Beauty Thesis

Five Faves: April 2013

Tamara — Sat, 04 May 2013 15:45:44 +0000

Much like March, April has seen a strong theme of simplicity. While I still very much enjoy taking the time to play and experiment, for day to day wear I want products that perform with ease.

Wake Me Up foundation has taken the top spot as my daily foundation, it’s perfect with just a little or layered for more coverage. The #160 brush makes blending a breeze and the only down side is that I’ve had it for ages and only started using it now. Desert Flower is the same level love that I had for it when it launched in 2012 – if you’ve got it, dust it off and show it some love this season!

If you’d like a full or quick review of any of these product, let me know in the comments.

Five Faves / April 2013

Cover FX Cream Foundation Brush (#160)
A natural hair foundation brush that is quite dense and very soft. ~ $38 (available @ coverfx.com)

MAC Extra Dimension Skinfinish in Double Definition
Split-pan highlighter; soft gold and warm bronze sheen. ~ $35 (limited edition)

Maybelline Illegal Lengths Fiber Extensions Mascara in Blackest Black
Lengthening fiber mascara with a long spiked wand. ~ $10.99 (available @ Shoppers Drug Mart)

Rimmel London Wake Me Up Foundation in Natural Beige (400)
Light weight, medium coverage, natural finish foundation.~ $12.99 (available @ Shoppers Drug Mart)

Sephora + Pantone Universe Color Of The Year Blush Duo in Desert Flower
A bright coral blush (matte side of the duo). ~ $31 (limited edition)

What were your favourite products from April?

Viva Glam Nicki Giveaway Winner

Tamara — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:03:22 +0000

The winner of the Nicki Minaj for MAC giveaway is Quinn of Mama Fashionista.

Mama Fashionista

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your Viva Glam goodies.

MAC Viva Glam Nicki & Viva Glam Nicki 2

As always, a big thank to everyone for participating in this giveaway. I very much appreciate all the support you give to me and the blog. :]

Current Combo: Daily Skin

Tamara — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:30:51 +0000

It’s been an absolute age since the last installment of this series, but I have a new combination that I want to share.

Rimmel’s Wake Me Up line popped up on my beauty radar when Meredith mentioned it in one of her weekly basket videos. Admittedly, I was skeptical because it’s been my experience that Rimmel’s skin range is very limited in both shade nuance and depth. Imagine my surprise when both the concealer and the foundation ended up working in terms of colour match and formula. To set, I reached for Studio Fix to warm up the skin and help mattify. A quick and easy way to get that daily polish to the skin without it looking over done.

Current Combo: Daily Skin

MAC Studio Fix in C6
Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Natural Beige (400)
Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer in Medium

What are your favourite daily skin combinations?

CotY: Pressed Emerald Shadows

Tamara — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:42:34 +0000

Five Favourites: Pressed Eye Shadows / Emerald

After the gorgeous tangerine trend of last year, I was definitely skeptical about the new Pantone colour of the year. It’s no secret how much I adore anything orange, so admittedly I was pleasantly surprised to see another great colour chosen.

Despite the contrast between the two, I’ve really been enjoying all of the green inspiration in beauty, fashion and decor.

Emerald, a vivid verdant green, enhances our sense of well-being further by inspiring insight as well as promoting balance and harmony.

“The most abundant hue in nature, the human eye sees more green than any other color in the spectrum,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®. – from pantone.com

I’ve always been a fan of green in all of it’s many versions, but the blue undertones Emerald make it a definite favourite. It only seemed appropriate to feature some of my favourite Emerald products, so this will be a special edition of the Fave Five series.

It took a while to sort through my green shadows, one because I have far too many and two because I really wanted to capture the blue subtleties described. Let me know what you think of the selections, do you think they qualify as Emerald? Maybe you’ll even see an old favourite that’s been overlooked or tucked away.

Do you have a favourite Emerald eye shadow?

Swatches: Revlon Nearly Naked

Tamara — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 05:55:57 +0000

Spring trends are always popular. I think many people look forward to a change from their winter routine, something new and something fresh.

This year has seen an influx of new foundations, and Revlon is no exception. The Nearly Naked line seeks to embody the trend of clean, naturally polished skin. Needless to say, when I was contacted to try out the formula I was very pleased to have the opportunity to do so. Striking a balance between enough coverage, a light feel and natural finish can be difficult – and I’m always curious to see how performance measures up to promise.

Revlon Nearly Naked; Deep powder & Dark liquids

I was provided with the darkest four (of sixteen) shades in the liquid founation; Toast, Caramel, Chestnut & Cappuccino. The powder in Deep was also included which is the darkest of the four powders available in Canada (there are six available in the US).

Revlon Nearly Naked

I’ve always struggled to match foundation in the drugstore, so it’s my hope that these swatches are helpful. The additional lighter shades (True Beige & Sun Beige) I bought myself, as Toast (my usual ColorStay shade) was far too dark for this time of year.

Swatches: Revlon Nearly Naked Makeup

Swatches: Powder vs Liquids

As you can see from the swatches, the foundation sets to a demi-matte finish which reads quite natural on the skin.

I have been using these foundations for the better part of a month, and will have a full review up in the next little while.

Revlon Nearly Naked Gift Box

Have you picked up anything from Revlon’s Nearly Naked line up?

Haul: MAC Fashion Sets 2013

Tamara — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 08:10:17 +0000

If you’ve been paying any attention to the beauty buzz recently, you may have noticed folks excited about the 2013 edition Fashion Sets from MAC Cosmetics. It launched on line last week, and was released April 6th at counters and stores in North America. Of note to lipstick lovers; the coveted, and delightfully purple Heroine was slated to be re-promoted. Building on the 2012 release, lip pencils and eye shadows were added to the existing sets of lipsticks, glosses and nail lacquers. So while there are more products within the colour coordinated sets, the shade range has been cut down to four very intense shades, from the 16 from last year!

MAC Fashion Sets Lipsticks: Ablaze, Embrace Me, Heroine & Silly

What really drew my attention to this collection; the lipsticks. Originally, I was just going to get Heroine, as I passed on it last year. I wouldn’t quite say I regret not getting it the first time, but it is quite nice to have it now. Ablaze is probably my next favourite, simply because it’s a refreshing change from the endless string of pinks MAC has put out recently.

MAC Fashion Sets Lipglasses: Ablaze, Embrace Me, Heroine & Silly

The glosses were definitely an unexpected pick, but the first impression was a good one. While there is some subtle dimension to these, they’re delightfully bright and juicy. I can’t give any kind of recommendation at present, but I do imagine these will be toted around quite regularly this summer. Keep an eye out for comparisons, reviews & swatches coming soon!

Did you pick up anything from Fashion Sets?

Face of the Day: Purple Impact

Tamara — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 04:00:21 +0000

It was a moment of inspiration, and I’ve learned to take advantage of those moments – I hope you enjoy the results too.

I was really feeling something colourful, so I started browsing through some of my recently reorganized makeup drawers. All I really knew was that I wanted to use some loose pigments and I wanted some intensity. It’s no secret to anyone that I adore pigments. There’s just something about loose shadows that resonates, but I’ll be the first to admit they’re not the most efficient when it comes to time. As I had plenty of time, it only seemed appropriate.

Close up on the eyes..

I was drawn to the Chromalusts from Sugarpill and figured that since I’d never actually used Birthday Girl or Paperdoll, it was about time. For some more depth I went with MAC’s Push the Edge, which is a pigment I don’t often reach for (probably because of my love affair with Grape).

As an aside, there was a lot of layering that went into this look for no other reason than I had the time. I’d pulled some products and then ended up adding more as the look started to come together. Layering is a great way improve blending as well as to add more depth and dimension to any look, but obviously it’s more time intensive than just swiping on a single wash.

Purple Impact

Adding dimension to the eyes by a center highlight placement on the light..

Skin

Phillips Milk of Magnesia / Original
MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer / NW30 (brows)
Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer / Medium
Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation / Natural Beige
MAC Studio Fix / C6
Benefit Bronzing Powder / Hoola
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish / Warmed

Brows

MAC Eye Shadow / Smut & Copperplate

Eyes

Urban Decay Primer Potion / Original
NYX Jumbo Pencil / Milk (lid and into crease)
Sugarpill Chromalust / Birthday Girl (center lid), Paperdoll (inner corner, lid)
MAC Pigment / Push The Edge (crease, lower lash line), Naked Dark (highlight)
Wet n Wild Vanity Palette / shimmer 1 (highlight), matte 1 (highlight), matte 2 (transition)
Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner / True Black
Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil / Random (lower lash line), Perversion (water line)
Smashbox Full Exposure Mascara / Jet Black
Clinique Lash Power Mascara / Black Onyx (lower lashes)
Ardell Lashes / Wispies

Lips

MAC Lip Pencil / Magenta
MAC Mattene Lipstick / Seductive Intent

Confidence is key to any bold look..

Giveaway: Nicki Minaj for MAC Viva Glam

Tamara — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:00:32 +0000

A spring giveaway to celebrate the influx of fresh colours, the renewed energy of the season, as well as the blog. As always, it’s my way of saying thank you to those long time readers that have stuck it out, as well as those who have only more recently found their way to Beauty Thesis. I really do appreciate all of you, from the comments on the blog and all of the interaction across Facebook, Instagram & Twitter.

Spring Giveaway: Nicki Minaj for Viva Glam

The full complement of Nicki Minaj for Viva Glam is up for grabs. One lucky person will win all four pieces!

MAC Satin Lipstick in Viva Glam Nicki
MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in Viva Glam Nicki 2
MAC Lipglass in Viva Glam Nicki
MAC Lipglass in Viva Glam Nicki 2

MAC Lipstick & Lipglass in Viva Glam Nicki Minaj & Viva Glam Nicki Minaj 2

All of the rules and requirements can be found within the Rafflecopter widget below. I’ve included a variety of entry methods, so whether you simply read the blog or are deeply engaged across social media you can enter as few or as many times as it suits you. Remember to allow the widget to fully load so you see which of the entry requirements are relevant to you.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Haul: Gifts From The UK

Tamara — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 04:00:54 +0000

Like most folks, I’m always excited to find a package in the mail.. especially when I know it’s makeup!

This particular package was coming from a beauty blogging friend of mine, Annabella. She runs the skin-saavy Skin Scrubs blog with her Scrub Team and knows just about everything when it comes to skin pampering products of all kinds. It was all a bit of a mystery however, as she didn’t really give me much of an idea..

A fabulous trio of makeup gifts from the lovely Annabella.. <3

..I think it’s safe to say she’s got a fair handle on what I’m about. ;]

It’s all about the eyes! A black liner (there’s never enough), a gorgeous warm plum mineral shadow from Inika, along with a limited edition eye shadow palette from Sleek, I’m ecstatic and very much looking forward to putting this trio to work.

Inkia: Black Cavier Eye Liner & Autumn Plum Eye Shadow

I’ve got to say thank you to Annabella again for the generous and thoughtful gifts – I’m very grateful and humbled. I appreciate the thought, the effort and the time.. and I’ve already started planning out a few looks! :]

Sleek: Sparkle 2 i-Divine Eye Shadow Palette

Swatches coming soon, so stay tuned!

Five Faves: March 2013

Tamara — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 06:00:36 +0000

My desire to do more or less with makeup varies, but even during those ‘less’ moments I still strive for a polished look. March was a month of makeup simplicity and I really wanted something quick and effortless.

Without any actual planning, a soft rosy palette appeared to be the theme by far. So Ceylon is a favourite, but until last month hadn’t seen much use in a long time. I fell in love all over again and it was my day time go to for eyes and face, while Taos added a bit more for those days and nights that I wanted more colour.

If you’d like a full or quick review of any of these product, let me know in the comments.

Five Faves / March 2013

MAC Amplified Lipstick in Haute Altitude
A very creamy, rosy pink lipstick. ~ $18 (limited edition)

MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in So Ceylon
A deep rosy bronze face powder with shimmer. ~ $35 (limited edition)

MAC Paint in Base Light
A shimmery yellow gold cream eye base/shadow.~ $22 (discontinued)

NARS Blush in Taos
A terracotta rose blush infused with very fine gold shimmer.~ $32 (available @ NARS & Sephora)

NYX Lipliner Pencil in Nude Beige
A rich café au lait lip liner with a hint of pink. ~ $3-4 (available @ Rexall)

What were your favourite products from March?