Everyday Sparkle

Hi loves,

It has been forever and a day since I was last on here… Please forgive me – Ive had a lot going on in my life such as moving house, not once but twice, starting a new job, leaving that job and now starting a new one. So… I’ll stop waffling on and get right into my next tutorial…

I dont know about you but I love anything sparkly… So I try to incorporate it into as much of my makeup looks as possible which can be hard in the professional working environment 😉 so see below before a step by step on how to incorpate this into an every day look…

~ STEP 1 ~

You should always prime your eyes, but if you are using a shimmery shadow – you definitely need to prime! For this I turn to my trusty Shadow Insurance by Too Faced Cosmetics, then applying a thin layer of Soft Ochre Paint Pot by MAC Cosmetics – setting it with Blanc Type shadow also by MAC Cosmetics.

~STEP 2~

Taking Soft Brown by MAC Cosmetics and my Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush and blend that into and above my crease – this will be my base transition shade.

~STEP 3~

Using the colour Bandit by Colour Pop and my Sigma E35 Tapered Blending Brush I place this directly into the crease – further deepening the colour and getting that rusty brown colour I love.

~STEP 4~
To deepen the outer V and crease further and add a slight smokey effect – I take my E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush by Sigma, and the colour Embark by MAC Cosmetics and blend that into the outer V and partly the way into the crease, blending it out till there are no harsh lines.

~STEP 5~

Using my new favourite shadow – I Heart This by ColourPop, I first apply this using my fingers and pack it on – then taking a firm brush (I just used the one from my Urban Decay palette) I smooth out the colour I’ve placed on my lid, then taking a bit more on the same bush, I go over the top – to make it a bit more intense. Taking the same E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush I go over the outer V and some of the crease to ensure the smokey dark colour is prominent.

 

~FINISH~

To finish this look I line my lashes using Rimmel’s Glam Eyes Liquid Liner and creating a cat eye effect, together with a few coats my lashes with a few coats of my favourite mascara – Le Volume De Chanel. Apply my foundation (see my earlier post on how I do this here). Line my lower lashline with Bandit using my Sigma E20 Short Shader Brush and coating my bottom lashes with Le Volume De Chanel.

  
  
 While its not an overly complicated look, i think it has great impact mainly because of the gorgeous feature shade – I Heart This by ColourPop. So have a look and let me know what you think or if you give this a try at home.
Till next time xoxo

Bronzed Glow like J Lo

HEYA!

So I don’t know about you but I have major girl crush on J Lo (still love calling her that) – how could I not – her style, figure, personality and her flawless face. So if you want to see how I did this – read on…

… E  Y  E  S …

~ STEP 1 ~

First I start off by priming my eyes as always with my Shadow Insurance by Too Faced and then with MAC’s Paint Pot in Soft Ochre. Setting this with a mixture of Beaches and Cream and Peach Smoothie both by Makeup Geek all over my lid and up to my brow bone. Then, taking Soft Brown by MAC on my Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush I blend this into my crease and just above as this will be my transition colour.

~ STEP 2 ~

To darken up my crease further, I take Texture by MAC on an Sigma E25 Blending Brush and blend that into my crease. Repeating until it is as dark as I want it to be.

~ STEP 3 ~

Taking Cocoa Bear by Makeup Geek I apply it to my outer V and blend into my crease with my Sigma E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush and again repeating until it is as dark as I want.

~STEP 4~

Taking Tan Pigment by MAC and apply on my lids using my MAC 242 Shader Brush to blend it out till it becomes a nice glow.

~STEP 5~

Now you could stop here but I wanted to make it a touch darker. So, taking Embark by MAC I apply that to the outer V with my Sigma E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush and blend it directly to my outer V keeping extending it out to help enlarge the eye.

~ STEP 6 ~

Here I curl my lashes using my MAC Full Lash Curler and then coat my lashes with a combination of In Extreme Dimension Lash by MAC and Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara. Let that dry for a few minutes. Again, you could also stop here or you could apply some false lashes. I chose to go ahead and apply No. 43 lashes by MAC wtih DUO Adheasive. While that is drying I apply a light coat of Cocoa Bear by Makeup Geek under my lower lashe line and heavily coat my lower lashes with Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara and TADAAAA! My eyes are done! Now onto the base…

… F  A  C  E  …

For me this is the REAL feature of this look. I really wanted to emulate J Lo’s bronzed glowing skin. So here is what I did and used to achieve that.

~ STEP 1 ~

As my skin is on the dry side I start by priming my face with Embryolisse 24 Hour Miracle Cream, and Bobbi Brown’s Hydrating Face Cream. I Let that sink in for about 5 minutes and then finish priming my face by applying Hourglass’s Veil Mineral Primer and then apply my favourite illuminizer, MAC’s Strobe Cream.

~ STEP 2 ~

Taking my new favourite liquid foundation by Make Up Store in the colour Honey and mixing in their TO DIE FOR Illuminizer. It doesn’t say what the shade is but as you can see from the pic below it is a bronzed shade and I’m fairly certain its the only one they have. It also doesn’t appear to be on their site however they said that if you contact the store directly then they can make arrangements to ship to you. Click here for the store closes to you. So, taking about 2 pumps of the foundation and a small pump of the illuminizer and mix it together and apply all over my face with my trusty Beauty Blender.

~ STEP 3 ~

Taking my holy grail concealer – Radiant Creamy Concealer by NARS in the shade Honey and place this directly under my eyes. Taking the same concealer in the colour Ginger I place this just under my eyes and then taking the same concealer but in the shade Ginger I apply that in an upside down triangle shape under my eyes, down the bridge of my nose and up to my forehead and a little on my chin. Taking my Beauty Blender I blend all that out. To set this I use Chanel’s Le Blanc Fresh Glow Loose Brightening Powder.

~ STEP 4 ~

Taking another Make Up Store product, their Micronized Compact Powder in Latte and set my foundation. I don’t like to use a lot of powder as I am naturally dry and I want this to be a particularly dewy look. So I usually prefer to apply this with a big fluffy face brush and pat that over where it’s needed. To contour my face I use Too Faced Sun Bunny Bronzer with my MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush – I like this bronzer for this look as it helps add a further glow and bronzed look to the skin.

~ STEP 5  ~

For my blush I use MAC Mineralize Blush the shade Love Joy as it’s a warm mid tone brown shade with gold pearl in it. I tried to find this on the Australian MAC website but for some reason it’s not there anymore yet I know for a fact that you can buy in in store. Taking my Hourglass Ambient Lighting powder in the shade Luminous Light and my Sigma F35 Tapered Highlighter Brush and place that where I highlighted earlier with my concealer. Finishing off by setting my face using Make Up Store’s Face Mist Spray which can actually double up as a prepping agent for your skin or to set your makeup. Like I mentioned earlier this doesn’t appear on their site but if you check the store locator for the closest one to you they will ship to you.

And I’m done!

So, that is my take on J Lo’s bronzed summer glow. What do you think? Let me know, I would love to hear from you…

Till next time xoxo

 

 

Tis the season to be jolly…

Hey my loves!

I know its been a while since I last posted but there has been a lot happening – I moved house, left my job and am currently deciding on what exactly my future holds for me – career wise. So yes, the head has been a little full of other less creative things. However, someone who I care about mentioned to me he hadn’t seen me post much lately about my makeup business or anything on my blog and that in fact miss seeing me be excited about it – and you know what? I agreed 100%. So having that one simple conversation really revved my creative juices up and… I’m back baby! OH YEAH!

So here we go… As we all know its coming up to the “silly season” where we are all getting invitations thrown at us left right and centre. I know we all have our go to looks, but in my opinion now is the time to try adding a pop of colour you might not have worn before, slapping on a bold lip – or dare I say it… adding some glitter? Just promise me you wont do all three 😉 Over the next couple of weeks I’ll post various different looks and hopefully you can get some inspiration from them and replicate it or make it your own.

I was recently given (very generously) as a farewell present from my old work, one set from the Objects of Affection Holiday Collection by MAC Cosmetics. It is the Silver + Blue + Pigments + Glitter colours. So using one of my new pigments from this range in combination with some other MAC eyeshadow’s… here is the look I came up with. This is perfect for any night-time event/Xmas party.

~ STEP 1 ~

As aways we prime the eye… I am using a combination of Too Faced Shadow Insurance with MAC’s Paintpot in Painterly over the top. This combination is my go to for me AND all my clients. The Shadow Insurance helps prevent that nasty creasing you get if, like me, you have hooded eyes and Painterly helps block out any veins you might see on your lid and gives you a clean canvas to work with. Next taking a big fluffy blending brush, I like to use my Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush and I take a mixture of Peach Smoothie and Beaches and Cream by Makeup Geek and blend that all over my lid and up to my brow bone.

~ STEP 2 ~

Taking my Sigma E25 Blending Brush and a mixture of the shades Creme Brulee by Makeup Geek and Bamboo by MAC I place it directly into my crease blending upwards (until it is seemless) as this will be our transition shade.

~ STEP 3 ~

To darken my crease, and add some dimension I take the shade Handwritten by MAC and my Sigma E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush and place this directly into my crease and blending till there are no harsh lines. By placing a dark shade here and bending into the earlier placed colours it will make the transition of the dark colour we are going to use next much easier.

~ STEP 4 ~

Now, here is my favourite part… the pigment. As I mentioned earlier I got some new pigments from the Holiday Collection, so from that set I am taking the colour Deep Blue Green. The photos do not do this colour justice. It reminds me of MAC’s Blue Brown Pigment, in that it isn’t just one shade, in different lights it look quite green, or blue or beautiful mixture of both. Anyway, here I used my Sigma F70 Concealer Brush to pack it on strong all over my lid in small patting motions so as to keep the colour intense rather than blending it out. Make sure you don’t take this colour up into the crease as we want to keep the transition of colours we placed earlier smooth and visible otherwise you will simply look like Uncle Fester.

~ STEP 5 ~

Then taking that same E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush simply blend the crease shade and the top of where the pigment was place and the two will blend together seemlessly. Now you need to curl your lashes (or not if you don’t want to) and apply your mascara. Here i am actually using a combination of MAC’s Extreme Dimension Lash in Black Extreme and Bobbi Brown’s Smokey Eye Mascara in Black.

~ STEP 6 ~

After I’ve applied my foundation and the rest of my face makeup I take my MAC 214 Short Shader Brush and apply Cocoa Bear by Makeup Geek along my lower lash line – using a clean MAC 239 Eye Shader Brush to blend it out.  Taking Deep Blue Green Pigment again and my Liner brush by Hair and Makeup Addiction I use my Fix Plus spray to help intensify the colour and carefully line right underneath my lower lash line.

~ STEP 7 ~

To brighten up my inner corner I use another pigment from the collection called White. I apply this with my Detailer brush (from the Special Eyes Kit) by Hair and Makeup Addiction and place it directly in the inner corners of my eyes blending it out using my Sigma E36 Blending Brush.

~ TO FINISH ~

I applied a generous coat of mascara to my bottom lashes and hey presto, you’re ready to go and show off those peepers… You could always add some falsies if you wanted too but I don’t like to wear them too much.

So tell me, what did you think of this look? Would you be game to show this off at your next Holiday party?

Till next time

xoxo

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody… Part 1

  

So it was my gorgeous friend Ellie’s hens party this Saturday just gone, and her best friend, now also now a dear friend of mine, planned the whole thing herself and it was awesome – so much fun was had by all. The theme was Great Gatsby/1920’s Flapper and all the girls that went really got into it which was great – some went the traditional route, but not me… I chose to put my own spin on it – naturally 😉 So if you’ve been invited to go to one of these type of themed parties and are looking for something a little different and “non-traditional” then read on to see what I came up.

~ MAKEUP ~

The roaring ’20s were both extremely racy and dramatic. With harsh make-up and short bobbed hair, the ladies of the 1920s were set to make an immense impression upon the world, and upon the history of beauty. According to my research (thank you Google ;)) Make-up was scarce during WWI, but the end of the war and the economic boom of many western countries, resulted in a decadent decade of dressing up, dancing and partying. So I perused some different options and came up with the following inspiration of both modern and traditional:

As you can see the women of the 1920’s embraced the bold eye and bold lip and paired them together. So if you’re interested to see what i came up with and how I did it… READ ON 🙂

~ STEP 1 ~

As I am going to be using bold shades and i want them to last without creasing i am going to need a strong eyeshadow primer/base that also acts as a blank canvas. Here I am using Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Eden. I take a small amount (which goes a long way with this product) and place that all over my lid using my Sigma  P80 brush and blend that all over my lid and up to my brow bone. Taking a neutral shade, I blend that all over my lid and up to my brow bone – I used Blanc Type by MAC Cosmetics – This just sets the primer and will make it easier to blend the dark shades I plan to use.

~ STEP 2 ~

I take a warm neutral shade, for my transition colour and place that above my crease – blending it back and forth in a windscreen wiper motions (I chose to go with a mixture of Beaches and Cream with Creme Brûlée both by Makeup Geek). Next I take the light baby pink shade from my Eyes on the 60s palette by BH Cosmetics and using my go to blending brushe, E35 Tapered Blending brush by Sigma and blend that just beneath where I placed my transition shade – using windscreen wiper motions to blend it out thoroughly. As this was to be a very dramatic look I went back in a few times and added more of the baby pink colour till I was happy with the intensity of it.

~ STEP 3 ~

To further intensify this look I chose to go for a red shade, yes I said RED! LOL!  Taking my Crease Brush by Hair and Makeup Addiction and the red shade from the same Eyes on the 60s palette and place that directly into my crease blending it upwards and smoothly into my transition shade. I keep adding to it until I am happy with the intensity of it.

~ STEP 4 ~

After I am happy with the placement of the red shade, I take my NYX Jumbo Pencil in Gold and place that all over my lid, being careful to not take that into my crease. After that I blend out the colour with my finger till it is nice and smooth.

~ STEP 5 ~

Taking a mixture of the light warm brown and the darker brown from the Eyes on the 60s palette I place that over the top of where I put the Gold Jumbo Eye Pencil. I then blend that out and redefine my crease with a clean E45 Small Tapered Blending brush by Sigma. I also take more of the darker shade and concentrate that in my outer V.

~ STEP 6 ~

Next I take Utopia by Makeup Geek (this pigment is AMAZING) and pack it on with my finger – once I am satisfied, I take my Eye Pencil in Black Moon by NARS and line my upper lash line and then smudge it out with my E65 Small Angle brush by Sigma till it has a more smoked out less harsh look. Before I clean up and finish off the look, I got over my transition colour to make sure the red stands out nicely. I also add a bit more of Utopia as I want it really sparkly.

~ FINALE ~

Taking a baby wipe I remove all the fall out from my shadows and pigment – making sure the area is nice and clean ready for foundation. Here I complete my look by curling my lashes using my favourite lash curler by MAC Cosmetics and then apply a couple of coats of Smokey Eye Mascara by Bobbi Brown and Le Volume de Chanel Mascara. Once that has set, I then apply my false lashes (I told you this was an intense look!). The ones I chose are called Girl, You Craazy! by Velour Lashes. I love this brand… you can honestly wear them (provided you take care of them) at least 20 times before having to get a new pair. I actually stop and ask me where I’d got them from. Once they are on and all set, I then take some of the red shade mixed with the dark brown shade from the Eyes on the 60s palette and blend that under my lower lash line with my E21 Small Smudge brush by Sigma and really smoke it out. I apply some the Smokey Eye Mascara by Bobbi Brown on my lower lashes and line my water line with the same Black Moon Eye Pencil by NARS and there you have it! The eyes are done! I then of course applied all my foundation and blush etc. I have also created a little video if you want to check that out also – its fairly basic but you at least you can get an idea of what I’ve been talking about in the steps above…

So I hope you enjoyed this very different and somewhat intense look. I did actually choose to pair this with the Rebel Lipstick by MAC Cosmetics but I forgot to photograph it… SILLY ME! Would love to hear what you think … Next post will be on my hair and how I styled it for this look.

Till next time XOXO

Everyone loves a quickie…

I think we’ve all been there… waking up to the sound of your alarm only to realize you hit that snooze one too many times, and now you’re running uber late; maybe you’ve been up all night, sick; realising that extra glass of pinot you had last night wasn’t the best decision, and you now look how you feel – rubbish; whatever the case here is a quick 10 minute makeup routine to help save time and get you out the door looking your usual fine self 😉

~ PREPPING & PRIMING ~

This is the first step, apply your daily moisturizer – here I use a combination of Embryolisse and Bobbi Brown’s Hydrating Face Cream. Once that has settled in, I then like to apply a small amount of MAC’s Strobe Cream as an illuminator for under my foundation. I love this product because I find that it can really helps to refresh and boost the look of dull, flat or tired-looking skin. It also contains iridescent particles to brighten and clarify skin more so that if you just used foundation on its own.

~ FOUNDATION ~ 

For this routine I choose to use a Bobbi Brown’s BB Cream in Medium. Why BB Cream? Traditionally BB creams (Beauty Balm Cream) are known for their all-in-one approach. Each brand will have their own formula, but most are designed to do everything from healing acne to minimizing wrinkles and dark spots. As far as coverage goes I find they fall somewhere between tinted moisturizer and foundation. Personally I love using BB creams as I find they can give me quite a dewy, airbrushed look – perfect for days when you want little coverage or you don’t have the time to devote to looking too “made up”. Here I apply a small amount and really work on buffing it into my skin using my Real Techniques Buffing Brush.

~ CONCEALER ~

Using my trusty Corrector in Light to Medium Peach by Bobbi Brown, using my finger I place it under my eye to help cancel out my dark circles. Taking NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Ginger I place it in a triangle shape under my eyes and use my Beauty Blender to help blend it out evenly.

~ BLUSH AND POWDER ~

To set my face I apply a very light dusting of Chanel Natural Loose Powder in 20 Claire with my Real Techniques Blush Brush. Using my Sigma F10 brush I apply MAC’s Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul to my cheeks and blend it up into my temples and forehead to help warm up my complexion.

~ HIGHLIGHT & FINISH~

Taking my Multitasker brush by Hair and Makeup Addiction I apply my fave highlighter – Mary-Lou Manizer by The Balm down the bridge of my nose, the high points of my cheek bones and a little under my eyes and forehead. I also apply a quick coat of mascara, comb my brows and out the door I go!

So there you have it, I’ve compiled a quick video showing how I do all this, if you’d like to check it out you can click on the link below:

TILL NEXT TIME

xoxo

Valentines Day Look 4

Firstly Happy Valentines Day my loves!! I hope you’re having a lovely day no matter what you’re doing. Well, here is the fourth and final look in my Valentines Day series. This is my take on a smokey eye… So if you want to see how I do this read onwards xx

~STEP 1~

As this is a strong look with dark colours I definitely don’t want this look to crease so I prime my eyes with Shadow Insurance by Too Faced Cosmetics. Then taking Crème Brûlée by Makeup Geek on my E45 Small Tapered Blending Brush by Sigma I place this just above my crease and blend thoroughly.

~STEP 2~

Using the same brush I take Cocoa Bear by Makeup Geek and blend into my crease and upwards into where I placed Crème Brûlée. Blend until the two colours transition smoothly.

~STEP 3~

Next I take my Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Eye Pencil in Jet (I am obsessed with this btw – it is the only eyeliner pencil that actually stays put and doesnt smudge underneath my eyes) and roughly line my upper lash line.

~STEP 4~

Taking The Shader Brush from my Hair and Makeup Addiction Luxury Set, I blend the liner over my lid. When doing this make sure to NOT blend it into you crease – stop just before the crease. If you take it further you’re going to end up with too much black, you will lose your transition colours and end up looking like a panda or two burnt holes in a blanket

~STEP 5~

After I have blended the eyeliner over my lid I take Corrupt by Makeup Geek on the same brush The Shader we used to blend in the eyeliner. To place this on the lid I gently pack it on in patting motions.

~STEP 6~

BLEND! This is the key element in making this look work. So I take the same E45 brush we used earlier and take a little more Cocoa Bear and start blending Corrupt and Cocoa Bear together until the two become seamless and transition nicely.

~FINISH~

Once I am happy with the blending of the two colours. I apply my fave mascara – Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus. Then I line my lower lash line with Mocha by Makeup Geek with The Detailer by Makeup and Hair Addiction and add a coat of Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus. Then to lighten my inner corner a bit I add the colour Nylon by MAC Cosmetics with my finger tip and then applied a nude lip using the shade Shy Girl by MAC Costmetics and TA DAAAAA all finished!

So I know this look is a little bold but I hope you like it and if you try it out and like it I would love to hear about it.

Till next time xoxo

Valentines Day Look – No. 2

Hey Loves,

As I mentioned in my previous post – I would be doing 4 looks, so here is my second look. It’s a bit different and possibly not for everyone, but I find this really makes my eyes pop. So if you’re interested to see how I create this look, read on 🙂

~STEP 1~

So as always I start off my priming my eye with my trusty Shadow Insurance by Too Faced Cosmetics. Then taking the colour Red Brick by MAC Cosmetics on my Sigma E25 Blending brush, I blend this into and well above my crease. I keep blending until the colour becomes a softer shade.

~STEP 2~

To deepen my crease – I take Handwritten by MAC Cosmetics on my Sigma E36 Blending brush and blend that directly into my crease.

~STEP 3~

For my lid I wanted a nice bronze colour so I chose my favourite shade – Woodwinked (again) by MAC Cosmetics. Taking my Sigma E35 Blending brush I blend that into and all over my lid. I then take the E36 brush I used earlier and go back over my crease to make sure the colour stays strong.

~STEP 4~

To smoke this look out a bit more I chose to darken my outer V with the shade Espresso by MAC Cosmetics and the same E36 brush used earlier, and concentrate this colour directly into my outer V and taking it a little of the way into my crease but not too far as I want to keep Handwritten the prominent crease colour.

~STEP 5~

So now that I have the colours all on and blended nicely to how I want them – I then line my upper lash line with Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in black by Eyeko. This time I didn’t take this out for a winged cat eye effect as there is already a lot going on with the colours. Together with a few coats of mascara, lining my upper lashline will give the illusion of much thicker lashes. So from here I just apply my foundation like normal…

~STEP 6 – optional~

This step is optional. After I applied the my favourite Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus (which you could do to and then add some to your  bottom lashes and be on your way) – I wanted to make it a bit more intense. So I took my new favourite brush for under eye detailing – aptly named The Detailer by Hair and Makeup Addiction and use Red Brick again – placing it all along my lower lash line ensuring its well blended. Using my Accent Brush from Real Techniques I apply a small amount of Espresso blending it into my lower lashline where I placed Red Brick.

~Finish~

To finish off the look I add a few coats of Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus to my lower lashes and a nude lipstick (the names worn off it :() there you have it… I hope you like it I know it’s a bit different but if I always did the same look you and I would both be bored 🙂

 

Till next time xoxo

Valentines Day Look – No. 1

Hello my loves,

It’s hard to miss Valentine’s Day coming up, and whether you’re looking forward to being romantically spoilt by your man or are dreading the date with the strength of a thousand suns, you should look fabulous. Stock up on wine, get the boy or your single girlfriends around and recreate one of these looks so you look hot for the occasion. This is the first of the four Valentine’s styles I’ll be showing to you this week.

~STEP 1~

I primed my eye with my trusty Shadow Insurance by Too Faced. Then taking Blanc Type by MAC Cosmetics, I blended that all over my lid and up to my brown bone with my E35 Tapered Blending brush by Sigma.

~STEP 2~

Taking Malt by MAC Cosmetics I use my E45 Small Tapered Blending brush by Sigma and place that in and just above my crease. Make sure this is blended out completely and there are no harsh lines. The idea is to create a soft shadow effect.

~STEP 3~

As I want a little bit of shine to the lid I use a mixture of Shimma Shimma and Vanilla Bean by Makeup Geek and blend that all over the lid with the same E35 brush I used earlier. Then I take the E45 brush I used for my crease and go back over my crease to strengthen the colour.

~STEP 4~

As I want to sharpen up my crease a little more, I take my E36 Blending brush (perfect for precise application to the crease)by Sigma and the shade Moondust by Makeup Geek and apply it using windscreen wiper motions, blending it directly into the crease.

~STEP 5~

Then taking a baby wipe I quickly clean up under my eyes and then create a sharp line on the side of my eye (this is how I mark out where my liner will go).

~STEP 6~

Now if you want you could leave the look as it is and just apply mascara and it would still look lovely. I however chose to add a cat eye flick. Now I understand that this isnt easy but the only way you can improve is to practice practice and then practice some more. I personally find it easiest to start by drawing a line across my upper lash line. So for todays look I wanted a more matt finish for my eyeliner so I went with my trusty fave – Schwing Liner by The Balm.

~STEP 7~

Then I draw a line out to however far I want it and then take it back down and fill it in to my desired thickness. Excuse the poor quality of this liner today as my hands were a little shakey (I may or may not have had a few drinks the night before… dont judge me). Again this is personal preference but I like to take the same shadow I used in my crease and line the lower lash lne with it. So I took the colour Moondust again and lined my lower lashline and then finished off the look with a few coats of Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus on top and bottom lashes… TA DAAAA!

~STEP 8 – optional~

So from here you could just put on some clear lip gloss, a nude or a coloured lipstick. I’ve shown the look below with a coloured lip. Here I am wearing Sheen Supreme lipstick in the shade Candy Apple:

Well I hope you liked this look, its a pretty simple look but I like it because it allows you to go from day to night and you can apply any lip colour you want. Depends on how daring you want to be 😉

Till next time xoxo

Fancy Dress

Hey peeps!

Hope you’ve all been well and enjoyed your weekends 🙂 Its been quite some time since I’ve posted anything but I’ve just been so busy… But I’m back now and look forward to more regular updates and posts 🙂

So, today I wanted to talk a little bit about Fancy Dress…. I don’t know about you guys but when I hear a party is fancy dress I can’t help but shudder a little. It’s not that I don’t like to dress up, have fun and be silly, but to be perfectly honest the majority of the time I cant be bothered to source an outfit. I also don’t really want to go out and buy something new and I’m sure as hell not creative enough to sew anything (I actually once sewed my shirt to my tablecloth… yup true story).

What I like to do is find a way to interpret the theme that best suits me 🙂 Then I delve into my makeup kit and see what I can come up with… Here are two examples of recent fancy dress parties I went to where I chose my makeup to be my costume.

~ Christmas in July ~

A friend of mine had for his 30th Birthday a Christmas in July theme – very appropriate seeing as his birthday was in July 🙂 Most people came to the party in outrageously bad and funny Christmas jumpers, some people came as cold/snow inspired outfits which were all great, but I wanted to take it a step further so I decided to paint my face up like one of Santa’s Reindeer’s.

This look was surprisingly easy to create…. scroll down for the steps on how to get this look.

… Step 1 …

Prime the face with moisturizer and let that sink in. Once that has sunk in I applied a light coverage foundation just on the bottom half of my face – for this I used Makeup Forever’s HD foundation. I then set it with a translucent powder.

… Step 2 …

Time to really get to work – lets start with the eyes. As we want these to be our main feature of the whole look we want this to be a fairly strong white. You can use a few different things for this, a white eyeliner pencil or MAC’s Chrome Cake, or even white face paint – to mark out the eye areas and set them. I however wanted this look to remain soft and not too hard or stiff which can often happen when using face paint. I chose to use the Make Up Store’s High Tech Lighter in Stardust and place that all around and on my eyes – taking it down the centre of my nose and up above my brows and onto my forehead. As this is a creamy highligher I needed to set it – so I chose to use another Make Up Store product – their Microshadow in White.

… Step 3 …

Now that the white outline is set, I want to define my cheeks and give them a darker look to help add some more dimension to my face. Taking Makeup Forever’s HD Foundation again but in a much darker shade I used my 130 Short Duo Fibre Brush by MAC to place and blend the foundation into my cheeks, just under my eyes and up onto the top of my forehead – and adding some more white on and blending the two so they transition nicely.

… Step 4 …

Once Im happy the darker shade and white are all blended nicely I then take some white face paint I have at home (you can get from any toy or craft store) and using the end of a round brush – small to medium size – and dip the end of it into the face pain and place the dots where I want them on my cheeks and forehead.

… Step 5 …

Taking my contour kit in medium by Sleek Makeup and my much beloved Nars Ita Brush (totes perfect for contouring) I contour my cheeks rather heavily adding further dimension to my face. I also add some shading down the sides of my nose, and under my jaw line and down my neck.

… Step 6 …

Here is where it got a little tricky/fiddley. Again you can use a couple of different mediums for this such as black face paint, black chrome cake, gel or liquid liner. I went for a combination using Maybelline’s Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner going over that with Rimmel’s Gkan Eyes Liquid Liner. As you can see I outlined the sides of my nose and blacked in the end of my nose. I then joined the lines that ran down the sides of my nose into my brows and just coloured in my brows (I have thick brows as it is so didn’t do too much). The tricky part was doing the eyes, however if you take it bit by bit and slowly you can’t really get it wrong. First I would suggest lining your upper lash line with a thin line and taking it down further past your tear duct. Then draw in a new crease line above your eye with it slightly flicking out towards the end in an un-filled cat eye shape. To make the eyes appear large – draw a new lower lash line below your actual lower lash line.

… Step 7 …

Now I apply a set of false lashes – any will do but I would definitely recommend using some soft fluttery ones to help give you a more wide-eyed look – then taking another set of false lashes (preferably the same as the ones you used on your lids) and place them along the top of the bottom line you drew underneath your eye. Make sure you turn them over so that when you apply them they sit nicely and flare out evenly. To finish up the eyes just give the upper lashes a quick coat of mascara to blend them in with your real lashes. I chose to go over again and sharpen up some of the lines with my liquid liner.

FINALE!

To finish off the look I chose to line my lips with a nude lip liner by Chanel in the colour no. 34 Natural (they are particularly amazing as they really hold your lip colour in place). Putting MAC’s lipstick in over the top and placing a little clear gloss over the top.

So as you can see it’s not 100% perfect but I don’t think it’s too bad for having to be ready in an hours time 🙂

~ Ace of Hearts ~

My friend had a 30th birthday and her theme was Red as she is a redhead – so I thought of what things were red that I would go as so I decided to go as the Ace of Hearts. I was inspired from a Halloween face chart from 2009 that MAC designed (see first picture below). So please check the pictures out below (excuse the poor quality as I took them on my iPhone in bad lighting :))

This look was surprisingly easy to create…. scroll down for the steps on how to get this look.

(without the red lips)

… Step 1 …

While I love my thick brows, unfortunately by no means can they be covered up with a little foundation or white paint. For this we need something a little more dense – to block out my eye brow I took a glue stick I had at home and went over my brow with it, then taking little chunks off the stick I patted it down over my brow to cover it completely. I then left this to set and to get nice and hard.

… Step 2 …

Once the eyebrow was set, I took a pan cake type foundation in a neutral colour from my Ben Nye Essential Matte Foundation Palette, I patted that over the top of the glue to blend it in with my skin. Then taking a transparent powder and just patting that over the top to help set the foundation.

… Step 3 …

Once that was dried, I primed my face by using my Embryolisse 24Hr Miracle Cream and applied Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation (in True Beige) mixed with MAC Strobe Cream using my Beauty Blender sponge.

… Step 4 …

To create the card I outlined the shape of the card using a white eyeliner pencil, then taking my High Tech Lighter in Stardust by The Makeup Store, I patted that down over my eye and over my eyebrow and filling out the rest of the shape of the card.

… Step 5 …

To set the high lighter I took a Microshadow in White by The Makeup Store which actually left me with a lovely pearly white colour instead of a flat white effect which is what I would have had if I’d used a face paint or something like that.

… Step 6 …

Taking my MAC Chrome Cake in Red I spritzed it with MAC Fix Plus spray took a brush (an old paint brush I had lying around. I would advise NOT using your good eyeliner brushes) and painted on the A’s and the hearts – top and bottom. Using the Black Chrome Cake and using the same spray I then outlined the whole card.

… Step 7 …

Moving over to my other eye I applied Bobbi Brown’s Metallic Long-Wear Cream Shadow in Starry Night all over my lid and blended it up into my crease. Taking a black shimmery shadow from my Coastal Scents 252 ulitmate palette I applied that over the top of the cream shadow to intensify the eye. Warming up my crease I used MACs Cork and applied my Goddess Mascara by Eye of Horus to my lashes

… Step 8 …

Taking a random pair of bold lashes I had by Model Rock Lashes (sorry they’re really old and I don’t think they make them anymore) I applied them to the one eye (top and bottom)

FINALE!

To finish off my look I contoured my cheeks using a dark cream foundation from my MAQ Pro from the 6 colour Fard Creme Foundation palette, and applied MAC’s Mineralize Blush in Warm Soul using MAC’s Soft and Gentle to highlight my cheekbone. Lips – I applied MAC’s Russian Red to my lips and voilà I was ready!

~ KISS ~

I was lucky enough to be asked by these guys to help transform them into KISS for their work Glamour Rock Christmas party. Below is the original band, KISS and after that is my recreation (again please excuse the poor quality as I took them on my iPhone in bad lighting :))

This look was easy but fiddley. There aren’t really too many steps except to copy the design onto the faces by looking and recreating it. The only products I used for this were:

•  MAC Chrome Cakes in Red, Black and White
• Acrylic Paint in Landscape Green.
• NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Pots and Pans
• My Coastal Scents 252 Palette

That’s me in the middle – on my way to my Christmas party… don’t normally get that dressed up to work 🙂

So hopefully this gives you some inspiration for future fancy dress parties or if you just want to something a little different…

I LOVE GLITTER

HELLO MY LOVELIES!

I don’t know about you but this beautiful warm weather we are having has me all excited to create new spring summer looks with soft dewy skin. I love at this time of year to create looks that have minimal effort but maximum impact. Personally I like to embrace the warmer colours and keep it as natural as possible. One thing I do love to add is glitter/shimmer/pigments to my eyes to add for an easy way to jazz up a simple spring time to summer look. So read on for how I go about adding glitter to my eyes…

~ STEP 1 ~

Priming the eye is essential to help the eyeshadow colour you use to have something to hold onto. Here I chose to go with one of my two holy grail MAC primers – M.A.C’s Paint Pot in the colour Painterly and placed that all over my lid and up to my brow bone using my Sigma P80 brush.

~ STEP 2 ~

Applying M.A.C’s eyeshadow in colour Jest all over my lid and Blanc Type underneath my brow with my Sigma E55 brush. Blending both out till they are seamless and blended without any harsh lines.

 ~ STEP 3 ~

The taking my E45 brush by Sigma I blended M.A.C’s Cork and Haux into my crease and blended well and repeated until it was a dark as I wanted.

 

~ STEP 4 ~

Here is where it can get a little fiddly… We want to apply the glitter and to ensure it stay on and doesn’t fall out as the day/night progresses, I then apply a small amount of lash glue over the top of my lid with my finger. Then, taking my M.A.C 242 brush I take some of the glitter (I used Glitter – White (Green Undertone by Bitch Slap Cosmetics) and pat it quickly across where I put the lash glue.

My advice is to tap out a little of the glitter you want to use on a tissue so you can dab it easily and reduces the mess made by accidental spilling of glitter containers or getting any glue into your container. Do one eye at a time and keep your eye closed until the glue and glitter are set. Then repeat on the other eye.

 

~ STEP 5 ~

Finish the look off by adding liner to the top lid if you want, it’s a personal preference really but personally I like it with liquid liner as I feel it finishes the eye off nicely and makes it look a little more dramatic gives it a sharper edge. Then coat the lashes with some mascara – as little or as much as you like – and if you want to add further flair you can apply a pair of false lashes. For my finished look I went with both – I used Rimmel’s Glam Eyes Professional Liquid Liner in black and topped it off with a coat of mascara and Lashes in a Box style no. 2

 

 

Thank you for reading and I would love to hear from you so if you have any comments, tips, advice, questions or anything please leave me a comment below – I would love to hear from you 🙂

Till next time xox