Thursday, 4 July 2013

Work Look! Parfait Amour Eyes and Candy Yum-Yum Lips

Time for werk! Doing what I do, I get to wear some shades that most people def. wouldn't usually wear to work haha! I this look I went for a vibrant purple slightly smoky eye with a vibrant pink lip.



Products:
Too Faced Primed & Poreless
MAC Face & Body Foundation- C3
MAC Studio Fix Fluid NC20- (where I needed fuller coverage)
Smashbox Concealer- Fair
MAC Prep & Prime Highlight pen- Light Boost
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural- Medium
MAC Mineralize Skinfinish- Soft & Gentle with Smashbox Fan brush
Smashbox Paradise Blusher
MAC- Temperature Rising Bronzer- Soft Sand
Espresso & Mystery in brows with Mac #266
Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer
MAC- Parfait Amour eyeshadow
Make Up Geek- Unexpected eyeshadow
MAC- Violet Pigment
Random dark purple eyeshadow I found!
17 Eyeliner- Black
Smashbox Eye Brightening Mascara
MAC- Magenta Lipliner
MAC-Candy Yum Yum with Pink Novaeu in centre

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How to do a M.A.C face chart! MAC Face Chart tutorial in 5 easy steps!




In the past I have had questions about how to do a MAC Face Chart! There are tons of ways to do them, a lot probably better than mine, but I'll briefly explain how I do mine, just in case anyone wants to have a go! You can google the image of the face chart and print it out, either one per page, but I like to do two per page.


Step 1: Find a blank chart (like this one!):

First of all you need to download (or you could use this one) a face chart. You can print these out onto normal paper, but I'd suggest using artist/watercolour paper, as you can use different mediums such as cream or liquid and the paper will be thick enough for you to blend and play with different textures.

You can use any product you like, have a practice on a chart with some of your make-up and see what you feel most comfortable with! I like to use eyeshadows for a lot of my work, with liquid eyeliner and lipstick. I also love the NYX jumbo eye pencil in Milk for making eyecolours pop, and Too Faced Lip Insurance primer for lips.

Step 2: Create the skin:

(This was done on photoshop, not with charts and make-up, I will redo with charts another time!) Start to create the skin for your face. You can use a liquid all over like Studio Fix fluid or Studio Sculpt, but I just like to use powders as that's what I'm most comfortable with! To start I take a MAC #224 brush and either Mineralize Skinfinish in Medium, or Brule (light nude) eye shadow and apply all over the face to make a base skin colour. I then take Wedge eye shadow by MAC (light brown) and shade around the edges of the face, building up colour with Texture by Mac (Orange-y/brick colour). Texture is a great skin colour on paper! I like to take a Bent angled liner brush (I just use an E.l.f one) and draw a line/crescent shape from the high planes of the cheekbone all the way down to create a cheekbone (as you can see in the picture) I like to start doing this with Espresso eyeshadow (you can use any rich brown) then intensify it with Mystery (a very dark, cool brown). For a very defined look you can leave it like this, but I like to blend it out with the #224 brush and some more of Texture. Draw two crescents from the brow to nose to create the top of the nose, then with pencil draw on the outer part of the nostrils, and shade with Texture and Espresso to make a nose. Go in with a few different browns and play around until you get a good looking nose!

Step 3: Eyes!
Once you've built a nice base with your 'skin' products, you can start on the eyes! There is no set order to what products you use when, but I like to do eyes next. If you have a way that you personally like to use eye shadow, try that out, but I always like to do it a certain way with face charts as obviously they are different to faces! You can apply straight to the paper (like I did in the photos of my face charts up there) or use a base (NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil, MAC Paint Pot etc) I like to do both, depending on the look!

Once your base is applied (or not) take a blending or pencil brush (#217 or #219 are good) and blend a light colour inbetween the brow bone and the crease. For example in this look I could use a very light lilac, light pink or light purple. Once you've blended it, pat your medium colour all over the lid, I used the medium purple here. Also take a pencil brush and swoop it all over the under eye area. Take a slightly darker purple and run it through the crease with a small brush (angle, pencil or liner would work) then intensify the outer 'V' with a really dark colour, in this case a dark, intense purple. You can add more colours, a pop of colour in the inner corner or whatever you like from this point on!

Step 4: Liner, Lashes and Brows!:

(Sorry about the awful brows- it's very hard to do eyebrows on a computer haha!)

Colour in the eye of your chart- it will really bring it to life! I love to do electric blue eyes! Take any pencil or liquid liner and line the eye, less is more! Do it as you would your own eye. Then take the liner place it at the lash line, then gently flick out to create lots of little eyelashes. Start with one at the edge, one in the middle facing upward, and one close to the inner corner facing the opposite way to the first one, then build up.

For brows use medium brown or dark brown shadows with an angled brush, liner brush or pencil brush. You can use pencil or liquid liner for a more definer look. Again, apply this as you would to your own brow, but have a light hand and be careful!

Step 5: Lips and Finishing Touches:

For the lips feel free to get creative- pick fun colours and if you like, draw a pencil line and create a new shape! This is what I did with the photo of my chart abouve, you don't have to stick to the original design you can play around!
Start with a lip primer, like Too Faced Lip Insurance, then apply your lipliner or lipstick with a brush. You can add any finishing touches like a bit of blusher, or touch up any parts you feel need a bit of extra colour. Cover up the blank side of the chart abouve, then the coloured side and you can see the huge impact make-up makes!

I love doing face charts! Almost as fun as the real thing!

My favourite/The best MAC Lipsticks- in my opinion! With Swatches



I was having a look at some of my lipsticks the other day and randomly decided to have a think about which were my faves, and swatch them all! These are just a few, other close contenders were Pure Zen and Up The Amp.

Rebel- Described by MAC as "midtonal cream plum". I'd say this is pretty accurate, it's a lovely reddish, purpley plum! This lipstick is really interesting on, and I get a lot of people asking me which one I'm wearing when it's on!

Diva- Described by MAC as "intense reddish burgandy" I had actually never heard of this lipstick until I got it, my sister went into MAC with me to try out a new foundation, had a lipstick on, but of course it rubbed off, so the artist gave her Diva to top it up. I loved the colour! It's the ultimate deep burgandy lip, and looks so nice with neutral or grey eye make-up.

So Chaud- Described by MAC as "intense reddish orange" this was an impulse buy for me around Christmas a year or so ago, I love this lipstick! Orange toned lipsticks like Morange seem to work on me, on a day that I'm stuck on what lipstick I want to wear I love this one, it's so bright, but wearable at the same time.

Riri Woo- Described by MAC as "matte cool red" This lipstick needs no introduction! I jumped to buy it as soon as I recieved the email from MAC saying it was released, and it was such a good buy! It looks great on everyone, it's a true red, and I got lots of compliments when I wore it to work!

Candy Yum Yum- Described by MAC as "neon pink" Which is a very accurate description! This is a recent addition to my lipstick collection, I got it when I did a back to MAC recently. This is such a gorgeous, fun colour. I love wearing this on a night out, it looks great with a tan and is such a fun colour!

Pink Noveau- Described by MAC as "bright pink" This is a really pretty colour reccomended to me by a MAC artist, who had it on at the time! I wear this with Magenta lip liner which is a match made in heaven! Love!

Impassioned- Described by MAC as "amped-up fuschia" This was my first, and all time favourite lipstick. Not MAC lipstick- lipstick in general! I love this shade so much, and I love the amplified finish too, it's like a thick creme and the pigmentation is just perfect. 

Viva Glam Nicki- Described by MAC as "bright yellow pink" I think this is such an underrated shade, it's gorgeous and looks different on everyone! On me it's a very bright pink, almost comparable to a slightly lighter Candy Yum Yum, on others it's a light, coraly pink, some a very dark pink. And all the money going to charity is a great part of this lipstick.

Costa Chic- Described by MAC as "light coral" This is such a perfect shade for summer. It's not for everyone, but I personally love it!

Angel- Described by MAC as "soft pink" The perfect baby-pink lip. Loved by Kim Kardashian, ignore the 'frost finish' label, it's a creamy, moisturizing finish that I would not compare to a frost at all! This literally goes with anything.

Shy Girl- Described by MAC as "creamy neutral coral beige" The ultimate, ultimate nude lip for anyone. This looks good on me as I have olive toned skin, but it's gorgeous on everyone I've seen it on! Whenever I do a look and am not sure what lipstick would go with the colours, I pick this one. When I'm in a rush and need a quick sweep of lipstick, I pick this one. Smokey eye? Colourful eye? Natural look? Shy Girl! One of my all time faves.

Hope you enjoyed looking at some of my favourite MAC lipsticks, and ones I consider the best! If you get stuck on buying a new lipstick, look at these and see which one to buy! Leave a comment with your fave :)  

Dior Addict Lip Gloss Review- Spring Ball


Recently when I was making some purchases in work, as I was paying I spotted some gorgeous Dior Addict lip glosses by the checkout, they were so pretty I just had to buy one! I was looking for a pink toned nude for ages, but hadn't found the right one, seeing Spring Ball Dior Addict gloss, I knew I had to try it! This is one of the nicest lipglosses I've used in a while, gorgeous, simple colour and it feels amazing to put on. It is a little sheer, so those looking for a pop of colour wouldn't really like this gloss, but anyone looking  to complete the ultimate, gloss pink-toned nude lip with a little sparkle, this is a life-saver.

Pigmentation- 3.5/5
Feel- 5/5
Price- $$$$
Overall- 4/5

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

Last Month's Favourite Makeovers

As part of my job, and in my spare time I love to do makeovers on people! I am lucky working where I am that I get to do make-up on people from all walks of life, all different skin types, shades and face shapes etc! Sometimes there are people who come into my work who are just gorgeous and make my job easy for me! Here are some fun looks I did on clients and friends from the last month:




Double discount haul! ❤

Okay so twice a year at my work (Boots), we have a double discount, where staff discount is twice what it usually is! I used this as an example to stock up on some things I've had my eye on for a while...the bits and bobs in this photo don't include everything I got, like shampoo, wipes etc, just the fun stuff! Here is a list of some of my faves:

Smashbox- Melondrama lipstick
Smashbox- Eye Trio in Vignette
Smashbox- Blush Rush in Paradise 
YSL- Peach lipstick
Dior- Addict spring gloss
Bumble & Bumble- Surf and Thickening spray!

I also came home to a package from NYX, with 2 Round Lipsticks, a Black Label Lipstick, 3 Lip Pencils and a Milk Jumbo Eye Pencil! I've been so naughty haha! I will swatch some of my faves soon...