Sunset Eyeshadow Tutorial

As the sun appears to have gone into hiding here in England I thought I would do a sun inspired eyeshadow tutorial.  The tools you will need for this look is two fluffy crease brushes and a flat shadow brush. Plus these two beauties from NYX Cosmetics.  From the Primal Colors range Hot Red and from the Hot Singles range STFU.   

To start with prime your eyes, when I use bright colours I always do my shadow before my foundation just in case I need to clean up, although there is little if anything in the way of fall out from these eyeshadows.  

Once my eyes are primed the first thing I do is grab a fluffy crease brush (Makeup Revolution's E103) and go in with Hot Red in the crease.

As always the key to bright colours is to go in with a light hand and build the colour.  I will always tap off the excess, this way you don't look like you have fallen into a paint box.  

After I have build the red to the colour I want I go in with a flat shadow brush (Makeup Revolution's E101) into STFU.

To build the colour so it is bright yellow I pat the colour on rather than swipe with the brush.  I found this builds the colour beautifully.  

The final stage as always is the blending. Take a clean fluffy crease brush (Real Techniques' Base Shadow Brush) and blend it out so there are no harsh lines.

Once you have blended you may want to go in again with the yellow close to the lash line just to really make that colour pop.

This one I finished with a little bit of mascara and was good to go.  I would normally add an eyeliner but I am on the search for a none flaking mascara and don't want to fudge the results with stray liner.  

This is a super simple look that is really effective so give it a try.

Any questions, hints or tips leave them below.

XOXO

Try It Out Tuesday #TIOT Interview Ready

Good news!  I have been looking for a change of career and this week I have an interview so I thought that today's #TIOT could be trying out an interview makeup look.  

As you know I have a penchant for colour and while I would normally say let your freak flag fly, interviews and jobs are sometimes the place where you reign in the weird and channel a more grown up professional person.  So today is not about crazy colours but about trying to find a look where I still feel like me, just a more responsible me.  

To start this look I washed and primed my face as I normally do.  I like to do my eyes before I do my foundation just because it enables me to clean up any fall out or mess without ruining my foundation.  

I looked through my palettes and picked out my old faithful, the MUA Burning Embers palette. I can't recommend this enough (read my review here). I picked out four brushes for this look; two fluffy crease brushes (Makeup Revolution E103 and the Real Techniques base shadow brush), one flat brush (Makeup Revolution E101) and a small crease brush that I have had since the beginning of time (Jenna Kidd's Deepen brush).

I picked out four brushes for this look; two fluffy crease brushes (Makeup Revolution E103 and the Real Techniques base shadow brush), one flat brush (Makeup Revolution E101) and a small crease brush that I have had since the beginning of time (Jenna Kidd's Deepen brush).  

To start with I take a fluffy crease brush and go in with Warmth - a warm tan brown colour through the crease.  Then, using the flat brush I sweep fume - a darker brown colour over the lid.  Using the small crease brush I finally go in with Char - dark brown colour into the outer crease just to deepen. Then finally I blend with a clean fluffy crease brush.  

After I have cleaned up any fall out I then go in with my foundation which today was the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla.  I use Revlon's Colorstay concealer in 01 Fair under the eyes and MUA's Whipped Velvet Blush in Chichi

Now to sort out the brows.  I don't like the super dark, big brow look, I prefer to go a little more natural so I comb them through and then go in with the Makeup Revolution's Ultra Brow Arch and shape 

This brow pencil is double ended, one side you have a twist up pencil and the other you have a felt tip.  I like the felt tip end because it fills in without looking too dark and keeps brow looking natural but neat.  

Brows finished I go to do the liquid eyeliner. Now unfortunately there is no cheat for this, it really is just a case of practise.  I prefer a felt tip end rather than a brush type but that is purely preference.  Today I have used the Fast Stroke Eyeliner from Collection.  

I don't go mad with the flick, I just add a little one.  This again is practise.  I would suggest if you are a newbie to liquid liner forget about the flick until you are confident doing a line and then experiment.  This liner is a dark brown matte, I think that it is a little softer than my usual black and works well with the brown shadow.  

From there I go in with mascara.  Now I am so very lucky when it comes to eyelashes as they are long. So I mostly look for two types of mascara, one that separates the lashes and one that gives volume.  

For this interview look I don't want crazy big lashes so I went for the Revlon Dramatic Definition.

Finally I need something for the lips.  The luck I have with the eyelashes does not extend to the lips.  My lips are not particularly well defined and are not even. As a result of this I need a liner to even them out. 

This is not my best effort as they are still a little uneven but it was as good as it was going to get today without me looking like I have drag queen lips.  With a matte lip paint like this one from Barry M I make sure I exfoliate my lips and put on a thin layer of lip balm to stop them drying out.  

And that's it 

Here is the before and after, teamed with grown up clothes and a pair of great shoes I should be ready to wow them.  Fingers crossed and I will keep you posted. 

Any hints and tips leave a message below.

XOXO

Pinks and Purples Eyeshadow Tutorial

Today I'm going to try my hand at a eyeshadow tutorial.  There will be pictures and I will try my best to explain so you can recreate the results.  There are three things to remember when trying out a new look with make up;

1.  Practise - don't wait until the day when you need it to attempt a new look.  Practise makes perfect.
2.  Tools - make sure you have the right tools, I don't mean expensive but having a variety of brushes will help (don't worry I will go through what you will need)
3.  Have fun.  Makeup is supposed to be fun, it is not at all serious, it's there to be enjoyed.

This is the look I will be showing you today...

 It is super easy and a lot of fun.

Brushes
For this look you will need two types of brushes the first is a fluffy crease brush like this one from Real Techniques they call it their 'Base Shadow Brush'. I bought it as part of a eye set from Superdrug for £20.99, there are five brushes in the set and I use all of them so it is quite economical.  Makeup Revolution also have one of these that retails for £1.99 that will work just as well.

This type of brush is great for blending and laying down a base colour.  

You will also need a small flat shadow brush like this one from Makeup Revolution, it's their E101 brush. These retail for £1.99 and are my favourite, I will always stock up on these when I'm shopping on www.tambeauty.com and I need the £30 for free shipping.  Having multiples is a great idea for the colour mad amongst us.  For this look I used three of these, you don't need to have three but I find it easier when using multiple colours to have a brush per colour, just in case you want to go back into a colour later.

The eyeshadows I am using are all from the NYX Ultimate Brights palette.

I have written about this previously where I compare it to a budget version from Makeup Revolution and a high end version from Urban Decay, you can read that review HERE.

To start with I prime my eyes.  Now there are a plethora of different eye primers on the market but I use Maybelline's Color Tattoo in Creme De Rose and a neutral eyeshadow.

I smooth the Color Tattoo over my eye with my finger and then dust with the neutral shadow. This does two things, the Color Tattoo stops creasing and the neutral powder makes blending colours a lot easier.

Once I have have primed my eyes I use the flat eyeshadow brush and load it up with the bright pink colour.

I then pack it onto the inner corner of the eye and towards the centre.  About one third of the lid.  When I say pack on I mean don't just brush it over the lid with long swipes but press the shadow on with short swipes. This will give you a stronger colour.

Once you have the desired deepness of colour go into your second shade.  I have chosen a lilac shade that is somewhere in between the original pink and the third colour.

I used another flat brush and did the same as before but this time on the middle of the lid.

This colour is about the width of the coloured part of your eye if you look straight on into the mirror.  Again, once you have the desired colour go in with your final shade.  This one is a purple.

This colour I put on the outer third of the lid.

When I am using three colours like this I tend to use a lighter shade in the middle and the two brighter shades on the outside.  Once it's blended I find that it looks more dramatic than going from the lightest shade to the darkest...but that's just me, you do what you like.

Once all three colours are on the lid you need to blend.  Now, don't just go in with your fluffy brush and blend all over the lid.  What I will do is use the flat brushes to blend the colours into each other so there is no harsh lines on the lid.  Then I will go into the neutral shade we used at the beginning and very, very, very, very (you get the point) lightly start to blend out the crease. 

Doing it this way means that you don't end up with a line in your crease and it also means that because you have blended the colour out onto the upper part of the eye you won't notice transfer as much. 

When I have blended I will then go in with a face wipe and tidy up the edges. 

I always do may eyes first for this reason. If you have any fallout from the shadow or you have blended it to far out on the corner of the eye it means you can go in and smooth everything out. I will then do my foundation, liner, mascara etc. 

I think that it create a really fun look. Don't forget what I said at the beginning, practise is key and don't forget to enjoy yourself.  When I first started out doing this I would put on the telly or some music and just take my time with it.  I would mostly mess around with makeup after dinner and before I was going to bed, this way it didn't matter if I screwed up because nobody was going to see it.  

I hope my descriptions here are helpful and not too confusing.  As always I hope you enjoyed this and if you have any hints or tips you want to share then comment below.

XOXO

Try It Out Tuesday #TIOT Makeup Revolution Fortune Favours the Brave Palette

Last week for #TIOT I looked at the Burning Embers palette from MUA and did four different looks.  I have done the same this week but with another budget palette from Makeup Revolution, it's the Fortune Favours the Brave palette.

When this palette was release it was all over social media and is very much in the category of "YouTube made me buy it".  It retails for £9.99 on www.Tambeauty.com and includes 30 shades in both shimmer and matte.  

The shades in this palette are more subtle than I usually go for as I am a colour junkie when it comes to eyeshadow.  The colours range from blues and greens to pinks and purples and a few neutrals thrown in for good measure.

The palette swatches well with the finger with some beautiful shimmer shades as the stand outs.

This palette sits more in the cool toned range of colours and while there are a variety of shades I was not as enamoured by this palette as I was by the MUA one last week. That doesn't mean that this palette is bad by any means it just doesn't run to my preference of colours.  Having said that I did manage to produce four fairly distinct looks.

For this look I used the purple/pink tones.  I started off with Winning in the crease and put Favour over the lid and Pink Diamond in the inner corner.  What can be said about this palette is the colours blend nicely together so it's fairly easy to get a smooth effect over the lid.  

For the second look I used the green shades. Tip Top in the crease, Yes Please on the lid, Smoothie in the outer corner and brought into the crease a little and then Fortune in the inner corner.  I think this is my favourite of the four looks as while it is more subtle than the colours I am used to, it has a dramatic edge to it that I enjoyed.

Look three I decided to go all matte.  I started out with Buffer as a crease colour, then went in with Latte on the lid.  I then put Caffeine Fix in the outer corner to add some depth.  This I think is my least favourite of the four, not because the shadows were hard to use just that it is a very understated look and as I may have mentioned (once or twice) I like bold! Having said that this would be a good look for work as it is not overly in your face.

Lastly I went with this look.  I wanted something bolder than the other three so I decided to see how well two very different colours would blend together.  I first went in with Skylight in the crease and then Midnight Rainbow on the lid.  Having done this I realise that while Skylight has little flecks of gold glitter in it they are very similar in shade so I went in and blended Peachy in the crease.  I blended A LOT and I quite like the finished look with the blue on the lid and the peachy shade on the crease.  I finished it off with Pink Diamond on the inner corner.

While this is a good palette with colours that blend well together it just didn't inspire me as much as some other palettes from Makeup Revolution do.  I feel that this palette could do with less pinks/peaches and a few more lighter blue shades as there are only three blues one of which (Transformer) is more of a greeny blue and the other two are very similar shades.  I love the selection of greens and purples and some of the pinkier shimmers are nice for the inner corner.  

Overall if you like a subtle eye this is a great starter palette.  The pigment is good without being overpowering for the novice. There is some scope for creativity for the more experienced make up geek, however I feel that maybe there could be better palettes out there for you.  If you like warm shades there is little in here for you but if cool shades are your bag then this could be a winner.

As always I hope this was helpful, any hints, tips or recommendations you can comment below. 

XOXO 

NAILS NAILS NAILS

I love nail polish and I love trying out new colours and designs.  I am not a nail technician and I am still learning the dos and donts of this world but I want to share what I have learnt so far.  

I used to be a chronic nail biter but I think that was more down to my anxiety than a habit. I have managed to get a hold on that and have discovered I have relatively strong nails. However there are always things that you can do to keep them strong and long.  

Nail Care 101

1.  Square tipped nails will catch and break more easily than round tips.  If you wear your nails short then this won't be as much of an issue, but if you like to wear them long you will find that you will break and chip your nails more easily with a square tip.

2.  If you are a nail biter and you want to quit figure out when you bite your nails the most. I would chew at my fingers while watching TV or at the cinema.  When you have this figured out try and do something else with your hands, I was in my late teens and learnt how to make friendship bracelets, this meant that I couldn't bite my nails because I was using my hands to do something else.

3.  When I finally kicked the habit I found that my nails were flaking easily.  This was down to two things; the first was that the tip of my nail was damaged and so my nails would dry out.  The second was that I also used to chew at the skin around my nails (I know, gross) this meant that my cuticles were damaged and this effected the condition of the nail as it grew.  

3.  Speaking of cuticles, NEVER cut them. Use a good oil and push them back with a orange stick, but don't cut them, that will have the same affect as biting your skin.

4.  Try not to cut your nails as this encourages flaking, use a nail file. Now this gets a little complected so bare with me. Coarse nail files are not made for real nails, they are made for acrylic nails.  If you use then on your real nails you will damage them. Nail files have a grit number which identifies how coarse or fine the grit is.  Ideally you should be using one that is 240 or above - the higher the number the finer the grit.  I have a glass nail file that works great and can be cleaned and sanitised too. 

I think most people know this but don't file back and forth on the nail as this will weaken it too.  Always file in the same direction. 

5.  Use gloves when washing up whenever possible.  Nails don't like water, it causes them to dry out and flake.

6.  Use a good moisturiser regularly, whatever works for you.  At the moment I am using The Body Shops Almond Milk and Honey for sensitive and dry hands.  It works beautifully on my hands but I am finding I am needing something more moisturising around my nails.  So while this smells amazing and is great to throw in my handbag while out of the house when I want to moisturise the cuticles I will use something that is oil based.

7.  Always use a base coat.  ALWAYS. I don't care if the polish says you don't have to, if you don't want to stain your nails use a base coat.  

I like to use a treatment on my nails too.  So I do one layer of the 7 in 1 treatment from Barry M and their Base and Topcoat.  What this means is my nails are getting a treatment to help keep them strong and I am protecting them from staining.  Both of these polishes dry super quickly so it doesn't add much time to the process.

8.  When you are adding your colour, it will dry quicker if you apply 2 or even 3 thin coats rather than one thick coat.  Trust me this will cause less smudging later.

9.  Always use a topcoat this will stop the polish from chipping.

10. Never peal off your polish, whether it is a gel, acrylic or just a regular polish.  It will not do your nails any good. 

Tutorial

For this design you can use any colours you want I am using Barry M Gelly in Cotton and Orly in Electropop. You will also need a small dotting tool.  Don't worry if you don't have one you could use an unfolded hair grip (like in the picture below), a pin head or even the pointy side of an orange stick.

A few tips when using a dotting tool...
1.  Have a cotton wool pad soaked in nail polish remover close by and every so often wipe off the dotting tool.  If you don't your dots will get steadily bigger.  
2.  Depending on the polish you may have to use more than one drop of polish because as it dries it sort of goes stringy and gets harder to work with.
3.  Even though it is a fairly easy way to create patterns it does take practise, especially when using your non-prominent hand. 
4.  Remember this is supposed to be fun so choose a moment where you have enough time and you don't have to worry about having to leave the house or watch the kids.  

1. First I applied my base and topcoat, when that had dried I went in with the Barry M in Cotton. 
2. After that I tore a piece of paper out of an old notebook and put a drop of the pink on the page.  
3.  Using the small dotting tool I placed two dots one above the other, doing this means that it is easier to make the heart symmetrical.  
4.  Then I did the rest of the dots for the hearts.  
5.  At this point I got impatient and went in with the topcoat and smudged the pink slightly, learn from my mistake and wait for the pattern to dry before you put on the topcoat.  It doesn't look so bad in the picture but it's already driving me mad so I may have to redo them! 

I hope this is helpful, if you have any comments, hints or tips you can leave them below. 

XOXO

Try It Out Tuesday #TIOT 4 Looks 1 Palette

Makeup Academy: Burning Embers Palette

This is the palette I am reaching for most of the time, I've had it for a few months now and it is truly the best budget palette I have used, I think maybe, ever. It competes with most high end palettes because of it's versatility alone.  There are brown mattes in warm and cool tones for the every day and the most amazing shimmer shades I have come across for the nights out and the formula is just lovely. Here are the swatches...

Unfortunately some of the paler mattes don't show up on my pale skin because I am freakishly pale. I don't say that in jest, Match the first colour on the top row could be used as a matte colour to brighten under the brow for most people but for me it is pretty much my shade and I can use it as fixing powder! 

There are a few shades to point out for different reasons but the first would be Glint.  This shade would be a great highlight. It isn't at all glittery but it has some luminosity to it that has a slight pink/purple sheen to it that when blended out is super subtle but just stunning.  

All of the shimmer shades are beautiful but there are five standouts for me.  Ignite is a striking gold, Energy is a soft reflective peach, Blaze is a hot maroon red, Flame is a cute shiny pink and Dazzle is the perfect brown shimmer to jazz up a smokey eye. 

I have only created four looks for this blog post but there really is an infinite amount of possibilities.  Here is look one...

This is a brown smokey eye.  I love to use browns, I have green I eyes and this just made them pop.  Here's how I did it... 

I used Blush in the crease then went onto the lid with Dazzle and then darkened up the outer corner with Char.  Under the lower lash and in the inner corners I put Urban Decay's Heavy Metal in Junkshow, the liquid liner is Collection's Fast Stroke (dirty!!) Eyeliner in brown and then finished off with some black mascara and Bourjois Rouge Velvet in Beau Brun. 

I loved this look, it was sophisticated but striking and lasted the whole evening out.

Look two was softer and designed for a Sunday lunch out with the folks so it was a lot less intense.

Inspired by spring and the few days of gorgeous sunshine we had I wanted to create a light look that felt fresh and clean.

I started out this look with Sizzle in the crease and on the lid.  I then went over the lid with Energy and blended them together with Burn,  I also used burn in the outer corners just to add a little depth. Once I had finished I added Heat in the inner corner and blended out, this gave the effect of fading from a light pale copper to a deep peach.  

Once the foundation was on I again, used Urban Decay's Heavy Metal in Junkshow.  This time I didn't want to go dark with a liquid liner so I put some white eyeliner on the waterline and finished off with some black mascara. The lips for this look is an MUA lip pencil in Pink Me Up with a gloss over the top for moisture. The pencil itself has shine but is too drying to wear solo. This look is pretty and subtle with less drama than a smokey eye or a vivid colour.

Speaking of vivid colours, I spent the week binge watching Ru Paul's Drag Race and I wanted to go bright, so look three was inspired by those beautiful ladies.  

Unfortunately my camera does not really pick up how pink this is.  It is princess pink to the max, like 1980s prom queen pink.  

This look was a little trickier as the shimmer shades don't blend as well as the matte shades and I was working with three shimmer shades. I started out with Glint in the crease, then went on the lid with Flame. I then went back into Glint to blend the two colours together so there were no harsh lines.  I then used Sparks in the inner corner. 

Again I went under the lower lash line with Urban Decay's Heavy Metal in Junkshow (love that liner) and the liquid liner is Maybelline's Master Ink Satin in Luminous Black. The lipstick is Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Pink Pong! I wore this to go baby sitting my niece, she is a very cute kid who is very into pink so I thought she might like it and it is fun and bright and very outgoing. I wore this look from about 8am, by the time I got home at 3.30pm the shadow had started to crease.  I think this is because there were three shimmer shades on top of each other and (humble brag coming your way) I have big eyes so I usually have creasing problems with any eyeshadow no matter price point or primer.   

For the last look I went gold because, well why not!! It is probably more of an evening look but because I am the way I am, I rocked it all day and night.  

This one is a bronze gold so again it makes the green eyes pop.  This look would go great for the red heads amongst us, teamed with some beautiful freckles and auburn hair I think it would just be stunning.  

To create this look I started out with Warmth in the crease as a transition shade that I also used to blend any harsh lines out with later.  I chose this one because it was almost the shade directly in between the two glitter shades I wanted to use.  On the lid I went with Ignite, then in the inner corners I went with Flash. I put Flash on the inner of the lower lash line too. I then deepened the outer corners with Fume and brought it down on the outer corners of the lower lash line.  I love this one, it feels very fantasy regal like something Cersei would rock while staring down her minions on the iron throne in Game of Thrones...to nerdy? 

I finished this look off with a sweep of Collection's Fast Stroke eyeliner in brown and some black mascara.  On my lips I have Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in Beau Brun. 

I love this palette, it really is so versatile.  I didn't get a chance to show off the red shimmer shade in Blaze which is just beautiful.  If I were going on holiday or away for the weekend I would pack this palette. It just has so many options and really does last well.  Here is the big reveal...I bought this for £8 from the Superdrug website.  Seriously! Unlike some palettes, I can safely say that I will use every single one of the 25 shades (that's 32p per shade BTW) I mean you really can't knock that.  

I am sure that there are people who are more experienced than me with makeup that would not agree and doubt this, but here is what I say...If I am a novice and I can make this palette work then whats not to love.  This is the perfect example of how affordable makeup really can work as well as the high end products.  

As always I hope you enjoyed this, if you have any other budget recommendations, questions or opinions please feel free to comment below.