Category Archives: Make Up

Eye make up challenge: blue smokey

So, I have been a bit rubbish with my eye make up challenge; overall, I was a bit slack for a couple of months with the blog, but now all is back to normal!

I tried this lovely light and dark blue eye make up recently, and was quite pleased with the results. It was quite simple to put together, and I can see it being beautiful with various shades: green, pinks, or even orange/yellow.

I first applied a primer then brushed a light baby blue all over my lids, the lower lash line and the inner corner of my eye. I used a pencil brush to add the darker blue at the crease then used a smoker brush to blend and extend the darker colour towards my temples. Using a small shader brush I lined one third of the lower lash line with the darker blue. I put some light pigment by the brow bone and blended down to the dark blue, followed by some golden dust. Mascara was applied, followed by a set of lashes. I added more light pigment to the inner corner of the eye, brushed my eyebrows and filled them a little bit, as I usually do.

I think this is a good look for a night out; you could certainly put more dramatic eyelashes.  I usually wear a more smokey look, but will certainly try this “lighter version” next time I go out!

Products I used:

  • Sephora light blue eyeshadow from pallete
  • MAC dark blue eyeshadow in Deep Truth
  • MAC eyelashes 33
  • Kryolan Glamour Sparks in golden
  • MAC eye kohl in Smoulder
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • MAC brushes 208, 217, 219, 231, 239 and 263.
  • DUO waterproof eyelash glue
  • Smashbox Photo-op under-eye brightener
  • Maybelline One by one volum’ express mascara

Level of difficulty: 

Eye make-up look challenge: rainbow

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

The sun has been out and I am in a more colourful mood. I always wanted to try rainbow colours in my eyes, but never had an occasion. as it is quite bold and not your week day in the pub kinda look. For that reason, I think my eye make-up look challenge is the perfect way of trying this!

Just as a reminder, the challenge is my way of venturing into looks I would probably never try; it is also a good practice for techniques.

I looked online for some inspiration, but ended up coming up with my version. I am not sure I would ever wear it, may be appropriate for carnival or other flamboyant occasion, but it ended up looking quite pretty – *maybe* I should have the black liner thinner (shhh, don’t tell anyone, I was going to, but had a little accident and as the six-colour blending was already in place, I decided to overlook the mistake and build it up a bit). Still I am very pleased with it. If I were to use this, I would probably slap some fake eye lashes on.

I didn’t have many problems, only blending the blue and green was a bit odd; I had to really pile eyeshadow on  and complement with eyeliner, which I also blended a bit, to get a good distinction of the colours and some definition.

It is a good practice for blending, as the colours are so distinct, and I experimented with a few brushes and eyeshadows rarely used before, so I am glad I tried… my word for it is vivacious, and it really cheered me up!

Products I used:

  • e.l.f. eyelid primer in sheer
  • beautyuk eyeshadow collection in number  2
  • Collection 2000 Extreme felt tip eyeliner in black
  • Smashbox Photo-op under eye brightener
  • MAC pigment in vanilla
  • MAC eyebrow set
  • Maybelline One by One mascara in black
  • MAC brushes  – eyes: 212SE, 219SE, 231, 217, 239SE, 208SE and 263; face: 190 and 167SE (the face brushes were used to clear spills and apply powder/brightener under the eyes)
  • Studio eyeliners in winter white, summer green and blue velvet
  • MAC eye kohl in smoulder

Level of difficulty:

Beauty products and make up I cannot live without

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

Most of my eyeshadows!

We all have them, right? Some swear by a handful of products that keep them beautiful on a daily basis… however, you are *slightly* more exaggerated,  like myself, you probably notice that your staple beauty products cannot fit in one hand, or two… better bring out the sack…

I decided to list my essential make up items as well as my staple beauty products, as I believe they go hand in hand beautifying my everyday!

There is an awful lot more stuff and I have to say, I am quite good using most of the stuff I have

Drum roll…. here is my tried, tested and loved list:

Make up

  • MAC foundation, most of the times Selct FPS 15 in NC37 – I have tried many foundations in my life (trust me, I am a girl who had severe acne when younger), and this is the one I stuck with for quite sometime. Great to apply, it has a medium coverage. I am, at the moment, trying MAC’s Matchmaster, which has slightly better coverage than the Select and I am very happy with it too. I sometimes mix my foundation with moisturiser for everyday use or build up for hard-wearing make up.
  • MAC Mineralize skinfinish natural powder, in medium dark – cannot live without, usually brush on top of my foundation to add colour, but sometimes just on its own it offers you good coverage without being heavy, at all.
  • MAC Sheertone Shimmer blush in Sunbasque – so versatile…. could, in desperate times, double up as a bronzer, it goes with most colours. When I am full make up on, I use it only on the apple of the cheeks, with Mineralize blush in Chic Couple under the cheek bone for extra definition.
  • MAC Mineralize skinfinish bronzer in Gold deposit – not too overpowering in colour, gives you that lovely glow, suitable for the winter and summer, can be built up…. great for a bot of contouring.
  • MAC eye shadow in Carbon –  another super versatile item. An intense matte black, I wear it as for fierce smokey eyes or on a daily basis as eye liner.
  • Mascara usually Maybelline Falsies, but lately been dabbling with YSL – you can check the review here, Soap & Glory and Maybelline One by One.
  • Eye liner – I have and use many different ones. The one I am quite into at the moment is the The Collection 200o Extreme 24 hour felt tip liner in black. I use eye shadow as eyeliner, gel liners from Maybelline and MAC.
  • MAC brow shader duo – a nice little matchbox like packaging with a dark shadow for your eyebrow and a lighter for the brow bone. It has been discontinued, I am lucky I have two and they last forever!
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla – so great, really gives your brow bone that extra, glamourous sheen, lifting your brows up to the sky! Amazing buy, a little pot will last you a long time.
  • Eye shadow – I own a plethora of shades… cannot get enough of eye shadow, could not pick a favourite, as it varies with my mood.
  • Lancôme Color Fever lipstick in Hot Stuff Rouge: a metallic red I think this colour has been discontinued, which is  shame, as it is the best red ever! It is not too bright so suitable for day wear, it has a smooth creamy texture, so it glides when you apply – it is so good, I don’t even have to use a lip liner. I love it!
  • MAC Russian Red lipstick – hot. That’s all.
  • Lipcote lipstick fixer – I swear by this product. After reading reviews that it dries your lips more than fixes the colour, I was a bit unsure about buying it. My lips are quite dry, and this product hasn’t made it any worse. It fixes the colour beautifully, and I never wear a red on a night out without applying this on top. It stays put most of the night and it won’t stain glasses when you drink. Great!
  • A primer. Been using MAC’s Prep+Prime Skin for a few years and recently discovered Murad Hybrids Skin Perfecting primer (dewy finish) which did wonders for my skin – a brilliant primer for acne scarred skin.  I also use Lancôme’s La Base Pro.
  • Eyelid primer – at the moment using e.l.f and happy with it.

Beauty:

  • Face moisturiser – Nivea visage Oil free moisturising fluid is great value for money. I also wear Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, but this Nivea one is a great budget alternative – the texture is pretty much the same, it absorbs quickly, it moisturises well and my skin likes it.
  • Victoria’s Secret hydrating body lotion in Pure Seduction – been wearing it for a good 10 years now and it is the only moisturiser  my body has seen. Love the consistency, the hydration and the smell is to die for. Sadly, not largely available in the UK (soon to be though), so I stock up from duty free, and suffer the occasional “moisturiser depletion anxiety” when I think I will run out before another trip abroad.
  • Victoria’s Secret ultra-moisturizing hand and body cream, also in Pure Seduction- just like above, but I use it as a hand moisturiser.  It is just great, more supple than the body lotion, also good for elbows and knees.
  • St. Tropez Everyday Airbrush fake tan – easy to apply, never had streaks, the tan looks natural – worth noting I do not abuse it!The smell could be better, but could also be much worse, so overall, I like it and rely on it.
  • Lip balm – my lips are quite dry, and I suffer a lot in the winter; you won’t see without Vaseline lip therapy cocoa butter and lately créme bruleé or cherry Carmex.
  • Clarins Cleansing milk and Toning lotion for combination/oily skin – I know I should wear it twice daily, but I usually do it once, before going to bed. The toning lotion is also a good astringent, and I wear it on my eye lids as part of my eye make up prep!
  • Clinique 3 step system – I usually do this in the mornings. At the moment, I am using the soap bar and clarifying lotion 2, for dry combination skin.
  • Eye drops – My eyes are also very dry, in the wonter aggravated by heating and in th summer by hayfever (I know, lucky me, eh?!), so I use itchy eye drops a lot. I’ve been using Optrex Itchy eye drops and it helps a lot. In the winter,  I usually change to a moisturising eye drop, like Optrex Dry or Actimist eye spray (which I find great!)
  • Batiste dry shampoo  – an absolute saviour. When younger, I used to wash my hair every day, because it is quite fine and looks dirty in 24 hours. Not anymore, dry shampoo (and ballerina buns) changed my life.
  • L’Oréal Absolute eye & lip make-up remover – another saviour, been wearing for a long time, cheap and cheerful, does the job brillianty.
  • Kérastase Nutritive Nutri-termique hair mask –  this is a miracle worker, using it once a week for about a year really changed my hair’s condition. Really amazing product.
  • Kérastase Lait Nutri-sculpt leave in smoothing hair foundation – in combination with the hair mask, this also changed my hair – it enabled me to grow it with the best condition my hair has ever been.
  • Nail varnish – lots and lots of it, in a rainbow-like palette!!!
What about you? What are the products you cannot live without?  Have you tried any of my favourites? What did you think?

Eye make-up look challenge – electric blue eyeliner

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

One of the eye make up looks that caught my eye in recent fashion weeks was Anna Sui’s winged blue eyeliner, with a pretty dot on the lower lash line.

So this week I decided to re-create my own version on it, but with a half circle on the centre of the lower lash line, similar to the half sequins used at Givenchy SS12, instead of Anna Sui’s smaller full dot slightly off centre.

In my treasure chest that is the Sephora palette I bought a while back, there are six gel eyeliners, including an electric blue one, so I decided that it was perfect to execute this look.

I prepped my eyes with a primer, dusted with a bit of pigment to give it a glow, used clear sticky tape to work as a stencil so my line would be sharp and precise and voilá – I drew from the inner corner with a brush, as if applying normal eyeliner, but extended it more towards the end of my brows to make it more dramatic.

Then, I built on it, giving thickness on the lid. I took some pictures of it thinner and thicker, and I like them both.

Bearing in mind this took me literally five minutes to achieve on each eye, I think this look is a winner – especially because of its versatility; you can use any colour you want, make the flick shorter and also drop the dot on the lower lash line! If no gel eyeliner is at hand, it can also be achieved by wetting eyeshadow then applying with an angled brush, it will though, be harder to achieve a good coverage and durability, depending on the colour and the eyeshadow. Wet pigments would also work a treat.

Products I used:

  • Sephora gel eyeliner in electric blue, from palette
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • MAC brushes 209SE and 208
  • Maybelline brush (comes with the  Lasting Drama gel liner)
  • Maybelline One by one Volume Express mascara
  • E.L.F eyelid primer
  • MAC eyebrow set
  • Clear sticky tape

Rating:

Eye make-up look challenge: white and gold

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

This week I tried to re-create this quite minimalist white and gold eyes. They are meant to be a techno-chic kinda look; to me, they look a bit futuristic and frosted. Kept thinking I should be using light blue and silver instead of gold, for a snow queen look!

I am not sure in which occasion I would, if I wore to go out with this eye make up. I quite like the white “line” in the middle,  there is plenty of shimmer, and when you close you eyes, it looks very pretty and quite unusual.

Instead of using gold leaves, I used Kryolan’s Supracolour from the Charles H. Fox shop in Covent Garden, so even though my look was quite close to the one in the book, the finish was much smoother, as Supracolour is a paste-like product.
The lashes were meant to be quite clumped, but I don’t like that look very much,  so I just clumped it a little bit.  This look is, overall, quite easy to achieve.

Products I used:

  • Charles H. Fox Kryolan Supracolour metallic in gold;
  • Eyeshadow from Sephora pallete (white and shimmery light gold)
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • Smashbox Photo Op Under eye brightener;
  • Studio eye pencil in Winter white
  • E.L.F. eyelid primer in Sheer
  • Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara
  • MAC brushes 208, 231, 239 and 263
  • MAC eyebrow set (discontinued)

Level of difficulty:

Eye make-up look challenge: purple and green

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

click to enlarge

This week I have tried what is described in the book as a “jewelled” look with purple and green. Mine didn’t turn out that jewel-like, maybe I need some extra shimmer eyeshadow (mental note!) to get extra sparkling effect…. Anyway…

I love the contrast between purple and green, always been a big fan of the combination (when I was very young I had a lime green and purple bikini!) so this really appealed to me. I manage to get very close to the result in the book (minus the super shimmer), and it took me less than 10 minutes per eye to achieve! The secret is wetting the eyeshadow, so you get extra bright colour.

A fun eye make-up look, to add a splash of colour to a black number, to compliment a purple or green one or even colour clash! For me, this is quite a versatile look, as I could easily have interchanged colours. Bearing in mind it was very quick, I see as a definite winner!

Products I used:

  • MAC eyeshadow in Expensive Pink
  • Sephora palette eyeshadows in different purple and green shades
  • MAC pigment in Vanilla
  • Smashbox Photo Op Under eye brightener
  • E.L.F. eyelid primer in Sheer
  • Soap & Glory Thick and Fast mascara
  • MAC eye kohl in Smoulder
  • MAC brushes 208, 217, 219, 227, 231, 239 (eyes) and 167SE (face)
  • MAC eyebrow set (discontinued)

Level of difficulty:

Fashion week beauty – A/W 12-13

Posted in Beauty, Fashion, Make Up by
Meadham Kichhoff a/w 12-13, image from vogue.co.uk

Meadham Kichhoff A/W 12-13, image from vogue.co.uk

Fashion week comes round one more time in London town, and as I work near Somerset House, the home of LFW, I have been spotting of sorts of weird and wonderful fashionistas around. And that put me in the mood to scour for pretty make up and nails amongst the (mostly) beautiful clothes.

Once again, I have been trashing the London and New York editorials and squinting at the zoomed in pictures to spot nails and make up trends, or just things I like.

I noticed many minimalist, bare face looks and clear or nude nails. Have to say, I have no interest on those at all – so move over… Here are my thoughts on the exciting ones:

Before I go into specifics, I must open with Meadham Kirchhoff which once again dazzled with make up and nails – for the talons, a feast of patterned, colourful and mismatched appearances. For the make up, colourful eyes, with geometrical patterns, also mismatched, half coloured lips and towards the end, fully painted faces. And wacky hair. If for any show, I would be begging to watch this one. Absolutely beautiful, and exquisite.  A brilliant case of beauty being an integral part of the outfits.

Black nail polish has been spotted avast: at Antonio Berardi (with beautiful light coloured half moons), L’Wren Scott and Vera Wang. Vivienne Westwood Red Label presented exquisite inscripted hands and nails, but some plain black.  PPQ had lovely gold nails pointy with black tip designed as a triangle, almost like a heart at the end, facing outside. Pretty.

Still on nails, I spotted lavender blue for Erdem, almost electric blue at Antoni & Alison and deep blue at Anna Sui. House of Holland gave us dogstooth pattern nails, with bright blue and pink backgrounds. Transparent shimmery polish, deep burgundy and hands dipped in gold shimmer appeared at Marchesa (which, by the way, had a stunning collection).

Red lips appeared on Emilia Wickstead and PPQ, as well as at Narciso Rodriguez, with some burgundy, and naked eyes.

Orangey reds and coral lips were seen at House of Holland, Rodarte, Michael Kors, Jonathan Saunders and glossy at Antonio Berardi.

Moschino Cheap & Chic gave us beautiful lilac shimmery lips!

For the eyes, I like the smokey black at L’Wren Scott and eyeliner flicks at Erdem (a high on the lid floating version), Aquascutum (very thick) and Antoni & Alison (smokey), but  Anna Sui delivered my favourite: gorgeous electric blue flicks with a pretty dot at the centre of the lower lash line. Narciso Rodriguez also gave us coral and lime eyeshadow with nude lips and Marchesa presented beautifully gold shimmer lined eyes.

I also enjoyed looking at the coral flushed cheeks at Mulberry. The models looked so fresh and radiant.

Although Meadham Kirchhoff’s colourful extravaganza is my favourite feast-for-the-eyes show, I probably won’t go painting my face blue (unless I dress up as Neytiri), but I see plenty of wearable trends, and I am sure we can all find a few favourites and give them our individual twists to suit our styles!

I highly recommend you take a look at the picture galleries at Vogue for great photos!

Vogue Beauty

Vogue Fashion

Thinking about what trends are hot for Spring/Summer 12? Check my previous posts!

Eye make-up look challenge: black and gold

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by
black and gold eye make up look

click to enlarge

I am very excited to be posting my very first eye make-up look challenge!

After considering my “menu”, I decided to kick off with slightly something different, dare I say, rather dramatic, although quite simple: a gold base with shadowy, geometrical black outline.

I really enjoyed the effect when the eye is closed. Now, I am not sure how much I like the pokey line once my eyes are open (which will be most of the time, right?!). As mentioned on the book, you must have perfectly plucked and groomed eyebrows if you are wearing this look, otherwise it can appear very  messy. I also think it would look great with some false eye lashes!

I really enjoyed doing it, and would maybe consider for some occasions.  I had a little bit of a problem with the line that pokes out, I drew it with the MAC’s 212 brush and shaded with the 231, after a failed attempt; it is quite hard to get the definition needed for the contrast.

Products I used:

Level of difficulty:

So, what did you think of the look? Would you wear it?

Find out what the rating means.

Eye make-up look challenge 2012

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

A while back, I bought a great make up book, Rae Morris’ Makeup: The ultimate guide, which is packed with make up technique explainers and great tips in general. Although the whole book is fabulous, the highlight for me is the eye make-up looks it teaches you to re-create, step by step.

I am a big fan of make-up in general, but crazy about eye make-up and all my life, I favoured big (really, really reeeeally big and  heavy) eyes and just lipgloss. Having fallen in love with red lipstick didn’t quite go with my love of over the top, colourful eye make up, so lately I’ve been sticking to eyeliner with flick, discreet neutrals and to go out, black smokey, sometimes with some variations using a small splash of colour to blend.

This book has, in  away, inspired me to try some different looks for a few reasons: a need to fuel my passion for outrageous eye make up looks; the eagerness to learn new techniques and  ultimately, put the explanation to the test and find out  how easy (or not) it is to achieve the look on each step by step “tutorial”.

I will be trying some of the looks on the book, but also any I spot somewhere else or create myself. The first look will be coming very soon, so stay tuned.

To rate my tentatives, you will find one of this icons on each post:

Easy – pretty straight forward and not too time consuming to achieve look similar to instructions.

Medium – a bit of technique or trial+failure until I achieved look similar to instructions.

Hard – a lot of technique or trial+failure until achieved look similar to instructions.