Make up looks of the week

I have been making more of an effort to try a different make up look everyday at the moment. Normally I get in a bit of a rut and tend to stick to the same few things day in day out. The first look is from some of my fav mac makeup at the moment.

Base

Shiseido prefect refining foundation in 100 (this is so good I didn't use any concealer)

Bourjois mineral radiance powder in vanilla

Eyes

UDPP

Mac boy crazy all over the lid and under lash line

Mac aduki bean outer corner and in crease

liner avon supershock gel liner in plumful

mascara collection 2000 big fake in ultra black

eyebrows rimmel dark brown eyebrow pencil

Blush

mac sakura

Lips

Guerlain rouge automatique in cherry blossom

The next look is a bit more of an evening one.

Base

Max factor weightless foundation in 40

Bourjois mineral radiance powder in vanilla

Eyes

UDPP

Accessorize illusion merged eyeshadow in cocoa all over the lid

No7 autumn palette used to blend and highlight

liner avon supershock gel liner in plumful

mascara collection 2000 big fake in ultra black

eyebrows rimmel dark brown eyebrow pencil

Blush

Illamasqua cream pigment in Emerge

FOTD for a saturday out

So today I was off out to watch a preview of the new twilight movie eclipse and since it had been a rough week I decided it was time to dust off the makeup bag and do myself up a little.

I was a little worried that since have been walking to work I had taken quite a lot of colour to my face but to my relief my factor 50+ is holing true and my foundation still matches.

So the base was

No7 protect and perfect eye cream

No7 protect and perfect intense serum

No7 protect and perfect day cream (only a tiny amount on my drier patches)

Then I used my faithful Garnier tinted eye roll on under the eyes.

Foundation - just a touch of the Bourjois healthy mix foundation in 51

Concealer - Bourjois healthy mix, a pinhead amount of this in 51

Powder - Bourjois mineral radiance in 02

The eyes and the rest was

Primer - Urban Decay Primer Potion

Eyeshadow - Togetherness from the MAC in the groove collection.

light lilac all over the lid

intense purple on the outer part of the lid and on the lower lash line

grey in the crease and also on the lower lash line

Eyeliner - Doir liquid liner on upper lash line and Urban Decay Binge on lower lash line

Eyebrows - Clarins eyebrow kit

Mascara - Bourjois Elastic

Then to finish I used a very very light dusting of MAC petticoat mineral skin finish which is also from the in the groove collection.

Oh and yes I thought the same of the movie as I thought of the other good but hard going and doesn't do justice to the book.

Sunday project Mac/Urban Decay

So you know my love for all things eyeshadow and in my opinion no company does better eyeshadow than Urban Decay. The only thing I struggle with is the packaging, I have a lot of makeup and I mean a lot! so space is something of an issue for me. Now don't get me wrong I love the palettes that urban decay make and I guess the smaller ones are not too bad but the book of shadows is huge, far bigger than it needs to be. I also don't keep my eyeliners and primer potion with the shadows as I tend to use a mix of everything.

So off I trundled to Mac in Selfridges this afternoon to pick up one of their empty palettes, I paid £11 which isn't too bad and I am impressed with the quality. If you were filling it with MAC shadows then it would still be a nice palette but still not exactly space saving I guess. I had other designs for it! As soon as I got home I promptly snapped out the circle holder part to be left with a blank slate and then I set about destroying the Urban Decays. I have Book of Shadows 2, Ammo and Preen (which is the same as Show Pony I think) and since they are all made of cardboard and paper they were time consuming but fairly easy to pull apart.

Once I had all the shadows out I used Sticky Dots by Bostick to secure all of the shadows into the palette (i used the ones marked re-useable so I could get them out again if I ever wanted too. I also scavenged a couple of the mirrors to stick inside the lid and this is what I am left with, I even have space for a few more shadows in there depending on what they bring out in the future.

What do you think? Are you fussy about packaging or are you a space saving obsessive like me?

Couple of make up looks and a review of Revlon Photoready

So this is a look I did back on the 2nd of January, It's using the Guerlain Bird of Paradise Quad except this time I left out the liquid eyeliner and added the orange to the crease and the brown on the lower lash line. It's a fairly 80's look but I love it as it makes me feel like spring is here. The eyebrows as always are Clarins eyebrow kit and the blush is n07 in soft apricot, I had to contour a lot with the Benefit 10 kit. Mascara - I am still loving the Bourjois 1001 in Black Quartz.

First attempt

The next look is using Urban Decay from their book of shadows Volume 2, Sphinx is on the inner of the lid, Ecstasy on the outer of the lid and AC/DC in the crease. I used the Rockstar liner on the lower lashline and blended it out with the shadows. Dior liquid liner to wing out the eyes and the rest of the make up is as before.

Second attempt

Ok so onto the review of the Revlon. It is taking a lot at the moment to tear me away from my Bourjois Healthy Mix but I have heard so much about this (good and bad) that I just had to try it. It was already on sale at Boots and the lovely Jo from Music and Make Up, My Obsessions! gave me a voucher that got me another £2 off.

They finally had my shade which is 02 Vanilla, I had swatched it a couple of weeks back as advised on a lot of blog and wandered around with it on my hand to check it in different lights. Now don't get me wrong this is very sparkly for a foundation but not so much that it put me off.

My first attempt at applying this I was a bit dubious about the shimmer so I decided to try and temper it a little with mac prep + prime powder which set it quite well but left me looking very very pale. I applied it over my Nivea Co Q10 which was way too greasy for this dewy foundation. I was scared of spoiling the twinkly effect so I made sure to conceal my imperfections before I applied the foundation. The coverage is very sheer and it did not last well over the Nivea.

My second attempt after learning from the mistakes of the first time I applied this over La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Light which is an oil free fluid that hydrates normal to combination skin. This time the foundation stuck fast and the coverage was a little better, I went for foundation first as normal and then concealed afterwards. I also took the plunge and gave into the sparkle so I set it using the Guerlain Meteorites Illuminating Power and to my surprise rather than adding to the effect it actually seemed to even it out a bit.

Coverage - quite sheer up close but far away and in photos it does really even you out.

Staying power - if you are at all oily you are going to need to be careful with this one but it does last over the right base.

Twilight Effect - it is definitely there as you can see in the photos I am quite pale and it does flatten out the contours of your face so make sure you are defining with blush or bronze.

Overall - Actually like it more the more I use it as I am the pale and interesting type anyway it does suit my look and you can't deny it photographs well.

Nails of this week and last week.

Mavala - Black Velvet

black with a purple shimmer, as a long time fan of these polishes I have always liked their purples (tokyo is an awesome colour) this is more of a black than a purple. It looks a lot more purple and a lot more shimmery in the bottle but I do still really like it, it applied fantastically and was solid after only 2 coats. I only wish that it was a little more like it was on the bottle and I do wish Mavala would do bigger bottles because this was a challenge to go back to after using China Glaze and OPI for so long.

Natural Light

Flash

Natural light with flash

Urban Decay - Asphyxia

I got this as part of a small haul from Fragrance Direct I have never used urban decay polishes before so I was a little dubious but at £1.50 a bottle I thought it would be worth a go. I really like all of their other products and I have to say this really lived up to their fantastic standard. This was 3 coats but it went on like a dream and dried very quickly, the colour is so hard to describe it is like a lilac purple with and electric blue flash of shimmer when it hits the light. It looks very delicate on and looks like it should be a sheer but you can't see any nail through it and I think you could still get away with it on heavily stained nails. I have to say I was very slap dash applying it at the end of a long hard day and it just doesn't show at all. This even got a compliment from the hubby so it must be nice ;)

Halogen light (really doesn't do the shimmer justice)

Wuth flash

OPI - Lucky Lucky Lavender

China Glaze - Fairy dust

In my quest to try and love Lucky Lucky Lavender on me as much a I do in the bottle I resorted to trying the Fairy dust top coat over it. It looks kinda pretty but still does not work for me, I guess I will have to chalk this one up to experience as I normally love everything from OPI.

trying out a new look

So I have done glittery eyeliners in the past but always over a shadow, I have never really tried a coloured liner. So I was quite excited to get the ELF liner sealer because this nifty little thing lets you use any of your eyeshadows and turn it into a liner (I have used a similar product from Eyeko but only with glitters and black). Purple is always my go to colour and I used the sealer with Flash from the Urban Decay Preen palette and I am really quite pleased how it turned out, it looks quite intense and it really stuck all day.

I think I shall be experimenting with all of my shadows over the next few weeks.

catching up - recent makeup looks

Ok so the base for these is all the same, it's the Bourjois Mineral Matte Mousse in 81 Ivory, the new Garnier concealer/eye roll on in fair, No7 powder in Translucent, Clarins eyebrows and the benefit 10 bronzer/highlighter.

Eyes

Urban Decay primer potion

lid all over - urban decay Flash

crease - urban decay AC/DC

lid highlight - urban decay Ecstasy

Blending of edges - urban decay Sphinx

under eye liner - outer half urban decay rockstar, inner half urban decay ransom

top lashline liner - dior liquid liner in black

Mascara - Bourjois coup de theatre 2 in 1 in black

Eyes

Urban Decay primer potion

lid all over - urban decay Mildew

crease - urban decay Misdemeanor

lid highlight - urban decay Homegrown

Blending of edges - urban decay Flipside

under eye liner - urban decay Graffiti

top lashline liner - no7 liquid liner in black

Mascara - NYX doll eyes

Eyes

Urban Decay primer potion

lid inner half - Ruby and Mille i powder pen purple (light side)

Outer lid and under eye - Ruby and Millie i powder pen purple (dark side)

under eye liner - urban decay zero

top lashline liner - urban decay heavy metal eyeliner in spandex

Mascara - NYX doll eyes

Eyes

Urban Decay primer potion

lid inner third - urban decay Mildew

lid middle third - urban decay Painkiller

lid outer third - urban decay flash

under eye liner - urban decay zero

top lashline liner - no7 liquid liner in black

Mascara - Maxfactor flash lash effect waterproof in black

Urban Decay eyes

Ok I have never used Urban Decay eye shadows before and I have to say from what I have seen on other blogs they looked great. So when I saw the Preen shadow box in the sale at House of Frazer I had to make it mine.

What I was no prepared for was quite how good they are when used with the primer these bad boys really stick. I applied this make up at 7.30 in the morning on new years eve and it lasted me all the way through into the new year without having to be touched up. It lasted so well infact that when I came to take it off the blue had stained my eyelids a little!

I am now an Urban Decay convert which is bound to be very very bad for my wallet.

Gosh so much to tell you about

Well Christmas has been and gone and I did my yearly sale makeup grab. I actually got some really great stuff this time.

Ink liner from Urban Decay

Meteories illuminating powder from Guerlain in 10 NACRE DES MERS

Guerlain bird of paradise eyeshadow pod. Don't you just love the packaging.

Urban Decay peacock eye palette

Group shot - just realised how bird themed it all is.

Finally my nails for over the festive period were OPI disco ball sparkle.