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!
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!
Eyes:
InglotAMC Shine 15 (shimmery orange) all over the inner two-thirds of the lid.
InglotMatte 382 (matte red) on the outer third of the lid and blended slightly into the crease.
Urban DecayNaked in the crease to blend all the colours together.
MACBrule was used to highlight my brow. And, of course, I used MACBlacktrack fluidline to create the wing and applied L’OrealVoluminous Carbon Black mascara to my top lashes. For brows, I used MACOmega.
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 TarteCharisma 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.
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!
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 MACDipdown fluidline to create the wing and applied L’OrealVoluminous Carbon Black mascara to my lashes. False eyelashes are ArdellDemis applied with Duo adhesive.
Lips: Since the eyes are so shimmery, I stuck with a matte red. I used MACBrick lipliner to line and fill in my lips, then followed it up with MACRussian 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 TarteExposed.
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!
Eyes:
From the MUAPretty 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 SleekAcid 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 DecayNaked to very lightly blend out the bright fuchsia.
As per usual, I used MACBrule to highlight my brow. Followed it up with MACBlacktrack as my liner and L’OrealVoluminous Carbon Black mascara. MACOmega was used to fill in my brows.
Lips: NYXStrawberry Parfait
Cheeks: Wet n WildHeather Silk
Rest of the Face: My foundation is MUA‘s Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand withRevlon‘s Photoready bronzer in Bronzed & Chic.
No full face for this one because I was only messing around. I wanted to play around with my Too FacedA Few of my Favorite Things palette and then it kind of developed into this glitter bomb.
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 FacedParty 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 FacedGlitter 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 MACFeline Kohl Power pencil to line my upper and lower waterlines. I appliedL’OrealVoluminous 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.
Brace yourselves, this is a big one. I’ll include reviews for some of the products if I’ve used them long enough to form an opinion.
MAC Blacktrack Fluidline – $19 CAD
Out of sheer frustration with my Maybelline gel liner, I picked up MAC‘s fluidline inBlacktrack. I had used up an entire tub of it before, but had decided to try the cheaperMaybelline one to see if I preferred it. What a mistake. The Maybelline one had a nasty habit of smearing near the outer corners of my eyes, a problem I’ve never encountered with MAC‘s gel liner. The Maybelline one was also significantly stiffer and less fluid to apply. I certainly don’t intend to stray from this MAC product again!
Fantasy Makers Glitter Palette in Fairy Flight ($4.99 CAD)
This product absolutely enrages me. I love Wet n Wild (although I’ve never used any of their cream products) and Fantasy Makers is a derivative of that company. I picked up this glitter palette in Fairy Flight shortly after Halloween (as it was a leftover from their Halloween display at the drug store) thinking that I could use the glitters for something fun.
Wrong. So wrong.
These aren’t even GLITTERY! There’s an overspray of glitter, but it certainly doesn’t go any deeper into the product. That gorgeous dark blue with shimmer on it? It’s just black underneath. The first swipe removes all of the glitter and you’re left with nothing but a black base. The same is true of all the colours – any of the glitter that you see is just an overspray. So frustrating.
Not to be deterred, I thought I’d at least give the products a shot. I decided to use them as a base for eyeshadows (over top of my usual primer from Urban Decay). I tried out the pale green and the darker green, but within four hours of application my makeup was almost completely disintegrated. It got SO BAD that I actually took my eye makeup off at work. Which is something I don’t think I’ve ever done.
Here’s a look at it. The shot on the left was before I left for work, and the one on the right was taken around noon (so about four hours into wearing the makeup).
I haven’t tried them again on my eye, but just for laughs, I thought I’d swatch them on my hand as I’m typing this to see if maybe I could use them as face paint later on. But ten minutes later, they’re still wet, and smudgy, which makes them pretty much unusable for anything at all. Straight into the bin with this one! What a waste.
MUA Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand – £1.00 GBP
MUA is a company I’ve always looked at whenever I visited the UK, but not one I ever purchased products from. They were recently having free international shipping so I took advantage. I picked up their matte foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand. I do especially like that even though it doesn’t come with a pump, it is at least a squeeze tube with a nozzle which makes it very easy for dispensing product.
MUA BB Cream in Light – £4.00 GBP
At £4, this was one of the most expensive items I picked up from MUA. Having never tried a BB cream before (I know, shock, horror), I decided the best idea would be to pick up a cheap one. (There’s some sarcasm in that statement!) At the moment, MUA‘s BB Cream inLight is just way too light for my skin. I’ll need to wait for the dead of winter before trying this one out again. Again with the nozzle – love it.
MUA Matte Lipsticks – £1.00 GBP each
I picked up a few of MUA‘s matte lipsticks since they’ve received quite good reviews in the beauty blogging world. They swatch semi decently (and I only say that because Wild Berrywas particularly awful to swatch, but the others were not). At a pound each, they’re quite easy on your wallet. So far I’ve only worn Scarlet Siren and I loved the colour of it on my lips.
MUA Matte Lipsticks – Wild Berry, Scarlet Siren, Peachy KeenMUA Pearl Eyeshadows in 9, 1, 26 – £1.00 GBP each
These eyeshadows by MUA are absolutely insane. They’re a single pound each and they wear like a dream. The colour payoff is unbelievable and the dimension to the shades is absolutely unheard of in a product that is just so cheap! These are definitely worth purchasing from MUA.
MUA Pretty Pastels Palette – £4.00 GBP
The other “expensive” product from MUA was their 12 pan eyeshadow palette in Pretty Pastels. While going through their palettes on their web site, this one struck me because it was unlike most colours I have in my eyeshadow collection. This palette has a lot of soft colours that will mix well with a lot of my brighter shades. The colour payoff is what you’d expect with pastels – very pale, sometimes sheer. As a total surprise though… that innocuous looking light shade in the top left corner? It looks boring as hell, but it has a beautiful pink duochrome to it. Very lovely colour.
MAC Prep + Prime Lip – $19 CAD
MAC‘s Prep + Prime for Lips is something that I can no longer be without. If I’m wearing a lipstick, I have to have this underneath as a base layer for my lips. I discussed it at length in my recent empties blog post, but, in short, this prevents bleeding, feathering and makes my lipstick stay on for hours. You need this in your life.
Real Techniques – Expert Face Brush ($6.74 USD) and Blush Brush ($8.98 USD)
I had a credit for amazon.com and decided to pick up some products that are not regularly available in Canada. The Real Techniques kits are sold at Walmart here, but the individual brushes are not. I don’t have enough face brushes, so I picked up the Expert Face Brush(which has been much raved about in the beauty community) and the Blush Brush. I’ve never actually owned a “proper” blush brush and have been using my MAC 130 dual fiber brush for blush. I’m loving the soft fluffiness of the Blush Brush and have used it to apply my blush every day since I got it (it does work better for softer products though. I find it struggles to pick up product with “harder” blushes). I do like the Expert Face Brush as well although it does feel rather small for applying foundation.
Maybelline Vivids lipstick in Neon Red ($4.97 USD)
Oddly enough, Maybelline‘s Vivids line in Canada does not include Neon Red. Why we get some shades, but not all of them (this goes for various makeup brands), I’ll never know. I love the entirety of the Vivids line and this is no exception. The shade does lean rather orange.
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherries in the Snow (Creme) – $6.92 USD
As one of Revlon‘s longest standing lipstick shades (from the 1950s), I’m really curious as to why Cherries in the Snow is not available in Canada. I searched many a drugstore for this one and was never able to find it. As I was making my amazon.com order, I made sure to include this shade. While I see a lot of pink to this shade, almost everyone who commented on this lipstick while I was wearing it referred to it as red. /shrugs All I know is that I love it!
Tarte Off The Cuff palette – $50 CAD
Be still my heart. This is a thing of beauty. With Sephora’s VIB sale fast approaching, I knew I wanted to pick up Tarte‘s Off The Cuff palette since I had missed out on their holiday blush set the previous year by waiting too long. Of course, the first day of the VIB sale I discovered I wasn’t ACTUALLY a VIB member of Sephora and couldn’t get this with the 20% discount. At this point it didn’t matter, I just wanted to get my hands on it. Tarte‘s Blissful was the first blush I ever owned and they remain my favourite blushes to this day. I don’t have a lot of them as they are quite expensive individually, so this was a perfect opportunity to get more bang for my buck.
The palette comes with four blush shades (Crave, Dazzled, Darling and Dollface) and their infamous Park Avenue Princess bronzer. The texture of the blushes is consistent with Tarte‘s standards and I’m really happy I picked this one up while I did because that very same day they sold out online and in stores. Phew!
Laura Mercier Artist Palette – $48 CAD (regularly $60 CAD)
This Artist palette is my first introduction to Laura Mercier products. This is another one I waited for Sephora’s VIB sale to pick up. However, despite not actually being VIB status, the woman at the cash sold it to me at the discounted price anyway, which I didn’t even notice until after I’d paid! I had to make a mad dash between Sephora stores as the one near my office sold out before I got there (and this also sold out online as well). I’ve used it several times since I picked it up and I love the feel of these eyeshadows – they blend beautifully and the pigmentation is fantastic. (The matte shades remind me a lot of MAC‘s Matte2 formula.) The shimmery purple with gold in it, African Violet, is a particular favourite of mine.
NYX Butter Glosses – ~$4 USD each
Oh man, I’m not even going to pretend like I have a reasonable explanation for this one. A lovely friend of mine in the US sent me two of NYX‘s butter glosses after I lamented about how I couldn’t find them anywhere in Toronto. Being the wonderful person that she is, she sent me two as a surprise (Creme Brulee and Maple Blondie). I received them, freaked out, applied them, freaked out again, logged online and ordered the whole damn set from a vendor on Ebay. It was like instantaneous loss of willpower. I BOUGHT THE WHOLE SET AND I’M NOT (completely) ASHAMED! These smell like vanilla, cream and candy.
Since the numbering/colouring system of these glosses seems to be totally out of whack, I decided to put them in some kind of colour gradient order. Which certainly isn’t helping me now that I want to name them. Ugh. Well done Chelle. Anyway, as per the above picture, the colours are (left to right): Strawberry Parfait, Merengue, Eclair, Vanilla Cream Pie, Tiramisu, Creme Brulee, Apple Strudel, Maple Blondie, Peaches and Cream, Cherry Cheese Cake, Peach Cobbler, Cherry Pie. And that’s it. I’m so done with glosses. I don’t need ANY more.
GarnierCleansing Cloths were on sale for $5.99 (regular price is somewhere around the eleven dollar mark). I’ve never tried them before, but as I’ve said in the past, if it says it removes waterproof makeup, it’s worth a shot!
The Body Shop’s Body butters in Satsuma and Shea Butter – $10 CAD each
The Body Shop was having another sale on selected types of Body Butters. I already ownSatsuma, but I’ve been doing quite the number on it (and the smell is just absolutely amazing) so I picked up another one and grabbed a Shea Butter one at the same. Now, I’m not sure what Shea Butter actually smells like, but I thought it would be slightly nutty. I don’t smell any nuts in the Shea scented one. If anything, it smells slightly like a mens cologne! Lovely scent though.
Revlon Parfumerie nail polish in Autumn Spice – $6.99 CAD
I came across Revlon‘s Parfumerie stand in a Rexall by accident. Although they had been popping up all over US drug stores, I hadn’t expected to see them in Canada so soon (we normally get drugstore makeup releases very late in comparison with the US. And sometimes we don’t even get them at all!). The Parfumerie collection appears to be a permanent addition to Revlon’s range, so don’t feel you need to pick up all of the colours immediately!
I’d heard mixed reviews as to the potency of the scent, but I loved the look of Autumn Spiceso I wanted to give it a try. I had thought that this shade/scent was more reddish, but on the nails it’s definitely brown with sparkle. There may be some red to it, but there isn’t a whole lot that’s apparent. In the bottle, you’ll only be able to smell nail polish, but once you get it on the nails and it dries down, it definitely smells of spices. So much so that while I was sleeping at night, I had to change the position of my hands as they were far too close to my face and I was just constantly inhaling spices. I had several people sniff my nails over the next few days (and yes, asking them to do that is as awkward as it sounds!) and all of them said my nails smelled like cinnamon. I didn’t use a top coat to ensure that the smell would be as potent as possible. However, after this scent trial, I will definitely be applying top coat from now on as the polish was chipping within a few days.
And that’s my beauty and makeup shopping done for the month of November!
I’ll start this off by saying I still feel like I’m an extreme rookie when it comes to foundation. I often feel I have no concept as to what colour actually matches my skin tone. A lot of what I say is going to be based on what professionals at MAC, Sephora or Boots have said to me. At MAC, depending on who I speak to, I’ve been told I’m either NC20 or NW20 (I do get pointed towards NW20 more often though). My veins appear blue, which means I have a cool undertone. One of the most important thing to note in the following swatches are that these are all done on the underside of my arm which is pretty darn pale. The underside of my arm does not match my face, nor does it even match tops of my arms, so keep that in mind as you’re comparing the colours to my skin. I tried swatching on my jaw line but it just made for incredibly awkward pictures.
Things to note about my skin:
At MAC I’m in the NW20/NC20 colour range.
My skin is not overly oily, however I do get occasional shiny patches. If I do get oily patches, I don’t generally try to powder it down as I don’t find them particularly blinding!
My veins appear blue, which means I have a cool undertone.
I don’t wear foundation every day as I don’t have anything to really cover up. A few occasional red patches where I pick at my skin, but I don’t need to cover acne or anything of the like. For me, foundation evens out skin tone.
On with the swatches! Prices are marked with the appropriate currency to the country in which I bought the foundation.
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla (~€14)
While in Ireland in May, I picked up the Bourjois Healthy Mix + Serum foundation in shades51 (Light Vanilla) and 52 (Vanilla). I’d heard many a good thing about this foundation and wanted to give it a try. The first thing that has to be said about this foundation is that it smells amazing. Putting this on your face is an absolute pleasure – it smells refreshingly like berries! The consistency is rather thin, although it does have somewhat of a gel-like texture which I suppose is the “serum” effect they refer to in the name. Shade 51 is too light for my complexion at the moment (even though in the swatch above it looks damn near perfect), so I’m hoping my skin pales out enough throughout the winter to be able to use it pure. If not, I’ll mix it with a darker foundation to get a better colour match.
Also worth noting is that this comes with a pump. I can’t tell you how invaluable pumps are for foundation. Nothing is worse than a bottle with an open end (I’m looking at youRevlon Colorstay!). I do find this gets patchy/wears away pretty quickly so the lasting power isn’t amazing.
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 52 Vanilla (~€14)
Right now this shade (52 Vanilla) seems perfect for my skin. It blends in smoothly and evenly. As with the shade I mentioned above, this is a really liquid consistency that feels really refreshing on the skin despite not having a very long wear time. It’s perfect for those who don’t like the feeling of overly thick foundations.
No7 Instant Radiance Foundation in Cool Vanilla (~€16)
No7 Instant Radiance foundation in Cool Vanilla is the foundation I feel the most comfortable wearing, which probably has to do with it being the foundation shade I was colour matched to in Boots. I’m never QUITE sure if a foundation matches me, so having a laser gun tell me my perfect shade eases a lot of my worry. I was colour matched in Ireland in May, so I had a partial tan at the time as it had already been quite warm in Canada by that point. This is the ONLY foundation I’ve worn where someone has commented on how amazing my skin looked. I will admit that it looks dark in the bottle, but it certainly doesn’t appear that intense on my face.
This also comes with a pump – therefore I love it. There is a faint “cosmetic” scent to the product, but it’s not offensive. Lasting power is quite good as it will endure an entire work day without issue.
Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 220 Natural Beige (Combination/Oily) (~$20 CAD)
I had a bit of a love hate relationship with this foundation. Revlon Colorstay was the first liquid foundation I ever bought after hearing it recommended over and over again for being one of the best drugstore foundations ever. I took a leap of faith with the shade (220 Natural Beige) and it worked out decently well, though I do find this shade tends to run quite pink. This isn’t a shade I can wear during the dead of winter – it’s more an early summer and early fall shade (as my tan is both coming in and going out).
The first time I wore it I wasn’t loving it – it has a rather offensive paint-like scent (although you cannot smell it once it’s on your skin) and it dried down incredibly quickly, which wasn’t something I was used to. I gave up on this foundation for a while then went back to it to force myself to finish the bottle… only to find that I suddenly LOVED the stuff. The coverage is intense – it will block out almost anything on your face and give you a flawless surface. It can appear quite artificial if you pack it on, so go lightly and build up a second layer if you really need it (I didn’t). It can feel rather tight if you’re not used to wearing foundation. Since the coverage is so heavy, it can look slightly artificial at times, which is why I tend to prefer how it looks after an hour or two of wear time once it’s had a chance to settle into your skin
I only wish this had a pump. I’ve read that some countries do have Colorstay in a pump, but I have yet to see that here in Canada!
Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 150 Buff (Combination/Oily) (~$20 CAD)
Just a paler shade of Revlon Colorstay that I anticipate wearing in the winter. This shade (150 Buff) shade leans more yellow than 220 Natural Beige and is also significantly lighter.
Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Foundation in 220 Nude (~$11 USD)
Ugh. This Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme foundation (in 220 Nude) vexes me. First off, the number is the same as the Natural Beige shade in the normal liquid version and yet the shades have completely different names and are not similar at all. I bought this hoping it would be slightly paler than the liquid 220 Natural Beige shade – it’s definitely not, it’s darker!
I wore this throughout the summer as it was the darkest foundation I had and while it matched well enough, it was just never, ever comfortable to wear. Maybe it’s just because it was a cream foundation in the middle of a warm summer, but it just never felt like it completely settled into my skin. It really just felt like it sat on top of my skin. I forced myself to finish it, but I won’t purchase this one again. (And honestly, it has turned me off all cream foundations altogether now.) Also annoying is that despite it being in a rather cute tub, it was frustrating getting the product out. I resorted to using a cotton bud to remove the foundation, placed it one the back of my hand, and then dabbed my brush onto the back of my hand to pick up product.
Covergirl & Olay Tone Rehab 2 in 1 Foundation – CC Cream in 110 Classic Ivory (~$20 CAD)
Covergirl‘s attempt at a CC Cream is a bit of a laugh. The actual tube doesn’t say anywhere on it that it’s a CC Cream… except for the sticker at the top which looks like it was added as an afterthought once the CC Cream craze started up in the beauty world. As far as I can see, it doesn’t actually have any CC Cream properties: there’s no colour correction properties to it and there’s no SPF. So let’s just forget it’s even labeled a CC Cream and move on. I’ve been wearing 110 Classic Ivory more lately to get a feel for it and I will say that it is an incredibly matte foundation. The colour match is quite good for me as we’re headed into the winter, but it does tend to feel a bit drying as I progressed throughout the day. I would recommend wearing a decent moisturizer underneath this foundation. And thumbs up for the pump!
MUA BB Cream in Light (~£4 GBP)
MUA‘s BB Cream was cheap as chips and it doesn’t disappoint. It does feel rather thick, so go easy when you squeeze it out. The first time I applied it I definitely used too much and with the shade being too pale for me at the moment (man, I feel like I keep saying that!) it made me look rather ghostly. The dry down on this product is nice – you’ve got plenty of time to blend it into your skin and it just looks *nice*. To the touch it’s even rather soft. Love the squeezy tube and the nozzle end.
MUA Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand (~£2 GBP)
MUA‘s Matte foundation is actually rather impressive. Not only is it incredibly cheap but it also has a nozzle end – a feature which I find to be an incredibly smart alternative to a pump. As a whole, the packaging on this one is rather awesome: It contains an ounce of foundation (typical for foundations) but it’s a flexible, soft tube with a nozzle. It’s compact and perfect for travelling, which makes it pretty ideal. I don’t find it holds up throughout the day as well as Revlon Colorstay, for example, but the cost of this foundation offsets just about every downside to that.
Here are all the foundations swatched side by side on the underside of my arm in indirect sunlight. As mentioned at the top of this post, my face has been colour matched to NW20 at MAC which is darker than my arm.
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla
Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 52 Vanilla
No7 instant Radiance Foundation in Cool Vanilla
Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 220 Natural Beige (Combination/Oily)
Revlon Colorstay Foundation in 150 Buff (Combination/Oily)
Revlon Colorstay Whipped Creme Foundation in 220 Nude
Covergirl & Olay Tone Rehab 2 in 1 Foundation – CC Cream in 110 Classic Ivory
MUA Matte Foundation in Shade 1 Soft Sand
MUA BB Cream in Light
Those are all my foundations! I hoped the colours and swatches help you out if you were looking information and comparisons. Is there a foundation out there that you think I’d like? I’ll admit to never having owned a high end foundation so I’m sure that’s something I’ll be looking into at some point!
