Wednesday 1 December 2010

Colour Works Products Inspired Look

Sparkly Brown Granite


This is the product I used, you may have seen this before in a previous haul post as a possible christmas gift idea for a young teenager.

After playing around with this kit, I have come to the decision that these colours are far too shimmery for any one over the age of 22, but are perfect for anyone younger.
They are so very easy to use, very pigmented, very soft, almost creamy in texture.  They are very crumbly, but the fall out is not too bad.
The only downside to this kit is the eye dusts, they are very difficult to use, just getting them on to a brush is a mission.
I would have liked a matte shade or two, but that isn't too much of a issue.  It just means that the pictures i took of this look didn't come out very well.  By the time I remembered to photograph my make-up it was already dark outside so the flash didn't do it justice.
However, it does show their staying power :-)
Yay for cheap yet good quality products
(n.b. I did use an eye primer and a colour base though)

You will need:

A good eye primer, I used E.L.F. Mineral Eye Primer
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk
The white eye shadow in this palette
The brown eye shadow in this palette
The colour underneath the brown
And the reddish toned colour on the end of the second row
The colour works mascara


 Place an eye primer all over the lid
Put the NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk over the top, gently bend out with your finger
Apply the white eye shadow to the inner corner and the brow bone
Apply the lighter brown shade to the rest of the lid and blend out
Add the brown shade to the outer corner and wing it out
Place over the top of this wing the red toned colour to warm it up
Using a damp brush, turn the brown into an eyeliner (you can use the back of your hand as an artists palette to mix in some of the black if you wish you darken it up)
Apply this as you would a gel eye liner, however, leave the inner corner
Line the lower lash line as well, but this time mixing the brown with the red toned eye shadow so that it isn't too dark and blends will with the winged out shadow.
Use the colour works mascara, but use sparingly.

 Done

Ciao Bella
Gina xxx

Saturday 27 November 2010

Mini Superdrug Haul + Power Cut

There was a power cut in my village today :-S
Not a good day to have one considering there is snow on the ground, i think the temperature was around -2 degrees *shivers*
NOT fun!  Especially since it occurred at about 4pm when it was already dark!
So out came the torches and the candles and Dad lit a fire.
But without electricity we had no way of cooking dinner, so we decided to go for a Chinese! Result!!! :-D :-D
We accidentally got to the restaurant an hour before it opened, so it was a good excuse for my mother and I to drag dad around the shops teehee

Superdrug had a 3 for 2 offer on the cosmetics so I got:

 
Bourjois 10 Hour Sleep Effect Foundation in shade number 72 (Rose Clair)
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara (Black)
Collection 2000 Glam Crystals Glitter Eyeliner in Hustle (Silver)
as well as:
 MUA Mascara in Shade 4 (Brown)
MUA Liquid Liner in Shade 3 (Copper)

I have also now officially started my Christmas shopping!!! Hooray!  
That has to be the 1st time in ages that i actually have some tangible presents bought before December (shhhhhh yes I don't know that December is only 3 days away)

Anyway I got:
 I think there are some beautiful shades in this box, not sure about the eye-dusts through

 I recon the glitter liner is going to be pants, but i think the grey eye shadow is a perfect shade
I only got this because of the pouch, I have no idea what the products inside are like, hopefully they are lovely, they certainly small nice (don't worry I haven't gone and opened them, the smell seems to be able to permeate through the packaging)
With 3 for 2 on all gifts you can't go wrong, I personally think the 1st two would be great presents for young teenagers aged around about 12/14 years of age.

  Ciao for now
Gina xxx


Wednesday 24 November 2010

My Urban Decay Eye Shadow Collection

In theory I love this brand, in reality I do not. 
 
Undeniably, the packaging for all of the Urban Decay products is amazing, and the quality is to a high standard, but not so high that it warrants a price tag of £13 for an eye shadow.

That would mean my little stash of Urban Decay Eye Shadows are worth a grand total of £117!  No they are not!  Not in my opinion anyway.

They are beautiful colours, they are pigmented, they feel very soft and light and are very easy to apply but I still can’t fathom the hefty price tag.

That amount of money is just far too silly to spend on eye shadows.  Especially since a lot of the colours Urban Decay come out with are not at all wearable.  What’s the point in spending so much money on an eye shadow you may only wear a couple of times at best?

Thankfully, I’m assuming most people aren’t silly enough to buy eye shadows in colours that they would never wear.  And I’m certainly not hating on those who do spend a lot of money on makeup, I just don’t understand it.  There is no way I could ever rationalise spending such an inordinate amount of money on make-up.
What I am saying is that there are cheaper alternatives which are just as good if not better.

So, if you have to live on a shoestring budget like me, don’t fret, the internet and the drug store are your friends.  For example I bought my eye shadows from a discount website for just £4 each.

Here are some swatches (all of them are pigmented and a very soft texture apart from Acid Rain and Yeyo which I certainly would not recommend)

 

1. Acid Rain
2. URB
3. Crash
 

4. Yeyo
5. Illegal
6. Purple Haze


7. Revolver
8. Cult
9. Perversion

That's all folks!
Gina xxx

Sunday 21 November 2010

My Barry M Lip Paint Collection

Barry M has probably my favourite and most colourful range of lip “paints”.
Being a drug store brand they are cheap (just £4.49) and very easy to get a hold of. 
However, the shops tend to only have a few colours in stock; if you wish to see the full range of Barry m lip paint colours visit their website: www.barrym.com.
I quite like their website, the swatches are not that great, but their site is easy to navigate, the time it takes to dispatch your order is quick and efficient and they package your items well.
My only quibble with this brand is that you don’t get the colour names on the packaging; you can only identify each colour by a number. 
On the website they have names, but I don’t see the point, why bother naming the colours if all you get is a number on the packaging?  Oh well never mind
I have 12 of their lip paints and I love them, love the packaging and love the formulation (on the most part)
Here I will swatch them in order of colour, from the lightest shades through to the darkest.


100 Baby Pink: Matte, very pigmented but quite drying.  It’s too light for me
113 Sheer Pink: Hence the name, it isn’t as pigmented as the others, but it isn’t as drying either
130 Pale Pink Sparkle: Pigmented and soft but can dry a little gritty if you don’t use with a lip balm or gloss. Most importantly a gorgeous colour.
132 Pinkie Gold Sparkle: My all time favourite.  Creamy, pigmented, glossy, beautiful colour, catches the light wonderfully.



140 Pink Sparkle: Very Strong colour but also very gritty.  Not a winner in my opinion.
147 Peachy Pink: Matte, requires a gloss/lipbalm but the colour is worth it despite how drying it is.
53 Coral: I can’t really comment on the colour with this one, my lips are very pigmented already, so this colour turns pink on me.  But I love it for its sheen.  It isn’t sparkly but it isn’t matte either, it sits happily in the middle. Thumbs up!
153 Pink Ribbon: One of their newest shades.  Its formulation is very creamy.  On the lips it looks almost glossy. I love love love the colour!  It reminds me of strawberries and cream.  My 3rd favourite colour



152 Vintage Rose: Another of their newest shades:  It’s very similar to my actual lip colour, just a little bit more dusky.  I wear it a lot.  The formulation is one of the best in the collection alongside numbers 153 and 132.  It’s my 2nd favourite colour of my collection.
144 Cerise Pink: This is very pigmented and therefore a little bit too strong for me so I don’t really wear it often enough to have an opinion on it.
141 Royal Raspberry: The perfect colour for that vampy look.  Honestly you can’t beat it, its dark, its daring, its pigmented, its actually a lot darker than it is showing up in the swatch on my arm, the picture really isn’t doing it any justice at all, trust me, it’s a great lipstick to have in your collection for occasions such as Halloween. 
107: Horrible, pointless, don’t by it.  The downfall of this collection.  There is always one dud in every range, and this is it.


Apologies if I repeated myself numerous times, but pretty much all of them really are little gems
End!
Gina xxx

Thursday 18 November 2010

The Body Shop Products Inspired Look: Clear Blue Ocean at Dusk

Hello!

Another bold coloured look for you today.

I have blue eyes, so this is a look that doesn’t really do them justice, however, I don’t care because the natural colours which would make my eyes pop are just too boring to use every day so I take any excuse to play with colour.

Therefore, when I drove alongside the sea, whilst on a driving lesson to Felixstowe, I couldn’t help but keep glancing at the sea to watch the sunlight make it glitter, so voila, my take on how the sea looks at dusk.
Just to meander a second, I love, love love driving and I cannot wait to get my license because I have come to realise that if you can’t drive in Suffolk then you are basically left stranded in a field.



As you can see in my various different product lists, I covet Barry M and E.L.F. to the point where my make up collection is made up of very little else.

I have only recently graduated from University and am still in that horrible stage between student and employment.  Fingers crossed I get a job soon.  In the meantime I am on a very tight budget.  Thankfully, I was a t-total student so I still have some monies left over from my student loan, however, that is dwindling fast due to the extortionate price of driving lessons.  Still, when Barry M and E.L.F facebook pages post offers and free shipping codes I can’t resist to grab a bargain.
To create this look you will need:
Moisturiser: I used Soap and Glory’s Clear Here Daily Moisture Lotion
Concealer: I used E.L.F. Under Eye Concealer and Highlighter with E.L.F. Concealer brush
Foundation: I used E.L.F. Mineral Foundation (Fair (not pictured)) with E.L.F. Powder Brush
Primer: I used Urban Decay Primer Potion
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Pacific
The Body Shop Baked Mineral Eye Shadow in Sapphire
Eye shadow Brush: I used The Body Shop eye shadow blender brush
E.L.F. Brightening Eye Liner in Midnight
Collection 2000 Glam Crystals in POW! (10)
E.L.F. Mineral Infused Mascara
Barry M Lip Paint in Coral (53)
I’m a ditz.  Not only am I a ditz, I’m a slow ditz.  An old primary school teacher used to say “If Gina goes any slower she’ll stop”.  In fact there was this one time as a child when mum was able to get out of the car, take the shopping into the house and lock the car before I had even unbuckled my seatbelt :-S

With that in mind, my skin care routine is basically non-existent.  Therefore, whenever I bother to apply make up (that’s right, it’s not a daily occurrence) I make a point of always having a good cleanse and moisturise beforehand.  I have also found that moisturiser works quite well as a foundation base, particularly for powder foundations.  However, I don’t slap on my foundation straight afterwards, I like to let the moisturiser sink in first, so I tend to do my eye make-up whilst I wait.  This also means that I don’t have to worry about eye shadow fall out because I can wipe it away before I put my foundation on.

So on to the eyes; priming is key, using an eye primer means that you can save a fortune on eye shadow.  I don’t own a single high end brand eye shadow because I can get great results from much cheaper brands.  Next create a colour base by applying NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk to the inner corner and then the other NYX Jumbo Pencil in Pacific to the outer corner and blend the two together in the middle.   
Over this colour base, pack on the lighter blue shade from The Body Shop Baked Eye Shadow in Sapphire.  Whilst doing so create a wavy shape by only placing it on the lid and blending out into a small flicked wing.
Now blend in the darker blue shade to the outer corner and line the eyes in dark blue.
Cover this liner with the Collection 2000 Glam Crystals in POW!  You should only need one coat as this glitter liner is packed with glitter.   
Also, apply the dark blue pencil liner to the bottom lash line and the waterline.
That’s it for the eyes, now the moisturiser should be well and truly sunk in, so clear up any mistakes or fall out ready to apply your foundation and concealer in whatever order you prefer.
As I’m using a mineral power foundation and a creamy liquid concealer, I concealed first and then applied my foundation to avoid cakey-ness (mmmm cake)
I’ve decided that from now on my foundation of choice will most likely always be a mineral one, I haven’t used many foundations but I have used all the different types and my skin always feels the most soft when I use mineral foundations.  I use E.L.F.s mineral foundation as it is the best-cheapest version of Bare Minerals that I have found so far.
Finally apply your favourite coral lipstick.   I have very pigmented lips, and so most coral lipsticks turn to more of a pink/coral shade, which is actually quite a good thing for me as I’m not as daring with my lipsticks as I am with my eye shadow.  I can’t help but find pure coral shades to be a little frighteningly unnatural.  But remember that’s just my opinion.

Finito!
Gina xxx

Wednesday 17 November 2010

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils

I could make this really succinct and say only: I have them all.  However, that would be pointless.

So I thought I would swatch them all for you.  Simply, for the benefit of showing you how pretty they are.  I think they look particularly nice in this hot pink pot, I like to keep them on display to show them off teehee.

If there is a collection of anything, I am never satisfied with just owning one or two, I have to own them all.  Every book in a series, ever album by an artist and every eye shadow colour from a brand.  But usually cost is an issue.  Thankfully not with these, they are as cheap as chips (cringe :-S I promise you I am not a cockney)

I bought the whole range from a website called www.love-makeup.co.uk for only £2.75.  I quite like this website, the layout is easy to navigate, dispatch was efficiently quick and they were delivered well wrapped in both pink tissue paper (nice touch) and bubble wrap, which I gained much joy from popping

I love to use these as a colour base to make my eye shadow colours that little bit more vivid.  I can’t get away with using these pencils on their own because I have oily lids so they crease like mad or they fade away to nothingness.  So I need to not only use a primer with them to stop them creasing but I also use power eye shadow to set them.

I find all of the colours to be very creamy in texture and they all glide on effortlessly.  There is certainly no need to tug at your sensitive eye area with these.  However, the coverage does vary, with some the application result looks so smooth and flawless they require no blending whatsoever, whereas, others require more work.  Some, like Milk for example, are so pigmented to begin with, but if you try to blend them you can easily buff away the product altogether.  I prefer to only blend out or shape only the edges, leaving the lids so as to have quite a bit of product for loose, or un-pigmented eye shadows to grab on to.
1. Milk          2. Cottage Cheese          3. Lavender          4. Oyster          5. Strawberry Milk          6. Yogurt
As you can see Milk is very opaque, it’s stark, flat white.  As previously mentioned it blends away into practically nothingness, so it is good for the inner corner to widen the eyes and make them look more awake.
Cottage Cheese I feel is a great inner corner colour, it’s got all the great attributes of Milk but it has that lovely sheen to it that Milk lacks.
I think Lavender and Oyster are too similar, lavender is more purple toned and Oyster more pink, but for me, that isn’t enough of a difference to qualify having both in my collection.  If you want a very light pink or purple, then either would work in my opinion.
Strawberry Milk is a yummy colour, but it’s for the more daring person, vivid pinks around the eye can make someone look tired or worse, ill.  This would have to be used in moderation to try and avoid this.
All I can say about yogurt is that it is the perfect pink, because it’s beige pink.  All the prettiness of pink with all the goodness of brown (mmm Hovis Bread)

7. Pots and Pans        8. Baby Blue        9. Pacific        10. Purple        11. Electric Blue        12. Purple Velvet
Pots and Pans: Love it! Get it! That is all
The baby blue is too bright for my taste, I barely ever use it, it washes away the little bit of colour I have left in my used-to-be-blue-now-kind-of-a-grey-tinged-green eyes.
I think pacific gives flawless results, its smooth and even and is a lovely colour, it reminds me of my favourite Barry M Fine Glitter Dust no. 5.
As you can see Purple has a blue sheen to it, which is pretty when it catches the light, but the patchy application is too noticeable.
Electric Blue is a wonderful colour and can really make your eyes pop when used on the waterline.
Purple velvet is red toned and quite dark, it is great to put on the outer corner to create depth.
13. Horse Radish      14. Lemon      15. Rocky Mountain Green      16. Gold      17. Pure Gold      18. Bronze
The grass green colour called Horse Radish is another colour that comes out smooth and flawless in application, the colour is a little too light for an all over lid cover, but great for the inner 1/3.
Lemon is more wearable, I use this colour a lot, however, it isn’t as pigmented as many of the others
Rocky Mountain Green is one of the newer shades, I’m love greens but I’m not a huge fan of this one.
Gold and Pure Gold are beautiful neutral colours, they go perfectly with blue or green eyes.  They also have the best sheen out of all the other colours.  They are great, a very smooth flawless colour base
Bronze is nice, but it a little too orange/red toned for my liking. 
 19. Black Bean            20. Dark Brown            21. Rust            22. French Fries            23. Iced Mocha
Black Bean is by far the best pencil for lining the tightline and waterline, ‘nuff said
Dark Brown is also perfect for the tightline and waterline for a more subtle look
Rust is a preferable colour to Bronze, it’s the perfect plumy red tone for a vampy look
French Fries and Iced Mocha are very, very similar, if I had to choose between the two I prefer French Fries though because its colour is ever so slightly darker.

Fin!
Gina xxx

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Barry M Products Inspired Look: Autumn Forest at Night

A dark and daring look.  Obviously one for the more adventurous girl.

Being a very typical girlie girl I love pinks and purples and anything that sparkles, glitters or shines.  Naturally one of my favourite make up brands is Barry M, I am a hoarder of their eye shadows.  I just can’t resist, every time I go into Superdrug I get hypnotised by the shiny baubles that are their Dazzle Dusts.

I am also in love with this time of year, autumn is perfect in my opinion.  The colours of autumn just take my breath away.  I am experiencing all over again the joy of leaves crunching under foot, wearing my cosy scarves and watching the landscape change.  I’m a very lucky girl in that I recently moved to Suffolk where autumn is all the more beautiful.  I grew up in Greater London and the country parks there offered up only a tenth of the beauty I can see just from my little bedroom window.


So of course I had to incorporate these two loves into the makeup look for my 1st blog post.I took the plumy shades of drying leaves, the grey from the darker clouds of autumn and created a fun eyeliner design for the bare trees.  As the shades used were quite dark this look couldn’t be anything other than a night-time look, therefore, extra drama was required.  This was achieved simply by lining both the tightline and waterline.

To achieve this look you will need:


Moisturiser, I use Olay Beauty Fluid (let it sink in before putting on foundation)
Foundation, I use E.L.F. Mineral Foundation (Fair (not pictured)) with E.L.F. powder brush
Concealer, I use E.L.F. Mineral Concealer (Fair) with E.L.F. concealer brush
(N.B. Do your foundation after you have done your eyes so that you don’t need to worry about fall out from the loose eye shadow)
Eye shadow primer, I used Urban Decay Primer Potion
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Rust for a colour base
Barry M Dazzle Dust in Mushroom (51)
Barry M Dazzle Dust in Fig (55)
A good eye shadow brush, the Barry M one “ain’t arlf” bad
A Black Liquid Liner, I used Wet n’ Wild liquid eyeliner
A soft black eyeliner pencil, I used NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean
A plum pencil liner, I used E.L.F. Brightening Eye Liner in Plum
A black mascara, I used E.L.F. Mineral Infused Mascara
And for the lips I applied some lip balm, let that sink in and then put over the top the Barry M Lip Paint in Vintage Rose (152)

To create this look:

Start by applying the NYX Jumbo Pencil in Rust on the lid and blending it out.
Then over the top of the Rust pack the Barry M Dazzle Dust no.51 from the inner corner of the eye to across 2/3rds of the lid.
Next place the Barry M Dazzle Dust no.55 on the outer corner and blend into the crease and wing it out slightly.
Line the eye with black liquid eyeliner.
Do not wing it out, but use that same liner to trace a very rough outline of tree branches, keeping within the no.55 Dazzle Dust.
Line your tightline and waterline with a soft black eyeliner pencil.
Line the lower lashline with a plum eyeliner pencil and cover with the no.51 Dazzle Dust.


Finished!
Gina xxx