Tag Archives: Joe Fresh

April 2014 Favourites

May 2, 2014Favourites, MiscellaneousHourglass, Joe Fresh, Lavanila, Real Techniques, Too FacedChelle

201404_favourites

I don’t know what your April has been like where you are, but here in Toronto it has been wet, cold and blahhhhhh. I’m pretty sure we’re currently on a week long sun-strike, and in the next two weeks there’s rain predicted for 11 out of 14 days. It’s dreary and everything feels permanently soggy. Apparently April showers bring… more showers. In May. Hooray?

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Diffused Heat

I can’t stop talking about this blush. I also can’t stop using this blush. Hourglass‘ Diffused Heat is the best blush I own. There. I said it. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I know someone out there is going to get this: This blush fulfills me on so many levels. In the pan it’s a beautiful swirling masterpiece. So, visually, it’s pretty darn stunning. It also looks rather coral (in the pan) which is my absolute favourite blush shade to look at. HOWEVER, on the skin it actually turns a pretty pale pink with maybe a very faint hint of peach, which is actually the most attractive shade on me. So despite the shade in the pan being a total lie, it really works out for the best.

Joe Fresh‘s Sand Bronzer is really light and blends away smoothly and is NOT orange, despite how it appears on the shot on the left. I had a bit of a tiff with my Physicians Formula Bronze Booster this month (no matter how many times I use it, the product won’t even dip down in the pan – so annoyed!) so I swapped to the Joe Fresh one. It’s a quick and easy bronzer that’s very simple to blend out. Plus… sleek, fun packaging – which is always a bonus.

Too Faced Absolutely Invisible Candlelight Powder

I have no real explanation for why I reached for this higlighter so much this month, but I did! Too Faced‘s Absolutely Invisible Candlelight powder is supposed to be an all over face powder but there’s no way in hell I’d use it that way unless I wanted to look like a white-gold disco ball. There’s far too much shimmer in this powder to use everywhere on your face, so I stick to using it as a cheekbone highlight. The swatch makes it look slightly chalky and definitely quite pale, but I think you can see the hints of gold shimmer in it. I usually opt for this one when I want a faint highlight and it provides a lovely golden- white sheen.

Real Techniques – Miracle Complexion Sponge

Makeup brushes and tools aren’t really my thing – I use them out of necessity, but I really don’t get excited about them. Until this. This sponge. Real Techniques‘ Miracle Complexion Sponge has been branded as the Beauty Blender dupe and while I can’t speak to that as I’ve never owned a Beauty Blender ($25 for a SPONGE??!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!), I *can* say that this makes putting on foundation an absolute breeze. It smushes the product into my skin way better than any foundation brush I’ve ever used (the one exception being Revlon‘s Colorstay – I prefer a brush with that one as I thought the sponge did weird things to that foundation), so it makes me look like I’m way better at applying foundation than I really am! With a price around $5, this is seriously awesome. I’m curious to see how long it’ll hold up too since it is a sponge after all – it’ll definitely have a shelf life. And does anyone know where I can actually get these in Canada? I picked mine up in the U.S. and I don’t recall seeing them anywhere in Canada.

Lavanila – Vanilla Grapefruit Eau de Parfum

This might as well be my crack – I cannot get enough of this perfume! I talked about it at length in my haul for the past month, but I feel like I could seriously bathe in this stuff for the rest of my life. Lavanila‘s Vanilla Grapefruit is wonderfully vanilla scented with a kick of citrus (that’s the best description you’re going to get out of me!). I wear so much of this stuff that I’m probably that annoying person who smells like they had a perfume bottle explode on themselves but I’m so enamoured with this scent that I don’t care! (And I’m totally eyeballing this set on Lavanila‘s web site now. Errrr… well I WAS… until I put everything into my cart and discovered that shipping to Canada was over $20. CURSES.)

What are your favourites this past month? Did you have at least semi-decent weather where you were? *crosses fingers for some sunshine*

What I Bought This Month – January 2014 Haul

January 27, 2014HaulsBath & Body Works, Joe Fresh, Living Proof, Make Up For Ever, NARS, Neutrogena, Physicians Formula, Real TechniquesChelle

I know what you’re going to say. “You said last month you weren’t going to buy anything makeup-related until March!” I know I did, but I’ve got an excuse! My birthday was this past month and I was gifted almost everything I’m about to include in this post. Everything will have prices just so you’ll have an idea if you’re interested in some of them, but I’m only taking blame for some of these items! 😉

On with the loot!

Make Up For Ever – Glitters 13 ($20 CAD)

This item was actually a replacement (in my eyes) for my returned Illamasqua palette. I’ve been wanting to pick up a 3D, disco-like glitter for ages now. I had wanted MAC‘s 3D Silver Glitter, but never got around to picking it up. I saw this while at Sephora and decided why the heck not and picked up MUFE‘s Glitter in 13. I am eternally in love with this kind of silver glitter with a rainbow sparkle to it. This is the kind of glitter I always have painted on my toes and I definitely wanted something similar to use on my face. I’ve not had the opportunity to use it yet, but I’m excited to!

Joe Fresh Beauty – Rose Gloss in Peach ($6)

I picked up this Joe Fresh Beauty Rose Gloss in Peach while I was out one day and didn’t have a lip balm on me. THIS THING IS AWFUL. Run away. Run FAR away and never ever buy one of these. First of all, it smells horrible. Fake, plastic and completely unpleasant. It also clumps up on the lips and causes horrible strings when you open your mouth. This gloss has no redeeming factors whatsoever. I mean, just look at this horrible picture. It looks like something out of a horror movie. Ugh.

I quickly depotted it and threw the contents out. I’ll use the pot for something else. Bleugh.

Neutrogena – All-in-one Make-up Removing Cleansing Wipes ($7.99 CAD)

I spotted these Neutrogena wipes on sale so I snatched them up. Adding to my stack of four other unopened packs of wipes in my bathroom linen closet. /facepalm

This stuff is amazing. A dear friend of mine made some body butter for me! (You can find her at www.alidoesit.ca, or you can find a direct link to her recipe here.) The label rubbed off, but I believe she said it was Orange Whip Lotion. She also indicated she “messed up” the recipe and it came out thicker than she intended. Well to hell with her mess up, because I really love just how thick this moisturizer is! It’s far closer to a body butter, which is just all the better in my opinion. To me, I don’t get so much of the scent of orange, but I do get the scent of a million wildflowers rolled into a single mason jar. It’s as if you got dumped into a field of flowers and sniffed them all up at once. The smell is incredible. Not to mention it feels wonderful on the skin. Because the ingredients are all natural, it won’t last as long as some storebought lotions simply because it doesn’t have all the chemical additives in it. That being said, it won’t matter because I’m about halfway done the jar already!

Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Sunset Strip ($9.96 CAD)

This is definitely one I bought with my own money. This Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Sunset Strip was marked down 60% off and the tag indicated it was on clearance and their stock wouldn’t be replenished. Having always wanted to pick up one of these but had always balked at the enormous price tag in Canada (seriously, these are over $20 at the drugstore here), I panicked and purchased this because I was worried I’d never get the opportunity to test it out since it was on clearance.

Living Proof – Full Thickening Cream ($32 CAD)

Having a rather nice gift card to Sephora, I picked up a few items I had been lusting over. The first was this Living Proof Full Thickening Cream for hair. I had used a small sample of it and loved the effects and the smell of it. I then went into the Sephora, picked it up, brought it to the counter and was floored at the price tag. $32 for this thing and it is SMALL. I should’ve photographed it against my hand to give you an idea of size… but seriously, it is really dinky. I do love it, and I’ll use it up, but I’ll have to see whether or not it’s worth repurchasing at that steep price.

Another one I picked up from Sephora and my very first NARS product is an eyeshadow duo in Mediteranee. I’m curious to see how NARS compares to other brands I’ve used especially when I consider the sticker price. I’m a sucker for oranges and the shade on the left is slightly gold tinted so I’m excited to use this one.

NARS – Pro Prime Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base ($29 CAD)

Annnnd my next item from NARS (from Sephora). This one was absolutely necessary – allow me to explain. In the last two weeks, I don’t know what the heck has happened, but suddenly my Urban Decay Primer Potion doesn’t seem to be working as well as it used to. I’ve had a few days in a row where my eyeshadow almost completely creased off by the end of the work day. I’m in kind of a slight panic about it because I’m used to being able to put on eyeshadow at 7 am with UD‘s primer and have it last until midnight if it was a particularly long day.

I’d heard that NARS‘ primer was the absolute best for oily eyelids so I figured this must be a step up from UDPP. I don’t have an especially oily face really – I don’t powder my face, I don’t even usually have to wear foundation or anything mattifying, but I figure I must have oily eyelids to cause all my eyeshadows to crease. I’ve only tried it a few times with inconclusive results (some days it didn’t crease, some days I had minor creasing). I really, REALLY hope this works for me because having to worry about creased eyeshadow after having had years of no problems with UDPP is making me really, really nervous.

Nemo checking out my new Real Techniques brushes

I was in Winners one day and stumbled over some Real Techniques with amazing price tags attached to their shiny packages. I’ve mentioned my lack of brushes previously and had intended to pick these sets up while in the US, but when I saw that these were cheaper than even what they sell in the US, I decided it wasn’t worth waiting to spend the money.

Real Techniques Travel Essentials ($16.99 CAD)

Everyone’s seen these, so I’ll be brief. This is Real Techniques‘ Travel Essentials set. It includes a foundation brush, an eyeshadow blending brush and a large powder brush.

Real Techniques Starter Set ($16.99 CAD)

RT‘s Starter Set includes two eyeshadow blending brushes (seriously, they’re too fat to do anything other than blend stuff on your face), a very small detail brush, a liner brush (there’s no way you can use this one for liner by the way, it’s way too big) and an angled brush that they’ve labeled as one for your eyebrows.

I love my other Real Techniques brushes so I’m excited to use these!

Bath & Body Works – Violet Lily SKY Diamond Shimmer Mist ($6 CAD)

The Summer, Sky and Air scents from Bath & Body Works are a new addition to their regular line although I’m not sure if they’re limited edition. As a result of them being so new, they’re all on sale for roughly half price. I’m not sure how long this promotion will last, but snatch them up quickly if you like the scent. I really love the one I grabbed which is the Violet Lily Skyscent. I’m not even going to try to describe it other than to say that I really like it. I picked up the diamond shimmer version because I’m a sucker for anything with sparkle or glitter. Unfortunately, I’ve been wearing it the past few days and the scent disappears really quickly which is frustrating (it seems to be gone after an hour or two). The small sparkles stick around for a while on your skin though, so that’s quite nice.

If you’re familiar with B&BW‘s previous shimmer mist, then you’ll wonder if the new bottle (this time labeled Diamond Shimmer Mist) is actually bigger. I know it sure looked bigger to me, but as it turns out both bottles have 236ml of product, so you’re still getting the same amount, despite the change in packaging. I will say that the previous Shimmer Mist I had, the Warm Vanilla Sugar one, lasts a lot longer on the skin and I think the shimmer particles are slightly larger than the new diamond mist ones. Either way, it’s a fun product to have!

For a “no buy” month I sure did end up with a decent number of products!

What’s On My Face – Volume 9

January 22, 2014Makeup, TutorialsBourjois, Cargo, CoverGirl, Dior, Hard Candy, Hourglass, INGLOT, Joe Fresh, L'Oreal, Laura Mercier, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Makeup Geek, Maybelline, MUA, NYX, Physicians Formula, Revlon, Sleek, Tarte, yabyChelle

New year, new looks! And I’ve got plenty of new goodies to play with that I’ve accumulated over the holiday season! 20140124_look1.1

I love this one so much. Everyone has gone insane over rose-gold everything and I think I’m starting to see why. This was a makeup combination that just made me feel like I looked especially pretty. I’m also having a love affair with Makeup Geek’s Bitten and I’m more than happy to use it constantly on my eyes!

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Eyes:

L’Oreal Amber Rush all over the lid.
Makeup Geek Bitten in the outer corner and crease.
Makeup Geek Creme Brulee at the top of the crease to blend the two lid shades together.

MAC Brule was used to highlight my brow. I used Make Up For Ever Aqua Liner in 13 Black to create the wing and applied L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara to my top lashes. For brows, I used MAC Omega.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation in 51 Light Vanilla
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronzer Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Cargo Mendocino
Highlighter: Dior Amber Diamond
Lips: MAC Dark Side

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Good grief do I ever love this one too! I can’t claim ownership though, I relied on Shaanxo’s video for inspiration. Anything with neon (not to mention neon AND green) and I’m a total sucker for it.

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Eyes: I first applied NYX‘s Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk all over the lid and blended it out with my finger. I also brought it down below the inner tearduct as well.

Using the white from Sleek‘s Acid palette, I applied that all over the inner third of the eyelid, bringing it down around my inner tearduct.
With the same Sleek palette, I used the neon green shade and patted that on the center of my lid. (This took a lot of layers in order to get it to be so vibrant!)
Using MAC‘s Greensmoke, I placed it in the outer corner of my lid and tried to blend it as best as I could with the neon shade (wasn’t that easy and I don’t think I was overly successful).
I then used MAC‘s Cork through the crease.

Brule was used to highlight the brow and MAC Omega was used on my brows. I used Make Up For Ever‘s Aqua Liner in 13 Black to do my winged liner and applied L’OrealVoluminous Carbon Black mascara to my upper and lower lashes. For the lower lash line, I used a bit of Greensmoke on the outer corner, then lined my inner waterline with NYX‘s Milk(which actually had decent longevity!).

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in shade 51 Light Vanilla
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Joe Fresh cream blush in Apricot
Highlighter: Hard Candy Tiki
Lips: NYX‘s Butter Gloss in Vanilla Cream Pie

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This look came about as I was trying to use products that I had bought, but hadn’t used yet. The primary inspiration came from MUA‘s Shade 9 which is one of the most beautiful duochromes I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately, I’m not keen on how the blue turned out, as it applied rather chalkily.

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Eyes: I used Urban Decay‘s Eden primer this time as opposed to my usual Original one. In retrospect, that was a stupid idea considering I was using a very shimmery shadow and Eden is a very flat, very matte primer.

MUA Shade 9 Pearl on the inner half of the lid.
Makeup Geek Neptune on the outer half of the lid.
Makeup Geek Creme Brulee in the crease.

MAC Brule was used to highlight my brow with MAC Omega through my brows. L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black on my upper lashes with MAC‘s Blacktrack fluidline to create the winged liner.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: MUA BB Cream in Light
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Tarte Exposed
Highlighter/Powder: Hourglass Ambient Lightning Powder in Ethereal
Lips: Revlon Lip Butter in Creme Brulee

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Heh, I’m not even sure what to say about this one. *I* think it’s rather bland, but looks like this tend to be when I get the most compliments. I wanted to use the Naked 3 palette and dip into a few products on to my “To Use Up” list. I don’t find the end result very inspirational, so when I use the Naked 3 again, I’ll definitely try out different combinations.

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Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden all over the lid. All shadows are from the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette:

Burnout on the inner two-thirds of the lid.
Factory on the outer third of the lid.
Limit through the crease

I used Strange as a brow highlight and applied Blackheart as a very thin line along my upper lash line with a faint flick at the outer edge. L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara on my upper and lower lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: Yaby Foundation in Buff
Bronzer: Physicians Formula Bronze Booster in Light/Medium
Blush: Tarte – Dollface and Dazzled mixed together
Highlighter: Hard Candy Tiki
Lips: Revlon Lip Butter in Red Velvet with Creamsicle layered on top.

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I had to laugh at this one… I didn’t intend for this to come out nearly as dark as it did, or nearly as ridiculously bright on the lips… for a weekend brunch. While I was also wearing workout clothes. Hah. Ah well.

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Eyes: Maybelline‘s Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze was applied all over the lid, keeping it below the crease. On top of that I layered:

Inglot 152 Shine over the entire eyelid.
Laura Mercier Bamboo on the outer corner of the lid.
Laura Mercier Espresso was used to blend out the crease and pull the shadows out at the corner of my eye into a slight V shape.

MAC Brule to highlight the brow with MAC Omega through the brows. Bamboo and Espresso were mixed together to line the lower lashline. L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara were applied to upper and lower lashes.

Rest of the Face

Foundation: CoverGirl CC Cream in 110 Classic Ivory
Bronzer: Revlon Photoready in Bronzed & Chic
Blush: Tarte Exposed
Lips: Revlon Cherries in the Snow

Products I Regret Buying

January 20, 2014Makeup, ReviewsCoverGirl, Illamasqua, Joe Fresh, L'Oreal, MAC, Maybelline, MUA, Physicians Formula, Revlon, Urban DecayChelle

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Today I’m sharing the items in my collection that I really regret buying. These, in general, are the items I reach for the least in my collection. Looking over the items I’ve pulled out, most of them are cheaper products which is a bit of a relief. I think this is because I tend to research more expensive products before purchasing them. Anyway, let’s see which items I’ve had a buyer’s remorse over!

One of my most recent purchases was such an immediate regret that I ended up taking it right back! It’s Illamasqua‘s Paranormal palette.

I’m reposting the exact same image from my haul just a few weeks ago because I used it twice, noticed the EXCESSIVE creasing, then hightailed my butt back to the Illamasqua counter and returned it. I had called them day before I returned it and had gotten some spiel about how my Urban Decay eyeshadow primer wasn’t good enough because these were cream to powder eyeshadows and I need to be using a creamy primer. I wasn’t buying it. Urban Decay‘s primer has NEVER lead me astray and I can’t remember the last time I had anything crease on my eyelids because of that primer! When I returned it, the woman was very lovely about it and didn’t give me any hassle. It takes a lot for me to return a product but this one was so expensive ($45 CAD) that there was no way I was going to keep it. I mean, just LOOK at the creasing:

At the end of the day, I do love the Illamasqua products I’ve tried, primarily their blushes and pigments, but I’m going to be avoiding these “cream to powder” products in the future.

Physicians Formula Happy Booster Glow & Mood Boosting Bronzer & Blush (Bronze/Rose)

Sigh. I bought this Physicians Formula product thinking since it was a bronzer and a blush in one, it’d be perfect for travelling. The truth is I’ve not travelled even once with this item in the year or so I’ve owned it. I love the shade of the bronzer, but I’ve not even touched the blush. And let’s be realistic… without a proper division between the two products, it’s pretty hard to get JUST the blush when you dip into the product.

Urban Decay – Mushroom, L’Oreal Infallible – Pepsy Coral, Maybelline Color Tattoo – Too Cool

These were just poor choices all around.

Buying an Urban Decay single eyeshadow (Mushroom) is just a bad idea when so many of their shades come in palettes at a much better value. Not to mention that I don’t need yet another taupey, silver-grey shade – I think there’s even an exact dupe in my Naked 2 palette. Plus, this just isn’t the kind of colour I reach for much anyway.

L’Oreal‘s Pepsy Coral was an impulse buy at a warehouse sale I was at in October last year. It’s now three months later and I’ve still not used this shade. Plus it looks identical to MAC’s Paradisco which I already own.

Maybelline‘s Color Tattoo in Too Cool is a shimmery white cream shadow. It goes on patchy and the shade is very similar (if not identical) to MAC‘s Crystal Avalanche. Boo.

CoverGirl – Watermelon Twist, Revlon – Charm, Revlon – Rendezvous, Revlon – Romantic

I am so over these chubby lipstick crayons. SO OVER IT. First of all, the CoverGirl one (Watermelon Twist) broke apart the first time I used it (the bullet fell right out of the tube). It also tastes awful. How does a drugstore product still taste terrible like this? Most of the other brands have grown out of the artificial, chemical smell of makeup from decades long past. The colour is okay, but I can’t get over the smell/taste. Although I do have to say… hot pink is not the colour I think of when the word “watermelon” is in the shade name.

As for the Revlon ones… also over it. They don’t actually stain that much. The lighter, peachier one (Charm) ends up staining my lips slightly pink (?!?). The red one tends to bleed outside my lip line quite a bit and reapplication only makes it look worse. On the bright side, they do have a nice minty smell, quite akin to dental floss actually, but I do like it! However, I’ve been avoiding any other crayon type lipstick once I realized how disappointed I was in these.

Oh man, I’ve seen people so divided over Urban Decay‘s Naked 2 palette.

There are some colours in here that I love – specifically Tease, Verve and Blackout (but really, that’s just a black). But there are a lot of shades in here that just seem to blend together into nothingness when I try to put a look together. Maybe I’m using the wrong colour combinations or something, but my looks with this palette have been pretty dismal.

MUA Matte Lipsticks – Peachy Keen, Wild Berry & Scarlet Siren

It’s hard to regret something when you only paid £1 for it, but these matte lipsticks from MUA do frustrate me. These have decent pigmentation when swatched and they *are* lovely colours, but they feel terrible on the lips. They ball up, go tacky and they seem to fade awkwardly, which is especially weird for a matte lipstick. Plus, check out the bottom right-hand picture above: You have to apply the lipsticks so hard on your lips to get the colour you need that it causes huge indentation marks in the side of the bullet. When that happens, the bullet starts to ooze a clear substance which is just icky. As soon as I finish this post, they’re going straight into the garbage bin.

MAC Mineralize Eyeshadows – Blue Flame & Blue My Mind

I didn’t notice till I sat down to write this post that both of my MAC mineralize eyeshadow regrets are both blue. Blue Flame is beautiful, but I rarely use it. Blue My Mind is… meh. The light side is a pale, powdery blue that can be kind of awkward to wear. The middle section is nice, but it needs to be applied damp to get a good colour payoff. Plus the middle strip is so small that you need a rather small brush in there. The last section is black and it’s okay… but it’s a bit underpigmented.

I bought Maybelline‘s gel liner in Blackest Black after hearing many raves reviews from people saying that this was better than MAC‘s Blacktrack. Unfortunately, for me, this wasn’t the case. This just didn’t feel as fluid or creamy as MAC’s gel liner does and I sometimes end up with skipping problems along my lash line despite using the same brush for both gels. Because it’s just not as nice to use as MAC’s product, I’ve since gone back to MAC‘s fluidline and emptied out the jar so I could put something else in it.

Maybelline Irresistibly Ivy Eyeshadow Quad

While I like the colours and they’re quite well pigmented, I just don’t reach for this palette that much. I was sucked in by the pretty green shade and the fact that this was on clearance since they were discontinuing this particular quad.

I regret this for no reason other than that this shade (Myth) looks like death warmed over on me. I love nude lipsticks, but this is not a shade I can pull off despite trying to make it work several times.

I forgot to photograph this with the rest of the group, but this is one downright awful product. It doesn’t ever dry down on the lips. If you talk, the product will magically disappear from your lips. If you lick your lips, the product completely disappears. But you definitely DON’T want to lick it off because the product tastes absolutely awful. This is another one going straight into the garbage bin as I can’t make this work even if I wanted to!

That’s it for me! Any products you’ve picked up that you regret buying?

What’s On My Face – Volume 7

December 17, 2013Makeup, TutorialsArdell, Bourjois, INGLOT, Joe Fresh, MAC, MUA, NYX, Revlon, Sleek, Tarte, Too Faced, Urban Decay, Wet n WildChelle

Lately I found I had been wearing far too many neutral looks and I was boring myself with my makeup in the morning. Neutral colours are so easy and safe to play with… but they just don’t get me excited. When I wear something more vibrant on my eyes, I actually feel better. I can’t explain it any better than that really. Colour makes me happy!

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I *love* this one. It’s not particularly hard to achieve, I just think it’s the colour combination that I love so much. Excuse the derp face – I find if I smile in pictures, my eyes crinkle up too much to actually show what the shadows look like on a full face shot!

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Eyes:

Inglot AMC Shine 15 (shimmery orange) all over the inner two-thirds of the lid.
Inglot Matte 382 (matte red) on the outer third of the lid and blended slightly into the crease.
Urban Decay Naked in the crease to blend all the colours together.

MAC Brule was used to highlight my brow. And, of course, I used MAC Blacktrack fluidline to create the wing and applied L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara to my top lashes. For brows, I used MAC Omega.

Rest of the Face: Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation in 52 Vanilla with Revlon‘sBronzed & Chic bronzer on the high points of my face. I used Tarte Charisma on my cheeks and since that blush has enough shimmer to it, I didn’t bother with a highlighter. On my lips is Benefit Ultra Plush Gloss in Coralista.

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I wore this one out to a (friend of a) friend’s Christmas party. Red, gold, false lashes. All the staples of holiday season makeup!

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Eyes: To make the white-gold eyeshadow show up better, I have to lay down a white base. For that I use NYX‘s Jumbo Eyeshadow Pencil in Milk. Make sure to keep the white base below the crease and also blend it out so you don’t have any harsh lines.

On the inner two-thirds of the lid, pack on the white-gold shade in MAC‘s Illusionary: Burning Ambition duo (limited edition from several years ago). And when I say pack it on, I mean, PACK it on. This stuff is fallout city and gets everywhere, but it’s really way too pretty to ignore.
Using the brown side of that same duo, apply it to the outer third of the lid and sweep it through the crease.
Using the white-gold shade again, use it to highlight your brow and to blend out the brown shade in the crease. This is a LOT of shimmer and it may even be overkill for some people. You’ll notice that the brow ends up being more gold, while the lid colour is has more of a white-cast due to the base that we put down.

I used MAC Dipdown fluidline to create the wing and applied L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara to my lashes. False eyelashes are Ardell Demis applied with Duo adhesive.

Lips: Since the eyes are so shimmery, I stuck with a matte red. I used MAC Brick lipliner to line and fill in my lips, then followed it up with MAC Russian Red lipstick.

Rest of the Face: Foundation is Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 52 Vanilla. I used Joe FreshSand bronzer to contour since it’s matte. On my cheeks is Tarte Exposed.

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With this one I just knew I wanted it to be bright! I also tend to get stuck in ruts and keep re-using the same colour combinations because I generally know they’ll work. While trying to break out of that rut, I ended up going with a fail-safe colour palette anyway. Whoops!

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Eyes:

From the MUA Pretty Pastels palette, I applied the second shade from the left on the bottom row all on the inner half of my lid. The shade looks rather peach in the pan, but as you can see, it came out almost white.
Using the Sleek Acid palette, I applied the first shade on the top row (a fuchsia pink) to the outer half of my lid and pulled it through the crease. Then, using the same palette;
I took the bright purple colour directly below the fuchsia and dabbed it right in the outer corner of my eye, on top of the fuchsia. You’ll need to blend some of the edges otherwise it’ll be pretty stark.
I then used Urban Decay Naked to very lightly blend out the bright fuchsia.

As per usual, I used MAC Brule to highlight my brow. Followed it up with MAC Blacktrack as my liner and L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara. MAC Omega was used to fill in my brows.

Lips: NYX Strawberry Parfait

Cheeks: Wet n Wild Heather Silk

Rest of the Face: My foundation is MUA‘s Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand withRevlon‘s Photoready bronzer in Bronzed & Chic.

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No full face for this one because I was only messing around. I wanted to play around with my Too Faced A Few of my Favorite Things palette and then it kind of developed into this glitter bomb.

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I first used NYX‘s Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil in Black Bean and applied it all over the lid as a base. I then;

applied Too Faced Party Time on the inner half of my lid (this really needs some kind of coloured based or it’ll apply very, very sheer). I really packed this one on.
Too Faced Soiree was applied to the outer half of the lid and through the crease. I didn’t use a blending shade to fade this colour out, instead I very slowly blended it up through the crease. I also used this shade on my lower lashline.
I don’t usually number my liner in my diagrams, but there were a few steps involved with this one. I first created an inner and outer wing with Maybelline‘s black gel liner. With the inner half of the wing, I made sure to do it far out enough so that I could leave a gap near my inner tearduct and drew the line right back to my lower waterline, creating a small triangle. After the gel liner had set, I use Too Faced Glitter Glue and went over top of the liner. Once that became tacky, I used MAC Reflects Glitter in Transparent Teal and placed it on top of the liner.

I used MAC Feline Kohl Power pencil to line my upper and lower waterlines. I appliedL’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara heavily to my upper and lower lashes. The small crystal was from some set that I got at Michael’s a few years ago and I stuck it to inner corner of my eye with some Duo clear lash adhesive.