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

NOTD and one of my addictions

Nails of the day are Models Inc Pro - Black Grape. This looks stunning in the bottle dark purple base with pink purple and blue micro glitter. This is the first time I have used one if their polishes but I had hear good things. This however was a bit meh.

Application was a bit of a nightmare, it bubbled, I haven't had a polish bubble on me in ages. Also it wasn't shiny at all, I put a coat of good old Seche Vitte and that seemed to revive it and you could almost see the shimmer in the right light but when I woke up in the morning the polish had eaten the top coat and the nails were a little dull and rough. Not completely horrible but one of the worst I have tried in a long time. wah wah waaaaahh!

natural light

under a Halogen spot - you can almost see the shimmer.

Next up is my addiction and as you can see it's all things Cherry Blossom. I love them I love the smell, the look, the colour I'm just crazy about them.

Just a few of the Cherry Blossom themed stuff I have.

Top Row - Guerlain eyeshadow palette, Body Shop Body Butter, Guerlain blush.

Bottom Row - OPI D.C Cherry blossom, Mac Sakura blush, Shu Uemuera UV base, L'Occitane Lip Gloss.

A couple of slightly different looks for me

Ok so I am a creative person and and i'm not afraid of colours but there are certain looks and styles that stray out of my comfort zone. There are few things I avoid because I know they look wrong for me things like tanned skin and liner on the water line. Now there are ladies out there who rock this look effortlessly every day and look like wonderful godesses but on me it just doesn't feel right.

Lets explore shall we.

What started this was a little sample bag from MaxFactor (I think they were given away at christmas) The foundation samples are always in medium or nude which is about 2 shades to dark for me but I was interested to see if the formula for lasting finish was the same as this is what I used all through school and uni and loved it.

Products used

Max Factor lasting finish in 106 natural beige all over the face and jaw line

The I contoured like crazy through the cheekbones, jawline, temples and nose with Illamasqua in hollow (I can't begin to tell you how much I love this product) and then highlighted with a Tokidoki.

I then lined the waterline with a black Maxfactor Khol which I hate doing as it never stays put and I end up with little black globs in the corners of my eyes and them looking red and watery.

Shaded in my brows with my normal Natural collection shadow and put on a coat of Collection 2000 Big Fake.

The gloss was also in the give away bag and it is Vibrant Curve Effect in Majeste, which smells really strongly of Melon but is quite nice not sticky and quite long lasting.

Next up we have a bright lipstick, and I mean really bright which is a long long way from my classic red. I am not one to shy away from a bold lip but this is very different for me so here in all it's glory is Mac Candy Yum Yum and I LOVE it!

Please excuse the goofy face and nerdy specs

FOTD and An Experiment

So lets start off with a very quick face of the day.

Products used

L'Oreal Collagen Eye Filler

No7 Protect & Perfect Day Cream

Shiseido Perfect Refining Foundation in 100 (very light ivory)

Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer 01 (nude beige)

Bourjois Mineral Radiance Pressed Powder 02 (vanille)

Eyebrows - Natural Collection eyeshadow in Midnight

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Eyeshadow - Boy Crazy all over the lid, Azuki bean in crease and under lower lashes, Moshi Moshi to high light in the centre of the lid.

Cheeks - Mac Sakura Blush

Lips - Poppy King for No7 in Confidence

Mascara - Collection 200 Big Fake in 17 (ultra black)

Now on to the experiment!

I blogged a few days ago about the amazing staying power of the Integrate nail polish I had tried and how I was unsure if it was the polish or the Orly Bonder that cause the phenomenal wear. I decided to set up an experiment I gave myself a new manicure using a cheapy Polish (actually it was free with the big fake mascara) from Collection 2000, it's one of their new "hot looks" and the colour is 43 fruit salad.

The experiment is as follows, the left hand is Orly Bonder and the right hand is OPI Natural Nail Base Coat.

Right Hand - OPI

Left Hand - Orly

Pretty colour huh. Both were topped with my normal Seche Vitte, Let see the damage from Saturday morning to Tuesday night.

Right Hand - OPI

Left Hand - Orly

As you can see the thumb and the index finger on the OPI have chipped a little but but considering I am right handed thats not bad going.

Right thumb

Right index

I am a little bit bummed about this to honest I wanted the exceptional wear to be down to the Orly Bonder (I have decided there was no clear winner they both wore about the same) but it does seem to look like the Integrate is just a really really good polish. Is it crazy that I would consider flying back to Japan just to get my hands on some more bottles of this.

Mammoth Nail Round Up

So here we are at the end of another year and again I haven't got nearly as much blogging done as I had wanted. So with the purchase of a new camera for Christmas we are going to change it up a gear and there will be more vlogging and hopefully better pictures.

So without further ado heres what I have been sporting recently

I went to Finland at the start of December and picked myself up a few new polishes, this is Orly Ou Of This World (deep purple with a gold shimmer) and it is from their Cosmic FX collection, you have seen this swatched a million times I guess but it is a lovely colour. Application is fairly good, it does not play well with the old Seche though and as you can see I suffered some shrink and horrendous tip wear. It didn't chip though and lasted quite well. The Duo tone wasn't as nice as I expected but hey still love it!

with flash

inside light

Next up is another from the same collection and the formulation is the same this is Lunar Eclipse, Looks more Purple in the bottle but comes out electric blue again the duo tone isn't all the but a nice polish none the less.

no flash

with flash

Nails Inc have been at it again with their free giveaways, this was on the front of some magazine which I can't remember the name of now. The colour is Saville Row deep aubergine purple and not a lot to be said about Nails Inc really. I don't think I have ever had a bad one the polishes are a great formulation and last really really well.

flash

no flash

Up next is Mac from the Venomous Villains and it's Bad Fairy. This was the only unique polish from the collection and it's a beauty, I wasn't sure at first it;s a coppery pink and not really my style but once on it is mesmerising and not as garish as I thought. This seems to be the same formulation as the Orly Cosmic FX (with the other two polishes being direct dupes) so you do get a bit of tip wear.

no flash

flash

Again you have seen this a billion times but it is the Barry M Dusky Mauve which is a direct dupe of the Chanel Paradoxal which was a big hit back in the summer. I have to say I like this more if you remember my review of the Chanel I wasn't all that impressed but the shimmer in this is just a little stronger and the formulation is a little better not to mention the price.

flash

natural light

I can never resist a Mavala release their polishes are always quality and they are trying really hard with the colours even if they are still a heartbeat behind. This is Blue Smoke, smokey blue with blue glitter. I actually liked this more than I thought but I just never seem to feel comfortable with blue polishes.

natural light

natural light

This is from the same collection and it is called Rococo Red. I can say hands down this is the best red nail polish I have ever tried the colour is so vibrant and it is a one coater, two if you are a perfectionist like me. It just glides on thin, precise and opaque I love it. I will be buying lots of back ups of this.

flash

indoor light

This was a polish from my New York trip in October It's OPI for Sephora and the colour is 212. I think it is exclusive to online and in the times square store and it is such a hard colour to describe. it's a blackened brown jelly with glitter (gold and holographic) and kind of coppery flakies. Sounds complex, looks stunning!

natural light

The final polish I have for you today is a little gem from Accessorize. They have dabbled in polishes and cosmetics before but their recent major release was a tour de force by them and this duo chrome polish is outstanding.

It's called Aztec and is a passable dupe for Mean and Green from Mac. Having them both I would say the glitter in the Accessorize is chunkier and the duo chrome slightly better, in fact I preferred this one to the Mac I think. Formulation and wear were the same you still need loads of coats but for £4 you can't complain.

natural light

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?

catching up - it's been a very long week........

.........and a sad one, sadly we had to say goodbye to our cat Ronnie on Thursday. She was 13 years old, senile, arthritic, with a suspected thyroid problem and chronic kidney failure. She was a very very pretty cat and we had her and her sister since they were 7 weeks old and she was never quite the same after we lost her sister Reggie to cancer last year right before we got married. The kitty household has never been without a cat so it is going to take some adjustment to get over the loss. So as you can tell I have no felt like writing much this week.

Still life goes on and so would shopping it would seem. I took my weary hubby and me to Bicester Village on Saturday for a much needed cheering up and some time out of the house. The train journey there from London Marylebone is beautiful and it was nice to escape the city for a while. I enjoyed wandering round the shops even though it was hubbys worst nightmare and I acutally managed to do quite well for myself.

I got

2 dresses and a top from Monsoon

1 pair of earrings from Accessorize

1 pair of Cath Kidston plimsoles

1 pair of Tommy Hilfiger pumps

and

a small selection of Mac Makeup.

Now I have not bought much from MAC in the past I used their foundation and concealer along with the prep+prime range for my wedding and I bought a couple of bits from the Hello Kitty range (more because I am a Hello Kitty fan). I thought this may be an excellent opportunity to get to know a few more bits from the brand. I got the Charming Garnet:Glamour Basics (classic glamour) set and a mineralize eyeshadow in Blue Sorcery. The set included - Belightful iridescent pressed powder, zoomblack zoomlash mascara, black funk eye pencil and a slimshine lipstick in Bare.

All the bits and bobs

mineralize eyeshadow

swatches top to bottom - eyeshadow, liner, highlighting powder, lipstick.

here is the look

I used

Prep+Prime Face Protect SPF 50

Select Foundation NW15

Select Moisture Cover Concealer Nw15

Prep+Prime Powder to set

Hello Kitty Beauty Powder in Pretty Baby

Then I used everything I had bought :)

I have a love hate relationship with mac products, I love the Prep+Prime range but the foundation doesn't seem to sit well on my skin it makes me feel hot and flustered. The Hello Kitty powder does nothing for me, too light for a blush, too dark to be a setting powder not really sure what to do with it.

As for the new products the lipstick is a perfect nude on me and has really good staying power the blue from the eyeshadow is really gorgeous but you get a lot of fallout from the silver. The eyepencil is lovely goes on really smoothly and I would imagine it would smudge out nicely even though it stayed exactly where I put it even in the rain. The mascara was soso and the illuminating powder is gold so it will only be a summer product for me but nice all the same.

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.

Fridays Make up

Went for my Mac base today and eyes from the Lancome gift again

Base

Mac Select SPF 15 (NW15)

Mac Select Moisture Cover (NC15)

Prep + Prime finishing powder

Blush Bourjois (48 Cendre De Rose Brune)

Eyes

Waif (all over lid and crease)

Guest List (in crease line and underlash line)

Vue (in centre of the lid and inner corner of the eye)

Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara (001 black)

Eyebrows from the Clarins kit