecting from the picture on the packaging for it to be a green matte, and this has a good amount of shimmer. Expectations aside, this is still a bloody gorgeous colour and very wearable! I’m excited to have a pretty liner I can pull off at work. The downside is, as with a lot of more shimmery gel liners, that you do sacrifice full opacity and you may have to go over areas once or twice to prevent patchiness – this is pretty opaque but not 100%.
A very quick application with the brush – the brush is just not great, folks. However, the liner applied smoothly, gliding across the lid really nicely, and it sets fast – this isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! I have to touch up a few tiny places where it looked less opaque, but
While this isn’t a totally perfect liner, it’s very pretty and not a purchase I regret one bit! ’Emerald’ costs £6.99 and is available from Boots and Superdrug.
Alluring Aquatics came out last week, seemingly hitting the UK shelves before the US, yadda yadda yadda. I’m going to give you the TL;DR version straight up – average MAC products, AMAZING PACKAGING. I could leave it there but that’s the general gist.
LOOK AT THIS SHIT. Each item in this collection is a shiny blue metallic packing, covered in 3d fake water droplets. FAKE WATER DROPLETS. I didn’t realise this until I opened it – I thought they were embossed somehow and when I opened the packaging I was like IS THIS REAL LIFE? If you’re a makeup collector you need at least one piece from this collection, man. It’s really, really cool. Like every woman my age who is pissed off that we actually have to be adults now and give a shit about things, I want to be a mermaid and this collection I feel helps a little with that. Is it cool enough to warrant the extremely cheeky price raise to £16.50 on the lipstick? If this collection wasn’t released on payday I may have had a different answer to that question, but I think yes.
L-R: Extra Dimension Blush in Seduced At Sea, Cremesheen lipstick in Goddess Of The Sea. More water droplet action, and the MAC logo is inlaid in some fancy blue pearlescent writing.
L-R: Blush in Seduced At Sea, cremesheen lipstick in Goddess Of The Sea
Goddess Of The Sea. I totally am the Goddess Of The Sea but I’d probably pick Illamasqua’s Apocalips for my official duties. Described as a ‘dark vibrant violet,’ I was expecting this to be a little less wearable and quite frankly darker. Not what I was expecting but lovely nonetheless. I do like the cremesheen formula so I expect I’ll get a good bit of wear out of this one.
Here I am wearing Seduced At Sea on the cheeks. Described as a ‘mid tone neutral plum’ which is quite frankly absolute bollocks. This more like a light, burnt orange to me. I wished when it arrived that I’d ordered the coral, but applied this is actually rather lovely. I’d apply with a light hand to avoid looking like an Oompa Loompa. A nice colour for medium skins or tanned lighter skins.
The products themselves are very nice – I love the extra dimension blushes and wish they were a permanent fixture because I would sop them up with a biscuit. They’re just lovely. And a cremesheen lipstick is always a winner. While I only got two items, I don’t think there is one overall standout from this collection. Everything is nice, wearable, something you’ll get use out of. That’s fine, but this collection in my opinion is outshined by the absolutely banging packaging.
Almost everything seems to be sold out at the moment, but will you be picking up anything from this collection?
I do have lots more specific posts lined up for the wedding makeup series (shopping, skincare, inspiration and tutorials/looks!), but I thought I would just do a big old post with general tips and things to think about if you're doing your makeup for the big day. It's a fairly long post and I could go on forever, but please feel free to ask me anything you think I've missed! Bear in mind that I'm going to do a separate post on bases and foundation so I've omitted most things to do with that in this post.
Check out my previous posts on how to decide if you need a professional and what to look for when hiring one.
Don't make any big changes!
This is a huge one, probably the most important one in this post! If you're getting tanned, waxed, plucked, tattooed, having a skincare treatment or any beauty treatment, you need to make sure you're getting whatever it is done in enough time so that if something goes wrong, gets infected/causes a reaction you've got time to fix it.
For example, if you dye your hair at home, don't do it two days before the wedding in case you manage to dye your fingers/forehead/eyebrows (I've actually managed to do this!). Don't get your eyebrows waxed a few days before in case you have a reaction to the wax or it goes wrong (also, freshly waxed brows are a bugger to apply makeup over!).Don't get tanned the day before in case you end up Ooompa-Loompaed. You get the picture. Work out what you're having done, have a think about what might go wrong, and put your beauty treatments in your diary accordingly. Probably nothing will go wrong at all, and if you're used to the treatments, it's even less likely, but it's really worth having a think about, just in case.
Think about SPF
SPF in photography can be a bit of a bugger. If you've ever seen a photo where someone looks like they have 'ghost face,' this is because of the zinc oxide or the titanium dioxide that's in their foundation or skincare/sunscreen causing what's referred to as 'flashback' - literally the light bouncing back off your face. The best away to avoid this is to use a low-level SPF (maximum SPF 15) or just to avoid it completely. Now, most photographers probably aren't going to use a strong, direct flash on a bride, but that doesn't mean everyone else on the day won't use it - your family and friends will be taking snaps of you all day, and it's not just your professional pictures that get looked at for years to come! If you're very concerned about the sun, you've got two options, either wear sunscreen anyway and risk the flashback, or, just for that day, don't stress about it. It's only one day, so try and stick to the shade if you can, and if you're really concerned, I've seen some adorable brides with parasols!
White markings in photos from makeup (you've all seen the photos I'm talking about!) can also be cause from silica powders like the MUFE HD powder, which is a silica powder so I would just plain avoid those!
You don't need to pile it on
While bridal makeup is by nature different to regular makeup - it's an important day for us all so it's a lot more polished than most of us would usually go for, and has to compliment a white dress - you absolutely do not need to pile it on! As mentioned, most professional wedding photography isn't flash photography, so you don't need layers and layers of slap to look great. If your t-zone isn't shiny and everything is well blended and defined, you'll look great in photos with or without flash and you don't need to pile it on to achieve a gorgeous look. Going a little brighter with cheeks and lips than you usually might can look fresh and pretty in real life while showing up well in photos. This is more of a concern if you usually don't wear a lot of makeup - of course, if you normally pile it on, go for it! It's all about looking like 'you' on the day.
Lash it up!
False lashes are bloody awesome. Throughout this series, I've encouraged people to not try new things just for the sake of the wedding, but this is the one thing I will encourage you to try if you haven't! It opens up the eyes, looks beautiful in photos and adds a fluttery sexiness. Obviously, how full on you go with your lashes depends on your preferences, but I would usually recommend something a little more fluttery, either with a thin or invisible lash band if you want strip lashes, or individual lashes which look beautiful on brides, especially as a lot of brides prefer a softer look which individual lashes work wonderfully with. Practice makes perfect, obviously - this video from the masterful Lisa Eldridge is a great starting point for newbies.
If you're wearing lashes, make sure you pack your lash glue to take with you, and if you're wearing eyeliner, pack that as well as if you *do* need to reapply strip lashes, taking them off can pull of your liner. You can buy waterproof lash glue, and I'd really recommend that.
If false lashes aren't yout thing, a lash curler will really help to open up your eyes.
Keep Hydrated
There'll be more tips on skincare later on in the series, but keeping hydrated can help prevent dry skin, cracked lips and puffy eyes. I see so many models with cracked lips and surprise surprise, you won't see them drink water all day!
Learn your lips
You'll be kissing, eating and drinking for a large part of the day, so your lips either need to be easy to touch up, or last all day. I'd personally plump for the 'last all day' option, as you don't want your lipstick to end up on your significant other - bear in mind while a glossy or balmy product is easy to reapply, you'll have to reapply often. Your usual lipstick can be made longer lasting with a classic old school trick - line your lips and apply a thin layer of your lipstick. Blot your lipstick by kissing a tissue (don't rub or 'clamp' the tissue as you can pull lint away from it), add a fine dusting of translucent powder, apply and blot again. A clear lipliner or a dusting of powder around the lipline can help prevent feathering.
Maybelline 'Red Passion,' my wedding day lipstick
I've found the longest lasting lipsticks are the ones you can get in the drugstore - the double ended ones that also come with a balm. I wore a Maybelline one on my wedding day and I didn't have to touch up one - and I ate a LOT. 'Velvet' style liquid lipsticks are also fabulous at lasting. The downside is that they're drying and can sometimes breakdown on the lip over a long time, especially if you pick one with a shimmer in, leaving a less than pretty effect. The upside is that they're easy to touch up should they move. You can also go for a stain option, which I think is a gorgeously romantic look which won't transfer onto someone else. It's super easy to do, either with a dedicated product like Benefit's Benetint, or simply taking a little of your favourite matte lipstick and really working a small amount into the lips with a brush, blotting and repeating until you have a stain. Take a small jar with a decant of the lipstick and a q-tip to touch up.
Whatever you choose, make sure you've given your lips a good scrub and let some balm sink in while you're getting ready to make sure they're looking their best!
Blend, blend, blend
Seriously, blend. Make sure you blend your foundation down the neck and don't stop at your jawline - you don't want a tideline! Unless you're deliberately going for a crisp look, which most brides probably aren't, blend your eyeshadow carefully at the edges and if you're contouring at all, blend for your life!
Remember to add and blend gradually in stages - this will both look more seamless and prevent over application. You can always add more, but it's a right bugger to take it away again.
Waterproof that shiz
Waterproof mascara and waterproof liner are a must. It just goes without saying! Minimal makeup on your lower lashline will also stop the Alice Cooper look should you start blubbing. If you do wear makeup on the lower lashline, layering will help prolong it's wear, i.e., eyeliner set with eyeshadow. Cream eyeshadows are also great for brides as they really set. Products like e.l.f Lock and Seal can help turn eyeshadows into liners than aren't going anywhere.
If you cry and your makeup does run - just dab wet areas with a tissue as this will lift the makeup and moisture straight up - don't rub or smudge as this will make things harder to clean up and fix.
Pick a feature
Still not sure what to do? It's a simple old trick - pick your favourite feature and focus on that - exaggerate your eyes with fluttery lashes, add a soft contour to show off those cheek bones, a beautifully defined brow, a daring red to make the most of your lips. It's a good starting point for planning your makeup and focusing on something you love about yourself is always a good shout! Exaggerating more than one feature isn't a total no-no in my opinion, especially if you do it regularly, but it is quite a strong look, so I'd probably steer away from it if you don't do it all the time. Again, you want to look like you.
Probably not what you're after.
Oh Shit! Kit
Pack yourself an Oh Shit! Kit! There's lot of advice out there for little kits to take with you for emergencies on the day - aspirin, sewing kits, stain remover pens, tampon, etc. But this is a makeup blog after all! My makeup Oh Shit! Kit would include:
-Blotting paper to control oil and shine - much easier and less messy and bulky than taking powder
-Your lip product, decanted if possible/needed
-Dry q-tips, and q-tips soaked in Bioderma or similar and double-sealed in a small ziplock bag
-Tissues/small packet of wipes
-False lash glue if using, and eyeliner if using
-Your concealer. If you don't want to lug your whole base around with you, a tube/pot of concealer should be plenty sufficient enough to touch anything up. If someone else is willing to carry your base, great.
Practice makes perfect
I can't stress this one enough! Please practice your wedding day makeup! It'll mean less stress on the day, less time on the day, and you'll know your happy with it. Practice it in daylight, but take photos in different lighting and with and without flash, and if you can, wear it on a night out or on a busy day to see how it wears. Wear a white tshirt or dress (or whatever the colour is that you're wearing on the day) as this can affect how the light hits your face and of course you'll be able to see how your makeup will work with your dress without actually having to wear it.
You Do You, BB
Any tips online are just that - tips. Take the tips as practical advice, not as a comment on your personal style. Any tips out there will work whether you want to paint rainbows on your face, whether you want a romantic boho look, or whether you want a touch of mascara and gloss or full on RuPaul glam.
Don't Stress
This is *the* most important one. If you've practiced your makeup and given it a test run, you've left enough time to do it on the day - at least 45 minutes! - and you've got your touch-up kit with you, you will be absolutely fine! Oh, and don't drink too much champagne that you can't draw your eyeliner on straight ;)
I could go on and on - if I've missed something you're interested in, let me know and bear in mind a skin and foundation post will be coming up shortly.
Makeup Revolution are the newest budget beauty brand on the UK scene and they have tons and tons of makeup with a tiny price tag. I jumped at the Scandalous lip collection, which featured a sky blue, yellow, purple, bright pink and orange shades. A blue lipstick for £1?! How could any self-respecting product junkie not try that?
I’m up to my neck in orange and purple shades from all price points, so wanted to see how these more unusual shades fared.
The packaging here is very similar to MUA, except the colour part on the end is in the lid, not the body of the lipstick. I like this style of packaging as it’s easy to see find what you’re looking for in a sea of black cases. The product has a fairly light but pretty synthetic smell typical of cheap lippies. A TL;DR summary: The packaging is light and you’re getting what you pay for in that respect. The formula for all of these has a *lot* of slip, and the wear time on them all is pretty short as well– I would check up on the state of your lips at least once an hour, especially as more unusual shades have a tendency to look worse as they wear down compared to more natural shades like red or pink. As you’ll see, these colours aren’t perfect, but there are virtually no other comparable shades at this price point.
Felony
Okay, let’s start with the worst of the bunch. There’s no two way about it – this lipstick is a travesty and should not have been made, regardless of the fact it’s only a quid. The formula isn’t very pigmented and it’s super emollient and slippery, making it a bugger to apply alongside evenly, alongside it not being overly flattering. Your lip colour will always show and seems to emphasis imperfection on the lip. Boo. I may use this to adjust other colours but I can’t see myself ever reaching for it to be honest.
It works a little better over a white base, creating a cute pastel shade, but be careful to choose as dry a white base as your lips can stand as the consistency for the lipstick itself, has a lot of slip which will cause it to mix with your base if it’s creamy. I don’t have a yellow liner to try this over which is a shame, but once you’ve put a dry liner on your lips, you may as well use eyeshadow to create your crazy colours to be honest! The only other yellow lipsticks I can think of are Lime Crime New Yolk City which has mixed reviews, from other brands I know are the same private label like Ka’Oir/Secret Kisses, and from the Inglot Freedom line. If anyone else can think of any, please let me know.
Immoral
Next up is Immoral. This one is far from perfect, but much better than Felony! Again, there is way too much slip for my liking – it’s hard to get an even coat of this and to have no lip colour showing through, but it’s much more pigmented. I would wear this over a sky blue eyeliner, which luckily is more easy to find than yellow! So… not my favourite, but to find a half decent blue lip colour for a pound? I’ll work with it.
Blues like this can again be picked up from Lime Crime and other companies who use the same private label, Inglot Freedom system and, if you can still find them online, regular Inglot lipsticks as well, although these were limited edition. Pretty Zombie Cosmetics also has a matte blue lip cream, and there are plenty of eyeliners in a similar shade which you could also use – in the UK, the Sleek Eau La La liners are nice for the lips and they have a similar blue shade.
Depraved
This is my favourite of the bunch. Again, the slippy formula, but it works much, much better with this shade and the colour is lovely. If you were tempted by any of them, I’d go for this one. No complaints.
Purple shades are easier to find – MAC, Ilamasqua, Inglot and many, many indie companies make purple lipsticks.
I have to pause here and say that regardless of what I think of these products (I have some more reviews coming, they have some lovely stuff!) I think is brand is a bit bloody cheeky. My friend Rachael bought one of their palettes and it is exactly the same, down to layout, as a Sleek palette. I can see this repeated in a couple of their palettes, and several of their items look exactly the same and are at exactly the same price point as everyone’s favourite cheap-and-cheerful high street brand, MUA. I wondered if they’re the same company, but a little Googling says they’re not. Very odd that a brand would copy another budget brand in my opinion!
Will you be trying these lipsticks? What’s your favourite brand for odd colours?
I am sick as a dog right now, but also sick of looking like it, so some makeup was much needed! A little pop of colour from the old Sleek Circus palette – which I haven’t touched in ages! – and some fluttery lashes did the trick and perked me up a bit, even if it was only for a duvet day!
Eyes: Barry M Kohl liner in brown. Neutrals from MUA Undress Me Too Palette. Green from Sleek Circus Palette (discontinued) Lips: L’Oreal Extraordinaire lipgloss in Nude Vibrato. Brows, Kiko. Lashes, Vintage Lash Company Gracie. FACE: MAC Face and Body, Rimmel Stay Matte powder, Collection2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer Cheeks: MAC Buff, Boots No 7 Vital Enlightening Highlighter
I do miss wearing colour! I need to do a proper, all-out bright look soon!
Are you looking forward to the warmer weather? What are your favourite colours to wear in Spring?
