Face of the day: Summer loving

I wish I could remember the ad that inspired this look. I remember seeing it and knowing I wanted to try it because it is wearable compared to a lot of makeup you see in adverts, and it looked simple enough for me to achieve.

In my opinion this look is crying out for summer sun and I suspect I'll be sporting this more than once when the sun does decide to shine. 

I started with the Naked palette on my eyes and a very simple and subtle smokey eye using the shade Sin on the lid and Buck in the crease, finished off with black eyeliner. 

On the lower lash line I used Bourjois Contour Clubbing waterproof eyeliner in the shade blue remix. It is a beautiful bright blue shade and I have loved wearing this recently as an edgy alternative to black eyeliner. The formular is soft and being waterproof I can wear it all day without worrying about it travelling down my face. 

On my lips I used a mix of Diego Dalla Palma’s coral lipstick, which I featured in a sample session a few weeks ago, and the Mirenesse perfect kiss glossy kiss I received in my first Birchbox. I'm still not convinced the DDP lipstick suits my skin tone but by adding the glossy kiss I was able to warm the colour up a bit and I really liked the result.

On the rest of my face I kept it fairly natural, I used Hello Flawless foundation by Benefit and lightly attempted to contour with Sleeks contour and highlight kit and finally added some bronzer. 

Can you tell which ad I was inspired by? If so, please let me know!

Mix and match — peach lips

Just a quickie post today after I discovered this new lip combo. I tend to not use my brighter coloured lipsticks on a daily basis, but playing around today I decided to combine L’Oreal’s glam shine in aqua mandarin (which is not much better than a clear lipgloss) with Sleek’s "barely there” which is a bright peach colour with a hint of pink. The result was a subtle peach, which looked particularly pretty in natural daylight. 

I used a trick I picked up a while ago, which was to apply a lip gloss before lipstick for a more modern look. By applying this way I found I could control the colour intensity much more than had I applied lipstick first. Another bonus of applying lipstick in this way is that you are less likely to highlight dry lips! 

I plan on mixing up a lot more of my lip colours now, especially the ones that I have neglected. Do you have any suggestions for lip colour combos?

Face of the night

This is just a quick post to share the makeup I did for a wedding last weekend. I decided to go for a classic neutral eye and used my Naked palette.

Eyes:

UDPP

Naked palette: virgin, naked, buck, smog, toasted, dark horse

Saffron gel eyeliner 

No7 mascara 

Rest of face:

Bella Pierre foundation (cinnamon)

Bourgeois bronzing powder (contouring)

Sleek contour and highlight kit (highlight only)

Benefit Bella Bamba blush

No 7 marshmallow lip gloss 

I also attempted to overcome my laziness and attempt using false eyelashes. I managed to get it on one eye with the first attempt, but the other took about five! Any tips to make this easier would be much appreciated!

New years eve makeup and nails

Better late than never I hope, but I wanted to share the makeup I wore to bring in the new year. The party we went to was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory themed, so I decided to dress and do my makeup all purple. I have read somewhere that it is a fashion faux pas to coordinate your clothes to your makeup colours but, true or not, I like it! 

I had been doing a lot of reading around how to make large/bulging eyes, like mine, look less large and bulging and one tip I came across was to use dark coloured eyeshadows on the lid. So I decided to put this to the test using a deep plum/purple colour all over the lid and using a darker colour in the crease and outer corner. 

I was really pleased with the result, at the same time I read other tips such not bringing the crease colour/darker shadow all along the crease so as not to emphasis the roundness of the eye and wearing black eyeliner in the lower waterline, which I always do anyway!  

Eyes:

Primer potion — Urban Decay

Milk — NYX jumbo eye pencil

Sultry — Fashionista cosmetics e/s (all over lid)

AC/DC — Urban Decay e/s (outer corner, crease, lower lash line)

Perversion — Urban Decay e/s (outer corner)

Bella — Fashionista cosmetics e/s (highlight)

Face:

Bella Pierre mineral foundation (cinnamon)

ELF studio concealer (light)

ELF brow kit (medium)

Benefit Bella Bamba blush

Sleek contour kit (light)

Rimmel Birthday suit lipstick

On my nails I wore, Barry M’s vivid purple on all but my ring finger nails, which I applied the holographic nail polish from GOSH. The holographic polish looked amazing under the lights, but at the same time was a really nice contrast with the deep purple colour.

This final picture is my sister and I out on the night. 

I hope you all had a memorable start to the new year.

Sleek berry Christmas look

I chose to do a berry Christmas look using the Sleek collection. I love that Sleek decided to mix up the limited edition collections by adding a lipstick and kohl pencil, and I hope they do more of these in the future.

I originally brought this with my mum who instantly loved the lipstick saying it reminded her of something she used to own and she swiped it before I got the chance to take a photograph, I did manage to get it back briefly for this look though!

All the colours are matte, and have deep red/plum tones. The kohl, mossberry, is more of a burgundy, and the fenberry blush has more red/brown tones. The blush is my favourite item in the collection. The deep colour is very flattering and adds contour to the cheek bones. I would have liked the kohl to be a bit more creamy than it is to make it easier to apply and blend.

This is the look I came up with.

Eyes:
Sleek mossberry kohl pencil in the outcorner and crease.
Urban Decay half-baked on the lid.
Urban Decay sin to highlight
ELF black cream liner
Benefit They’re Real mascara

Face:
Neutrogena foundation
Sleek contour palette (highlight only)
Sleek fenberry blush
Sleek cranberry lipstick
Clear gloss

I added these two photographs taken with flash, which show the colours better I hope. These winter months don’t make it very easy for me to take FOTD photographs! 

I generally stay away from red lipsticks, I find it really hard to find the right tone to suit me and because my lips are quite large I don’t like colours, which accentuate that. That being said I really like this tone, but I did add a clear gloss on top since the matte formulation is drying and highlighted my already dry lips. The colour lasted really well (over 4 hours) and that included tucking into dinner and desert. 

I am not sure when the collection will be taken off the shelves but if you are interested I would recommend this. The colours are ideal for the winter months and I think most skin tones can find a way to pull these off by using a light touch to control the intensity.

My birthday face - upside down smoky eye

I celebrated my birthday last weekend, I had a really lovely few days celebrating with various family and friends.

On Saturday night, me and my girlfriends all headed to Shaka Zulu in Camden, which is easily the best decorated venue I have ever visited.

I planned to use my FashionistA cosmetics to reproduce the blue look I had done at TOWIB, but I left myself with little time and ended up doing something new but a bit simpler.

I was inspired by MakeupGeek, one of my favourite makeup gurus on YouTube, and tried to replicate her upside down smokey eye look.

I used my Urban Decay palette, with the colour “sin” all over the lid, I lined both waterlines and my bottom lash lined quite heavily and used “dark horse" to smudge and blend out the black liner. It did look odd to me to start off with, especially since the top lid was so bare but I really liked the final look.

It is actually far more subtle than I was expecting, so I probably could have gone for something with a bit more drama! That being said I don’t think it is subtle enough for an everyday/day look.

On the rest of my face I used Revlon Photofinish foundation, Bella Bamba blush my Benefit, Smahbox photo-op under eye brightner and a mixture of ELF bare brown and Rimmel Nude delight on my lips.

Every day make-up look

I have changed my every day makeup look quite a lot since attending the Marie Clare Inspire and Mentor event and getting some great tips from Alan Wan. All the methods mentioned are the ones I learnt at the event.

I have recently been trying out a liquid foundation (I know - a shock for my regular readers who know how obsessed I am with mineral foundation). Mixing in the liquid foundation with a little serum and using a duo-fibre brush I buff the foundation into the skin. Not only is this quick (less than 30 seconds) but the finish is amazing. The foundation blends flawlessly into the skin, and only needs a little translucent powder on the T-zone to set.

I use the Sleek suede blush on my cheeks, loading up the brush the same as you would load up a mineral foundation. I apply starting at the hairline and lightly brushing inwards, stopping at the height of your cheekbone, parallel with the outside corner of the eye.

For the eyes, drawing from the inner eye outwards use light strokes of eyeliner to line the eyes only three-quarters across, this builds up a thicker and darker line in the outside corner, getting thinner going in. Although it still looks odd to me he recommended using liner on the outer third of the lower lash line. To finish off the look using a dark eyeshadow, press the colour over the liner and use a light colour over the rest of the lid. 

The whole look takes about five minutes including my eyebrow routine. I am surprised what a difference it can make to the finish of your makeup just by changing the brushes you use and the way you use them. 

Please share with me your top tips for makeup application. 

FOTD - Late summer sun

I wanted to do something bright to go with the beautiful weather we have had. I can’t believe it’s October and I am wearing a summer dress! 

For this look I used the Manly palette. The pinks and purple shades in the palette immediately caught my attention. A few of the colours have a two-dimensional quality, which I think work really well on there own for day time looks if you don’t have time/want to do anything more. 

I used the two shades of pink, the first (5th row, first colour) in the inner two-thirds of the lid and the second (5th row, third colour) in on the remaining third. I then used a combination of the two lilac/purple shades(3rd row, third and fourth colour) in the crease just to add a light bit of definition. 

I used the black ELF cream eyeliner to line my lids and set using a black matte eyeshadow, which I have found makes the eyeliner a few hours longer than usual, particularly on the waterline. 

For the rest of the face I used the lightest touch of Bourgeois blush in the shade rose and the highlight of the Sleek highlight/contour kit above the blush. On my lips I used ELF liquid lipstick in the shade babylips and then lightly dabbed a bright pick shade (unknown brand) to act as a light stain on top.

Was your makeup inspired by the sunshine this weekend? If so, please leave me your links below so I can check it out.

The naked look

Urban Decay’s Naked palette has been extensively swatched and reviewed in many blogs so I don’t feel the need to do that. I was lucky enough to pick one up when it first came out and it probably goes without saying that I love this palette. Any type of brown/neutral eye is my go to look

For this look I first used the NYX jumbo eye pencil in milk. Although the eye shadows are very pigmented I wanted the use the white base to really get the depth of the colours. I should have used a primer though because the base creased badly by the end of the evening.

 

I placed the colour ’sin’ on the inner third of the lid, followed by ‘half baked’ in the center and ’smog’ in the outer corner. I used a mixture of ’smog’ and ‘darkhorse’ in the outer corner and into the crease and made sure to blend all the colours well with a clean brush. I applied a thick line of liquid eyeliner on my upper lash line and lined my upper and lower water line with Urban Decay’s 24/7  eye pencil in zero. 

I also had my first attempt at applying false lashes. Having not used them before I cannot talk about the quality of the set I used. I am just glad that they stayed put all day and were much easier to remove than I expected. 

On the rest of the face I used Garnier BB cream, Afterglow cosmetics foundation to set, ELF eyebrow kit, and Sue Moxley shimmer brick. 

Would you like to see more Naked palette looks? 

Garnier BB cream review

With all the blog posts in anticipation of the first UK BB cream I was excited to try it out. I have never used a BB cream before, as much as I wanted to order some from Asia I was paranoid about colour matching correctly. The idea of a product that can give a 'my skin but better’ appearance and be good for it appeals to me very much.

What the Garnier version does claim is that it will blur imperfections, even skin-tone, boost glow, smooth lines and provide 24-hour hydration. The cream spreads and blends well on the skin and the tube container means you can control exactly the amount of product you use.

Garnier offers only two shades currently, light and medium. I chose light. Nothing on the box says that the formulation adapts to your skin tone, but having used this tanned and untanned, I have not had a problem and this always looks really natural.

For use on holiday this was perfect, providing a light coverage and evening out skin tone without being too heavy. The formulation is extremely moisturising which was perfect in the heat and it does give your skin a dewy look which I like. Mostly importantly combined with getting overheated and sweaty this didn’t break me out. I can see how someone with oily skin might not like the formulation but you can easily apply powder on top to set it and get rid of some of the shine. 

On a side note, even though this does contain SPF15 I would still apply my SPF25 sunscreen underneath since the you would need to apply at least a tea spoon amount of BB cream to your face to actually get the full sun protection.

Before (no make up)

After

My understanding is that original BB creams are a thicker consistency and more full coverage. The Garnier cream is not full coverage but covered most imperfections and I used my Witch concealer stick for anything remaining. I don’t think the picture show well the coverage that you do get, it is not as full as a foundation but greater than a tinted moisturiser.

Having used the BB cream back in the UK the first thing I noticed was that the longevity isn’t great, but by using a small amount of powder on top this sets it for the whole day.

If anyone read my latest skin care post I mentioned that my skin is in great condition at the moment. The packaging doesn’t claim that this will do wonders for your overall skin condition but considering I have been wearing it daily for just under a month I can’t help but think there may be a connection.

At £9.99 from Boots and Superdrug I initially thought this was a bit on the pricy side, but having used it, I love it and think it is worth the price. I am about a third of the way through so I hope that this will see me through to October. I don’t know if this will replace my love for mineral foundation but it is certainly a contender, which is surprising considering that I would never have thought to compare the two. So well done Garnier! I think it will be really interesting now to see what other companies come up to extend the BB cream selection.

If you have tried this let me know if it was love or hate relationship for you. Also if you have been sitting on the fence deciding whether or not to pick this up have I swayed you either way?

Sleek in the Mediterranean

If there was ever a time to make the perfect use of my Sleek Mediterranean palette it was in the Mediterranean sunshine. I challenged myself to try and create new looks to the ones I have featured previously which I found a bit of a struggle if I’m honest!

I apologise now for the poor quality of pictures and use of flash, the lighting in the room was less than ideal and didn’t give justice to the brightness of the colours, I also don’t know what was going on with my facial expressions!

Look 1. Using the pinks and purples of the palette I placed ‘lotus flower’ all over the lid and ‘magenta madness' into the crease. To deepen the colour I placed ‘moors treasure’ into the outer corner very lightly and blended.

Look 2. I don’t really like this look but I thought I would include it anyway as it demonstrates the limitation of the palette for me. I wanted to make the use of the green just underneath the lower lashes, but the lack of neutrals in the palette meant I couldn’t do a neutral eye to pair it with which is my default look when I pick a bright colour for the lash line. Instead I opted for ’sand walker’ and ‘moors treasure’ in the crease.  

Look 3. Quite easily my most daring look to date. Not satisfied with my attempt at using the green I went for this peacock/ocean inspired eye. I started with ‘aquamarine’ in on the inner third, followed by ‘hummingbird’ on the remainder of the lid. I then placed ‘midnight garden’ into the crease and the green into the inner corner also working it lightly across the two blue colours. On the lower lash line I followed the colours as they were on the lid.

For each of the looks I used Urban Decay zero eyeliner (note to self must remember to pack a sharpener next time!) and mascara. 

With all looks on the rest of the face I used; Garnier BB cream (light), Benefit Coralista blush (with the exception of look 3 which was a mix of coralista blush and magenta madness eyeshadow, ELF eyebrow kit, and Sleek pout polish in monte carlo.

With the exception of 'summer breeze’ I believe I have used all the colours in the palette which is a first for me since I tend to go back to the same looks again and again.

My previous two looks are here and here. Which one is your favourite? If you have any requests for particular colour combinations let me know and I’ll see what I can come up with.