Face Of The Day - Neutral eye bright lip

I thought I better show my naked palette some love as it has been sitting in the back of my eyeshadow draw gathering dust for ages now! It was a nice sunny day for once so I went for a neutral eye with a bright lip. I have been testing out the Clarins Ever Matte foundation and I'm not sure about it to be honest, I like the coverage but it doesn't seem very matte to me, plus I think it's breaking me out so I guess the hunt for my HG foundation continues.

Products Used:

Face:

Clarins Ever Matte Foundation

Maybelline Mineral Concealer

Mac MSF Natural

Nars Orgasm Blush

Nars Albatross Highlighter

Eyes:

UDPP

UD Sin on inner third of lid

UD Sidecar on rest of lid

UD Smog in crease

UD Virgin as highlight

Revlon Grow luscious

Avon Supershock linker in Golden Fawn under lower lashes

Mac Avenue Fluidline on upper lashline

Lips:

YSL Rouge Volupte 9 Caress Pink

Nails Of The Week - Water Marble Nails With Illamasqua

I have watched so many youtube tutorials on how to water marble, I have tried a couple of times in the past but have always given up after messing up too many times. This time I made sure I had plenty of time to sit down and calmly give it another go and amazingly it worked! Every nail looks completely different but I'm ok with that. I got loads of comments when I was wearing this. I used a selection of Illamasqua polishes, I used Caress as a base coat which you can't even see as the marble covers it up, I then used alternating dots of Collide (bright neon pink), Jo'Mina (Bright Lilac) and Blow (Pastel Yellow). Sorry about the photos, the flash washed the colours out a bit and by the time I noticed I had already removed it, click on the photos to enlarge them and get a better view.

And this is a photo of the mess of tape, cotton buds and pads I was left with afterwards!

Yes it is messy and incredibly time consuming and it does use a lot of polish but personally I think the final result is worth it. I would love to see more water marbling combinations so if you have a favourite one please let me know.

6 Of My Favourite Highlighters

Here are 6 of my favourite highlighters, I have a few more to add to this as I originally did these swatches last summer.

 Emphasize is the subtlest highlighter i own, applied lightly it just gives a lovely sheen rather than glitter. This is perfect for when you don't want it to be obvious you have highlighter on but still benefit from the effect of it.

 This is a gorgeous creamy golden colour, it's very pigmented so a light hand is required. I also use this an eyeshadow sometimes.

This is just a gorgeous peachy/pink highlight. It's not available at Mac at the moment but Accessorize have a merged blush that is very similar.

I love the Illamasqua Illuminators, they don't contain any glitter at all they just have a gorgeous sheen to them, Odyssey is a gorgeous silvery white that works really well on pale skin.

Poised is a gorgeous pimk highlighter, its similar to Benefit's High Beam but I find it much easier to use and prefer the overall effect.

Shell is a lovely subtle highlighter, I have really built up the swatch here but applied lightly it just gives a beautiful golden sheen.

Face Of The Day - L'Oreal Flashback Silver

This is another post that has been sat in my draft folder and I thought it was time it got published. I did this just after I bought the L'Oreal shadow and I still absolutely love it.

Products Used:

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation

Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment as Contour

Make Up Forever HD Powder

Mac Sakura Mineralise Blush

Eyes:

L'Oreal Flashback Silver on lid, crease and under lower lashes

Mac Knight Divine lightly on the outer corners and crease

Mac Blitz & Glitz Fluidline on upper lashline

Covergirl Lashblast Mascara

Lips:

Mac Playtime Cremesheen Lipstick

Nails Of The Week - Barry M Magnetic Violet

I finally managed to get my hands on the last Barry M Magnetic polish, Violet. Well I had to go to Superdrug twice as the the first one I picked up was missing it's magnet! I didn't even notice until I went to use it and nothing happened! The magnet had obviously just not been stuck into the lid of this one. So if you are picking any of these up check the magnet is there before you buy! I know I said the red was my favourite but now I think I have changed my mind as this shade is gorgeous. These photos are taken with what little natural light we have at that the moment.

I love that fact that all the shades come with a different magnet, it makes them a bit different from all the other brands that have put these out so well done Barry M!

Smokey Brown Face Of The Day

This is another post that has been sat in my draft folder since last year. I still love these colours though so thought I would post it now!

Products Used

Face:

Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

Illamasqua Cream Pigment Hollow as Contour

Make Up Forever HD Powder

Illamasqua Blusher in Excite

Eyes:

UDPP

Mac Style Snob on lid and under lower lashes

Mac Midnight Madness in crease and outer corner

Mac Carbon in outer v

Mac Graphic Brown Fluidline on upper lashline

Covergirl Lashblast Mascara

Lips:

Max Factor Lipstain forget the shade, sorry!

Huge Taupe Comparison

I took the photos for this post last year before I moved house and it has been sitting in my draft folder ever since! As I am a complete Taupe addict there are a few more that have found their way into my collection since then so I will try and add them into this post later. Advance warning this post is very picture heavy!

So there you go, that was my Taupe collection as of last summer, I have at least 5-10 more to add! What have I learnt from doing this? If there are any shadows you are interested in seeing a review of please let me know in the comments.

I MUST STOP BUYING TAUPE EYESHADOW!!!

Face Of The Day Featuring Mac In Extra Dimension Grand Galaxy & Modern Pewter

On Friday we all went to an awards dinner as my Mum had been nominated. It was a really nice evening and was a great excuse to get dressed up! I used the two eyeshadows I picked up from the Mac In Extra Dimension collection - Modern Pewter and Grand Galaxy. I have enough eyeshadow to last me a lifetime but these two were just so beautiful I had to have them! They are really nicely pigmented and can be used wet or dry, I used them dry here and they blend like a dream!

Products Used:
Face:
Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation in Bone
Bobbi Brown Corrector Light Bisque
Illamasqua Hollow Cream Pigment as contour
Shu Uemura colorless Setting Powder
Illamasqua Nymph Blush
Mac Wonderwoman MSF as highlight
Eyes:
UDPP
Mac Extra Dimension shadow in Modern Pewter on lid and under lower lashes
Mac Extra Dimension shadow in Grand Galaxy in crease and outer corners
Mac Avenue Fluidline
Mac Blanc Type as highlight
Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara
Lips:
Mac Creme Cup lipstick
Have you got any items from this collection?

Nails Of The Week - Barry M Magnetic Red

I thought it was only right that my first post should be on a product I am absolutely loving right now. I was so excited to see Barry M bringing out magnetic polishes, I have always been a fan of their nail paints and they are one of my favourite drugstore brands. I picked up the red, dark silver and blue polishes from this range, I am only missing the purple which hasn't appeared in store so far. I have tried out all 3 and the red is definitely my favourite.

These photos were all taken in natural light and as you can see the effect is really good. The best way I have found to apply these is paint one coat on all nails then paint a thick second coat and hold the magnet over the nail straight away, I hold it for about 20 seconds to give it time to develop, I then wait until its dry to put on a topcoat as otherwise it can disturb the pattern. I found this magnet worked the best out of the 3 and made the most uniform pattern.

Have you picked up any of these polishes?

Merry Christmas!!!

Yes it is me, you are not seeing things!
I have had the most stressful few months but finally things are back on track so as soon as Christmas is out of the way I will be back to blogging as I was before!

Anyway I hope you and your families have a fantastic Christmas, see you in the new year!

xxx