MAC Pink Pepper and Summer Honey Pressed Pigments

Hey guys!

After a long hiatus, I'm finally back to my beauty writing and it feels great to be able to do it again! I've recently swapped job roles within the pub that I work, which means I can now wear make and nail polish again. Happy days!

Today I'm showing you all a look I created with MAC's 2013 pressed pigments collection. Some of this collection was limited edition, however a handful were added to the existing range that was introduced in the summer of last year. I have used Pink Pepper and Summer Honey in my look today, which are both LE shades, however at the time of me writing this, both of these shades were available on Selfridges' website. So run, don't walk, and order these if you like them!!

Pink Pepper

Summer Honey

These two shades make such a pretty combination together! I used an Estee Lauder eyeshadow pencil as an adhesive base so that the pigments had something to adhere to. I then used Pink Pepper all over the lid, and blended any harsh lines out with Summer Honey. I then used a Stila waterproof liquid liner to line underneath my eyes and create a flick. On my inner rim is Illamasqua colouring pencil in Elate. The lashes are Make Up Academy Flair lash. 

Have you tried any of the MAC Pressed Pigments yet? Please feel free to share any tips or looks in the comments below!

31 Day Challenge: Day 7- Black & White

Hey guys!

I have seriously been looking forward to today's challenge! I personally think black and white on nails looks uh-mazing! I also bought the most beautiful black nail varnish the other night- have a little look:-

Illamasqua nail varnish in Creator.

 





 

 

Creator is a black jelly base in which irregular shaped silver glitter is suspended. It looks good at two coats, however it looks great with three, which is what you see here. Its quite a runny nail varnish, so be sure to apply a small amount on the nail to work with so it doesn't end up pooling in your cuticles.

 

Despite it being a glitter polish, Creator dries smooth. Drying time is also pretty quick with Creator.

 

 

Above picture: Creator in direct sunlight.

 



 

I love how the glitter is not uniform in Creator-

you can especially see this in the bottle.

 

 

So on my ring finger I did a little taping experiment! I have never tried a taping mani before, so I thought I'd keep it simple with stripes. I painted my nail in Barry M Nail Paint in Matte White and let it completely dry. I then cut some scotch tape into thin strips. I placed these strips onto my skin first, to take away some of the 'stick' so that when I placed them onto my nails, they didn't pull away the white paint. I then painted Creator on the places where there wasn't tape. When Creator was still tacky (but not wet), I gently prised away the tape. I then painted a border around my nails using Creator and a nail art pen.

 

Once everything was completely dry, I applied a glossy top coat. I then applied six diamantes, using top coat as an adhesive and a fine nail brush to apply them. Here's an obligatory close up shot:-

 

 

 

 







Collection 2000 Lasting Colour Lipstick in Berry Blast

After creating all of those Illamasqua looks with the Fundamental palette, I was feeling really creative! As you may recall, this look was my favourite from the whole 'Human Fundamentalism' storyline:-


However, it was only after I had put away my Fundamental palette to give it some rest, that I realised I have a lipstick rather similar to the one used on the model in this picture. I wasn't sure just how similar it really was, so there was only one way to find out: swatch it and blog it! Ha.

I therefore present Collection 2000 (now known as Collection) Lasting Colour Lipstick in Berry Blast. I'm not sure if this shade has survived the repackaging of these lipsticks since the company's name change, but you will probably still be able to find it somewhere.

And here's how it looks on my lips:-

I used my hard angle brush to get a sharp, neat line. I then mattified the lipstick with the purple powder eyeshadow in the Fundamental palette. I then highlighted my cupid's bow like the model's in the Illamasqua pic using Surge liquid metal again, from the Fundamental palette.

So what do you think? I think this is pretty similar to the one used in Illamasqua's picture, but I'm such a sucker for their products, that I'd probably still buy their version anyway!

I promise this is now my last post on the Fundamental palette!

....for now, anyway!

Illamasqua Fundamental Palette- Three Different Looks

As promised, here is my in depth review of the Illamasqua Fundamental Palette. I try not to do what a lot of other blogs do, which is swatch products on my hand/arm. I know as a blog reader, the thing that I want to see the most, and find most useful is actually seeing the product in action. Therefore, I am going to show you three eye looks I created with tbe Fundamental palette, so you can see just how the four shadows inside work together:-

As a reminder, here is the palette again:-

Without flash

With flash

From l-r clockwise: Powder Shadow in Hype, Liquid Metal in Surge,

Powder Shadow in Inception, Cream Pigment in Bedaub.

So, I was playing around with the palette and I knew straightaway I wanted to recreate something akin to the look Illamasqua created here:-

(source)

 

I absolutely LOVE this look, it's by far my favourite look of the Human Fundamentalism story, and probably the easiest to wear at daytime. Here is my interpretation of it:-

I started by building up Inception powder eyeshadow up and above my cocket crease, building iu up even higher into a flick at the outer corner of my eye. I then used Surge metal pigment to trace a line on top of where I had blended Inception. I took this line up to the outer tip of my eyebrowand then back down to the outer corner of my eyesocket and lined all the way underneath my lower lashes. I then took Bedaub cream pigment and built this up above where I'd lined Inception with Surge, thus 'sandwiching' the Surge line. I took Bedaub right out towards the outer corner of my eye, near to the tip of my brow. Finally, I connecting all the lines, by using Surge to highlight under my brow arch. I connecting this line to the other Surge line at the inner corner of my eye. I topped this look off with a set of Eyelure Girls Aloud eyelashes (the Nadine ones) I hope this long description makes sense!

I then created this colour clashing look:-

So here I used Surge liquid metal to line underneath my lower lashes. I then used Hype in the inner corner of my eye, blending upwards above my socket crease. I then blended Inception in the outer corner of my eye and then blended upwards and over Hype. I then continued my line of Surge to just flick up the outer corner of my eye next to Inception. I used some No 7 false eyelashes (Intense Volume) here, and I think they look pretty good, by complimenting but not overpowering the look.

And finally, I wanted to show everyone just how versatile the Fundamental palette is by creating an easy to do daytime look. As part of their Human Fundamentalism collection, Illamasqua have created a beautiful neutrals palette, but I created the look below using the Urban Decay Naked Palette:-

Here I used Virgin from the Naked palette to highlight my brow arch. I then blended Hype in the inner corner of my eye blending outwards and up over my socket crease. I then blended Naked powder in the centre of my eyelid, which I then went back and blended more Hype into, so there was no obvious line where the two eyeshadows met. Finally, I took Buck from the Naked palette and winged this up from the outer corner of my eye, and blended above Naked to give a smoked out effect. I finished the look off with Zero eyeliner and another set of No 7 false eyelashes (Natural Volume)

So there you go, those are the three looks I'm currently experimenting with using the Fundamental palette. Hopefully I have shown you just how versatile this product is! Have you tried anything from the Human Fundamentalism range? If so, let me know what, and how have you used it?!?

Beauty Products I'm Loving This Week

Hey everybody! Hope you're all well. Today is a rather mixed post, because I am going to show you the beauty products that are either a) rocking my world creatively or b) products that I simply cannot live without!

So without further ado, here's the first:-

Illamasqua Fundamental Palette

Without flash

With flash

Shades from l-r clockwise Powder Shadow in Hype, Liquid Metal in Surge, Powder Shadow in Inception and Cream Pigment in Bedaub.

I absolutely adore this palette and have already created a number of looks with it, which I will be posting over the next couple of days. I love how wonderfully bold the colours are in this palette, yet they are surprisingly versatile and I will show you how to use these colours to create a beautiful daytime look. Stay tuned!

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation and Concealer

If you haven't already tried this foundation, you NEED to. Just to give a bit of context on my skin, it is combination/dry, with an oily t-zone, prone to breakouts (especially hormonal breakouts), but I do get a bit of dryness around the jawline, and on my forehead. With this in mind, I normally opt for foundations specifically created for oily skin types, but there was something that particularly attracted me to this foundation... probably the orange packaging! I won't go into too much detail here, as I would like to do a more detailed post, but I will say this much. Wake Me Up is an incredible foundation. It gives my skin a healthy, radiant boost, and makes it look plump and fresh. It also kinda covers over my dry patches and doesn't make them glaringly obvious like Double Wear or Dream Matte Mousse can do. The concealer is also pretty good, as it can be used to cover both dark circles and blemishes.

No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser

No7 has recently revamped their skincare range by renaming and repackaging their products and in this instance, created a brand new product. The packaging recommends this gel cleanser for normal/dry skin, and just lately I have been experiencing quite a lot of dry patches around my jaw and my cheeks have been quite dehydrated. I knew I didn't want to change to a heavier moisturiser, so a richer cleanser like this seemed to be a good solution to boost moisture in my skin without making it too greasy. This cleanser starts as a gel, which then melts away to an oil, which turns rather milky when washed away. It smells DIVINE. It cleans my skin relatively effectively without drying it out. In short, I love it. I look forward to washing my face with this. 'Nuff said.

Garnier Intensive 7 Days Hand Cream for Dry/Extra Dry Hands

I picked this hand cream up when it was on offer in Superdrug. I suffer with dry skin on my hands, my cuticles can be particularly haggard at times (too much contact with nail varnish remover!), and my nails sometimes peel because they are dehydrated. That's why I picked the dry/extra dry formula (there were about two other hand creams in the range). Oh, that and I love the scent of shea butter. As you can see in the pic above, this is a rich hand cream, but it spreads really well over the skin and it quickly absorbed, which is great because I really hate sticky, thich hand creams that take, like, forever to sink in! I recommend this hand cream- great price, great formula and lovely fresh scent.

Revlon Liquid Quick Dry

Since becoming a beauty blogger, who mainly blogs about nail art and nail varnishes, I tend to be waiting around a lot for polish to dry! When I saw this in Boots, I pretty much added it to my basket without hesitation. And it rocks. It dries freshly painted nails to be touch dry within a couple of minutes, and within the hour, they are pretty much nudge proof depending on the drying ability of the colour itself. It gives the nails a glossy finish, and it smells nice. Bonus.

L'Oreal Elvive Nutri Gloss Crystal Sparkling Shampoo

Without flash

With flash

I don't even really need to tell you why I decided to try this, it speaks for itself. A sparkling shampoo. It just kinda bounced off the shelf and into my basket! (I'm such a sucker for packaging!) On a semi-serious note, I normally use the Nutri Gloss light, with the pink bottle and green band, as I have mid length hair that gets greasy quickly, but I really wanted to try this new addition to the Elvive range. To be honest, I can't really tell the difference between the two shampoos, but this certainly looks prettier in my bathroom, and for that shallow reason only, I am gonna keep on buying this!

So there are my current beauty essentials. Are any of these products in your make up bag or on your bathroom shelf? If not, please leave a comment to tell me what your current beauty essentials are!