Make Up For Dolls

How I... store my brushes

2013-06-18T08:20:00.000+01:00

Another (mainly) picture post - this time how I store my brushes (and a sneak peek at the brushes I use!)

My brush storage

I use these acrylic storage options from everyone's favourite Japanese office/home/storage/quirky store, Muji. I am lucky in that there's one of these in Dublin but they also have an online store here; the ones I use are the Acrylic Box - 2 drawers/wide, Acrylic Box - 1 drawer/wide and Acrylic 3-drawer unit. I appreciate that these are not the cheapest option, but they stack nicely and you can always add more as your collection grows :-)

Because I'm a little OCD I have these sectioned-off and labelled in terms of how I like to use brushes (so others may swap around what I consider powder or buffer brushes or even eye or concealer brushes, for example), but the system works for me.

Some of my brushes...

Concealer brushes

Eye brushes

Eyeliner & Brow brushes

Fan brushes

Dual Fibre brushes

Foundation brushes

Highlighting & Buffer brushes

Blusher & Contour brushes

Powder brushes

And last, but not least:

My current brushes
Please ignore over-exposure - it was a rare exceptionally sunny day!

This is where I store my brushes which are currently in-use; in an (old style) Make Up For Ever Dani pouch. At the moment, I'm big-time favouring my Louise Young fan brush for powder and highlighter, my Illamasqua blusher brush (review here) for blusher (flat) and contour (edge), my LY02 (another Louise Young) foundation brush (more info here) and a bunch of recently acquired Hakuhodo brushes for my eyes... by the time I wash 'em all though (end of this week), all of those favourites will have changed again :-)

I've written a lot of brush posts to-date - rather than list them all, I've included a custom google search with all of the posts linked (if you're any way interested!) - for example I have a complete series on eye brushes (starts here) and a bunch of brush cleaner reviews here.

And look here for Part I (How I store my MAC Palettes). Thanks for reading!

Eshiko v Make Up For Ever HD Powder

2013-06-17T07:52:00.002+01:00

Some HD Powders...
L -> R: Make Up For Ever, Eshiko, Laura Mercier (trial size)

I'm back - not with a bang just yet (who'd've thought pneumonia was such a b**** to shake off!), but at least with a battle. In this post, (and finally now that I've got around to remembering it!) I compare Make Up For Ever's HD powder with Eshiko's offering - one of the latest cult products from Japan in recent years (and a photo-op compare with Laura Mercier's version too)...

Eshiko HD Powder

This stuff from Japanese brand Eshiko should be re-labelled "magic powder" because that's exactly what it is. Similar to Make Up For Ever's HD powder, this is a white cloud of crazily uber-fine (10nm) particles of 100% silica - the particles are roughly the size of smoke particles, which you'll see if you fling this stuff into the air :-) however it's hydrated silica so it won't cause you lung issues, and it's non-comedegenic, so it won't clog pores either (my main concerns when I saw how fine it is). It powders down well and can be used as an extremely effective blot-powder as it will absorb oil/sweat up to fifteen (!) times its own weight. For this reason, it can be used for touch-ups very effectively and (unless you have extremely oily skin) you don't need to worry about blotting away excess oils beforehand.

It works for all skin types. It buffs away to a transparent finish and gives the most beautiful soft-focus finish I've ever encountered. That's the trick though - as with all of these powders, you need to buff them in well, not so much so that they'll work, but so that they don't flash-back.

Hands down, it's best applied with a brush - it's a little too fine for the old powder-puff press-and-roll application method.

Look here for more info. I purchased it directly from the site, where it sells at USD$29 (with free shipping, which, while it does take a few weeks to arrive, ships with a money-back guarantee - interesting in itself for cosmetics items). I think that Guru Makeup Emporium in London also stock it, and they will also ship (no free shipping there however).

Make Up For Ever HD Powder

The Make Up For Ever HD Powder is similar to the Eshiko offering except for a few minor differences - also 100% (hydrated) silica powder, but this time 500nm (still pretty damn fine!) particle sizes and has a hydrophobic effect - where the Eshiko HD powder attracts moisture (hydrophilic), the Make Up For Ever powder repels it (likely why the former works better on dry skins than the latter).

The Eshiko, despite having much finer particles, strangely feels gritty; oddly, I can feel this one on my lips and teeth as I apply it to my face (however I suspect this is because it's so fine and cloud-like that it simply goes everywhere when you're applying it - maybe this is something to be careful of if you're a contact lens wearer?)

I purchase my Make Up For Ever HD Powder from the store in Dublin, but they now also sell online (here). At €33.50 (less my measly 10% Pro discount) it's still more expensive than the Eshiko.

I prefer Eshiko - the main benefit of Eshiko over Make Up For Ever HD Powder (for me) is that the Make Up For Ever powder dries my skin out after a couple of days' usage, and also shows up any dry and/or patchy areas on my skin, whereas the Eshiko doesn't. In addition, Eshiko is less expensive, and it does a slightly better job at minimising pores than Make Up For Ever.

Critically though - what about flashback? All of these HD type powders can flash back if you're not careful. We've all seen the pictures!

Nicole Kidman - HD powder malfunction
(under flash photography conditions - this wouldn't be visible otherwise)

Careful is the trick though... buff them in and they disappear into the skin (all of the following photos were taken with flash, the powder is not particularly visible to the naked eye).

L -> R: Make Up For Ever, Eshiko, Laura Mercier
Just applied, pretty visible with flash

L -> R: Make Up For Ever, Eshiko, Laura Mercier
Some (small amount of) buffing-in

L -> R: Make Up For Ever, Eshiko, Laura Mercier
A quite decent amount of buffing-in is required to ensure no flash-back

See the final image? It looks blurred - in fact it is not; I took that shot quite a few times before I remembered that this was the point of these products - they produce a blurring, a soft-focus effect, which is very evident from the last picture in particular. I don't use these every day, but I do like them when I want to have absolutely flawlessly perfect-looking skin.

Yu-Be Cream: An update

2013-06-13T09:07:00.002+01:00

Yu-Be Cream

(First published 29/08/12. Re-posted with updates 13/06/13)

Yu-Be is supposedly the number one selling (medicated, vitamin-enriched) skin care cream in Japan. I'm not from Japan and it has been a while since I've been there, so I am not going to argue with this assertion.

On the other hand, I can at least report back on my experience using it.

This is a concentrated, glycerin-based moisturising cream, containing vitamin E, vitamin B2 and camphor, and it's designed for "extremely dry" skins. I purchased from an Asian site while stocking up on some coloured contact lenses and BB cream, but you can buy from Amazon and Sephora also stock it I believe. Harvey Nicks now stock it also and I think a full-sized tube cost me €18. [Edit: 13-06-13]

It purports to

Hydrate, heal, soothe and smooth severe dry skin
Heal split cuticles and smooth rough, dry skin on hands, elbows, knees and feet
Protect and moisturise skin exposed to cold, wind, water and sun
Absorb quickly, and be good for all day or all night
Contains no artificial colours or fragrances

It most definitely does (1) and (2). It also does (3). In terms of (4) - for such a thick cream, it also absorbs very well and very quickly, that's true, you're not left with a slick of this stuff sitting on your skin, rubbing off on everything [Edit: 13-06-13]. With respect to (5) - well, it smells to high heaven of camphor... which is not an artificial smell, but let's face it, do you want your face to smell of moth-balls?

This product is really good, no two ways about it, but I categorically would not use this on my face; if I want my lips to smell of camphor I'll use Carmex :-). That same ingredient (camphor) causes my face to sting, so I'll never use it as face skincare. Let's just say I tried it once and there was a lot of hissing, cursing and yelling... followed by rapid removing and more swearing never to repeat the experience.

More readily available alternatives? Vaseline acts as a perfectly good (and cheap) barrier for skin "exposed to cold, wind, water and sun". Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream is more or less the same ball of wax, and a lot more easily available, cheaper and doesn't smell of camphor or sting my face; this is the one I will use on my face if I need something this strong (thankfully I can count on one or two fingers the times this has been necessary).

[This is where I have really changed my mind after having a decent sized amount to use a bit more often!]
However where this comes into its own is on dry elbows, dry or cracked heels, calloused feet that have been running around in high heels or flipflops... I can use one application of this and my elbow skin still felt silky soft up to a week later - from one application. My heels took I believe three nights to sort themselves out. My OH also used it (he of the extremely sensitive skin) and was equally wowed. [Edit: 13-06-13]

I take my previous "I'll stick to Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream" testimony back, thank you. Not afraid to admit when I've been wrong. This stuff is amazing. [Edit: 13-06-13]

I am sick. I am sorry but there will be no blog post today :-(

2013-06-04T08:24:00.003+01:00

Sick as a small hospital :-(

I have had one flu, after another cold, after another infection, after another dose. I am as sick as a small hospital. I awoke today to the joys of a chest- and sinus- infection and a real, genuine, flu - together with temperature, sweats, exhaustion. My blood pressure has tanked and I haven't managed to get past one dose before I get another - it's going on for months now, and I'm pretty fed up of it. I haven't been this run down in - oh I don't know when ever.

I wanted to say apologies in as many languages as I could, then I thought, sod it, my head is splitting, I'll let Google Translate do it for me. I can't attest to the accuracy of most of these - I haven't even proofed the ones I can read/write/speak in... but here goes:

English

I am sick. I am sorry but there will be no blog post today :-(

I encourage you to take two minutes to look down through the remainder of these, and remind yourself what a beautiful, culturally, socially and linguistically diverse world we live in. Look on some of these beautiful languages and their scripts...

I'm very grateful that I have readers all over the world, and I like that I can speak a (very very tiny) minority of (some of) these languages. I'm extremely fortunate to have visited some of the countries where these languages are spoken. Much as I might prefer to flex my creative muscles in a more full-time capacity, I enjoy also working in a multi-national company who prides itself on the importance of communication, and I am grateful for the opportunities it has afforded me (in a very short space of time) to get to know many different people of differing races and backgrounds.

Communication is everything. A hug, a phrase, a touch, a word in someone else's language, knowing when to listen and when to be there, and when to back the hell off, can mean the world. I'm back from a trip around my tiny part of the world, catching up with some of my friends and family where, despite my lack of much voice, and despite feeling like death warmed over, despite sleeping in the car between each visit ;-) I communicated with, caught up with, some wonderful people.

Anyhow, I need some down-time. I'm trying to keep up with work, as well as blogging, as well as make-overs and bridals, and I just need a break, so I am taking at least today off, maybe tomorrow too - but don't go anywhere! I'll be back! Just bear with me for a day or two while I try to give my system a re-boot. I'll re-post some older posts for newer readers. Older readers, please give me your patience :-)

Afrikanns

Ek is siek. Ek is jammer, maar daar sal geen blog post wees vandag

Albanian

Unë jam i sëmurë. Unë jam i keq, por nuk do të ketë asnjë blog post sot

Arabic

أنا مريض. أنا آسف ولكن لن يكون هناك بلوق وظيفة اليوم

Armenian

Ես հիվանդ. Ցավում եմ, բայց չի լինի օրագրում Հաղորդագրություն այսօր

Azerbaijani

Mən xəstə deyiləm. Mən üzüldüm amma bu gün heç bir blog olacaq

Basque

Gaixorik nago. Sentitzen dut, baina ez blog-mezua ez da, gaur egun,

Belarusian

Я хворы. Я шкадую, але там не будзе ніякіх блогу сёння

Bengali

আমি অসুস্থ বোধ করি. আমি দুঃখিত কিন্তু আজ কোন ব্লগ পোস্ট থাকবে

Bosnian

Ja sam bolestan. Žao mi je, ali da neće biti blog post danas

Bulgarian

Болен съм. Аз съжалявам, но няма да има блог пост днес

Catalan

Estic malalt. Ho sento, però no hi haurà cap entrada al bloc avui

Cebuano

Ako masakiton. Ko Pasayloa apan walay blog post karon

Chinese

我生病了。我很抱歉，但不会有今天的博客文章

Croatian

Ja sam bolesna. Žao mi je, ali neće biti blog post danas

Czech

Jsem nemocný. Omlouvám se, ale to nebude mít žádný blog post dnes

Danish

Jeg er syg. Jeg beklager, men der vil være nogen blog indlæg i dag

Dutch

Ik ben ziek. Het spijt me, maar er zal vandaag geen blog post zijn

Esperanto

Mi estas malsana. Mi bedaŭras sed ne estos blog hodiaŭ

Estonian

Ma olen haige. Mul on kahju, kuid ei toimu blogi postitus täna

Filipino

Ako ay may sakit. Sorry ngunit walang magiging blog post ngayon

Finnish

Olen sairas. Olen pahoillani, mutta ei ole mitään blogikirjoitus tänään

French

Je suis malade. Je suis désolé, mais il n'y aura pas de blog post aujourd'hui

Galician

Estou enfermo. Sinto moito, pero non haberá ningún post no blog hoxe

Georgian

მე ვარ ავადმყოფი. ძალიან ვწუხვარ, მაგრამ არ იქნება დღიურში დღეს

German

Ich bin krank. Es tut mir leid, aber es wird kein Blog-Post heute sein

Greek

Είμαι άρρωστος. Λυπάμαι, αλλά δεν θα υπάρχει θέση blog σήμερα

Gujarati

હું બીમાર છું. હું દિલગીર છું, પરંતુ આજે આ બોલ પર કોઈ બ્લૉગ પોસ્ટ હશે

Haitian Creole

Se mwen menm ki malad. Se mwen menm ki regrèt men pa pwal gen okenn pòs blog jodi a

Hebrew

אני חולה. אני מצטער, אבל לא יהיה פוסט בבלוג היום

Hindi

मैं बीमार हूँ. मैं माफी चाहता हूँ, लेकिन आज कोई ब्लॉग पोस्ट नहीं होगी

Hmong

Kuv muaj mob. Thov ko koj ib hnub no zoo tab sis muaj yuav tsis muaj hnub no blog ncej

Hungarian

Beteg vagyok. Sajnálom, de nem lesz blogbejegyzés ma

Icelandic

Ég er veikur. Ég er hryggur en það verður ekki blogg í dag

Indonesian

Aku sakit. Saya minta maaf tapi tidak akan ada posting blog hari ini

Irish

Tá mé tinn. Tá brón orm ach ní bheidh aon blog post lá atá inniu ann

Italian

Sono malato. Mi dispiace, ma non ci sarà nessun post del blog di oggi

Japanese

私は病気だ。私は申し訳ありませんが、今日全くブログ記事は存在しません

Javanese

Aku lara. Nyuwun pangapunten nanging ana bakal ora kirim blog dina

Kannada

ನಾನು ಕಾಯಿಲೆ ಆಮ್. ನಾನು ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ ಆಮ್ ಆದರೆ ಇಂದು ಯಾವುದೇ ಬ್ಲಾಗ್ ಪೋಸ್ಟ್ ಇರುತ್ತದೆ

Khmer

ខ្ញុំឈឺ។ ខ្ញុំសោកស្តាយនោះទេប៉ុន្តែវានឹងមិនមានការប្រកាសកំណត់ហេតុបណ្ដាញនៅថ្ងៃនេះ

Korean

내가 병. 미안하지만 오늘은 블로그 포스트가 없을 것

Lao

ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າເຈັບປ່ວຍ. ຂ້າພະເຈົ້າຂໍໂທດນໍາ, ແຕ່ຈະມີບໍ່ມີຕອບ blog ໃນມື້ນີ້

Latin

Langueo. Aenean nunc felis sed nulla doleo

Latvian

Es esmu slims. Man žēl, bet nebūs blog post šodien

Lithuanian

"Aš sergu. Aš atsiprašau, bet nebus dienoraštyje šiandien

Macedonian

Смачено ми е. Жал ми е, но нема да има блог пост денес

Malay

Saya sakit. Saya minta maaf tetapi tidak akan ada blog post hari ini

Maltese

I am morda. I am sorry imma se jkun hemm l-ebda blog post llum

Marathi

मी आजारी आहे. मी दिलगीर आहे, पण आज नाही ब्लॉग पोस्ट होईल

Norwegian

Jeg er syk. Jeg beklager, men det blir ingen blogginnlegg i dag

Persian

من بیمار هستم. من متاسفم، اما وجود خواهد داشت بدون پست وبلاگ امروز وجود دارد

Polish

Jestem chory. Przykro mi, ale nie będzie blog po dziś

Portuguese

Estou doente. Sinto muito, mas não haverá nenhum post no blog hoje

Romanian

Eu sunt bolnav. Îmi pare rău, dar nu va fi nici un post pe blog astăzi

Russian

Я болен. Я сожалею, но там не будет никаких блоге сегодня

Serbian

Ја сам болестан. Жао ми је, али да неће бити блогу данас

Slovak

Som chorý. Ospravedlňujem sa, ale to nebude mať žiadny blog post dnes

Slovenian

az sem bolan. Žal mi je, vendar ne bo blog post danes

Spanish

Estoy enfermo. Lo siento, pero no habrá ninguna entrada en el blog hoy

Swahili

Mimi ni mgonjwa. Nasikitika lakini hakutakuwa na leo baada ya blog

Swedish

Jag är sjuk. Jag är ledsen, men det blir inget blogginlägg idag

Tamil

நான் உடல்நிலை சரியில்லை. நான் வருந்துகிறேன் ஆனால் இன்று எந்த வலைப்பதிவை இருக்கும்

Telugu

నేను జబ్బుపడిన am. నేను విచారిస్తున్నాను కానీ నేడు ఏ బ్లాగ్ పోస్ట్ ఉంటుంది

Thai

ฉันป่วย ฉันขอโทษ แต่จะไม่มีการโพสต์บล็อกวันนี้

Turkish

Ben bıktım. Üzgünüm ama bugün hiçbir blog yazısı olacak

Ukranian

Я хворий. Я шкодую, але там не буде ніяких блозі сьогодні

Urdu

میں بیمار ہوں. میں معافی چاہتا ہوں لیکن آج کوئی بلاگ پوسٹ ہو جائے گا

Vietnamese

Tôi bị bệnh. Tôi xin lỗi nhưng sẽ không có bài đăng blog hôm nay

Welsh

Fy mod yn sâl. Mae'n ddrwg gennyf, ond ni fydd unrhyw swydd blog heddiw

Yiddish

איך בין קראַנק. איך בין נעבעכדיק אָבער עס וועט זייַן קיין בלאָג פּאָסטן הייַנט

With thanks to everyone at Google and anyone who works on their Translate tool - it gets a lot wrong, but with peer reviewing, it learns and corrects and is an amazing tool for helping to communicate in different languages!

How I... store my MAC palettes

2013-05-31T09:03:00.001+01:00

I'm planning a series of posts, showing how I store makeup, tools, etc

Today's post is on my MAC palettes.

My pinks & purples palette (try saying that quickly 10 times)

I'm a big big big fan of de-potting, I have a slight obsession with downsizing storage requirements all the time as I have a small enough space for storage of, well, pretty much everything! Individual items (blushers, contours, eyeshadows etc) take up quite a lot of space. I find if I de-pot, not alone do I gain in terms of space but also in terms of efficiency - I can bring one or two palettes to a job with me, as opposed to dozens and dozens of individual items.

My base shades (whites, creams, vanillas, bone shades)
... I could show you all of these, but I think you get the idea :-)

Of course de-potting takes time, and in the early days, you learn your lessons with some broken product (hopefully you have more sense than I and practice with cheaper items!) You also need some equipment for de-potting - like spatulas, like isopropyl alcohol, like a bunch of labels, like a dedicated (cheap!) hair iron you keep just for this purpose, like an OCD personality and a lot of spare time :-) But it is definitely worth it.

So, then you have a bunch of palettes - and what do you do with these?

DVD tower

Well, in my case, I figured that MAC palettes for example (the older ones) are the same length as a DVD box - so I bought a DVD storage tower on eBay that I use for storing them. Obviously, any other palettes (eg Z Palette etc) won't fit - all of these go into a seperate drawer.

spring loaded...

I like the DVD tower approach as each slot is spring-loaded - so you can press in on a palette and it will pop out. Handy!

some blushers...

some eyeshadows...

I then simply label each palette, I label the DVD tower, and I can access whatever I need whenever I need it.

I have noted that the new MAC palettes also fit into this tower - they are slightly more narrow and slightly thicker than the older palettes. Although the new ones have a clear lid so you can see what's in them more easily, I prefer the older style for blushers and eyeshadows, as I like to have a reference as to whats what.

This has all reminded me that I need to do another round of de-potting...

Chanel Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême (plus some eye candy)

2013-05-30T09:59:00.000+01:00

Yum. Ahem. Moving on...

Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme is added to the well-known family of Allure Homme colognes, the first one dating back to 1999. Chanel Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme was launched in 2012 in 50ml and 100ml sizes. This launch sees a rather huge LE 150ml size released just in time for the summer.

Sweet Musk (vanilla and tonka beans), mix with tart spices (black pepper) and warm woody accords (cedar and sandlewood) in the mid and base tones, and are refreshed with mandarin, mint, spearmint and sage in the top notes. This is a cologne that works well in both spring/summer and in autumn/winter, thanks to the musky accords.

Chanel Allure Homme Sport Eau Extrême, is, according to Chanel "just in time for Father's Day" (sod that, it's just in time for my OH's birthday - and as it happens he just happens to love Chanel colognes). Launching on the 31st of May, I will definitely be looking at this one (here's hoping he doesn't read all of my posts :-))

Giorgio Armani High Precision Retouch Concealer review

2013-05-29T08:16:00.002+01:00

Giorgio Armani High Precision Retouch Concealer

I am surprised to realise that I haven't reviewed this one before. Not that I'm obsessed with concealers ;-)

This is Armani's take on YSL's Touche Eclat highlighter and dare I say - it's leagues better. Whereas Touche Eclat is strictly only a highlighter, this operates as a radiance-providing concealer which can be used as both concealer and highlighter if required. It has excellent light reflecting properties without too much shimmer (but as it contains Mica it does have a small amount of shimmer).

It comes in three shades

2 Ivory (neutral - pale yellow undertone)
3 Pale peach (pale peach undertone)
3.5 Light sand (yellow undertone)

Armani Beauty calls this a "high precision concealer which blurs imperfections, treats dark circles, and highlights the complexion".

Water-based, it contains light reflecting pearls (which diffuse light for radiant skin), vitamin E and moisturisers (including glycerin) to nourish the eye area, and has a very thin, ultra-precise applicator brush. Unfortunately it contains Titanium Dioxide (can cause flashback, hmmmm) and parabens (very loud hmmmmmmm and grrrrrrrrrr).

Ultra-thin brush applicator

A really really tiny amount goes a really really long way It's a thin, lightweight liquid formula but with a lot of pigmentation. I find it works best if I dot it under my eyes (the applicator is a very thin brush), leave it there to almost thicken up a little bit and turn from a thinner liquid formulation into a slightly thicker, tackier formulation, then pat it in and blend it out with my fingers. If I'm in a hurry and I don't need major correcting, I can get away with patting it on and blending it out quickly with a flat concealer brush; it really gives a beautiful finish and can be used as corrector/concealer/highlighter all-in-one in this instance.

When my dark circles are more pronounced, it does require a corrector first. For reference, I range between NC20 - NC35 (depending on whether I have a tan or not) and find that #3.5 is perfect for me. I also have #3 for occasional use when I have slight dark circles; however I find that a more pigmented corrector works better first, with the #3.5 patted over it.

This is not a blemish concealer - it has too much radiance which will draw attention to anything you're trying to minimise.

This seems to suit most skin types I've tried it out on, it doesn't settle into fine lines, it doesn't cake, it doesn't separate out, it doesn't dry out.

It's around the €30 price tag (I buy mine at Brown Thomas). Look here for more information. I love it, but because of the parabens, it's unlikely I'll replace it when it runs out :-(

Catrice LE Candy Shock Collection... landing any day now!

2013-05-28T07:46:00.000+01:00

Catrice Candy Shock - campaign visual

The Limited Edition Candy Shock collection by Catrice, launching in June 2013, has campaign visuals and inspiration stemming from the marriage of pretty, pale, chalky pastels and ballerina couture, masses of sheer gauzy tulle and metallic greys and beiges, with a pop of a bright coral - it's dreamy but ladylike at the same time.

And like all Catrice products, wonderfully inexpensive!

Baked Eyeshadows - €4.29

The collection features four LE baked eyeshadows, with colours and textures reminiscent of candyfloss. In general, baked eyeshadows can be used wet or dry - dry, these have a light and delicate sheer wash of colour. Wet, brings out the metallic effects of the shades:

C01 I scream: Icecream! (cool)
C02 Play It Blue (cool)
C03 Bring Me Peach (warm)
C04 It's Honey Money (warm)

Lip Balm Stick - €4.49

A new mash-up of lipstick and lipbalm (we've seen this type of formulation before too in some other collections), these LE Lip Balm Sticks provide a lightweight colour in a balm base. These have a shimmer effect finish and come in two shades:

C01 Bring Me Peach
C02 Sugar Shock

Lip Peeling - €3.49

An exfoliator for your lips! Made of sugar crystals, this can be used to remove dry and flaky skin cells by massaging over your lips in small, circular movements using the applicator. Sure, you can make one of these yourself very easily, but it's nice to have a dedicated tool for the job :-)

Multi Colour Blush - €4.99

Here we see the pop of coral in the collection! This is a baked blush and contains four marbled rosé shades, which with its soft texture is easy to blend into a shade ranging from pale peach to rosy coral.

C01 Sugar Shock

Multi Colour Highlighter - €5.49

The Multi Colour Highlighter combines both matte and pearlised finishes, swirled together it makes a lovely gold and silver highlighter.

C01 Vanilla Love

Soft Nail Lacquer - €2.79

The nail varnishes in this collection are beautiful pastel candy shades, three of which are similar to the baked eyeshadows.

C01 I Scream: Ice Cream! (creamy finish) - rosé pink shade
C02 Play It Blue (chalky/matte finish) - light blue shade
C03 Bring Me Peach (matte finish) - apricot/peach shade
C04 Vanilla Love (creamy finish) - vanilla/cream shade

Nail Sugar Pearls - €3.49

Now we're getting to the fun stuff!!!! These are micro beads (I reviewed MUA's version of these in the past). These really are simple to use - apply your nail lacquer of choice, then while still wet, pour over the mini sugar pearls, and then leave to dry.

C01 Cotton Candy - pearl-cream shade
C02 Sugar Shock - raspberry-coral shade

Look here for more information while the link lasts. I will most definitely be getting the micro beads :-)

Chanel Summer 2013 Makeup - L’Ete Papillon De Chanel

2013-05-27T08:27:00.000+01:00

L'Eté Papillon de Chanel - campaign visual

A bit later than planned with this one!

Taking inspiration from butterfly wings and bright summery colour-blocking shades, Chanel's summer collection for 2013 is entirely limited edition and Big on vibrant colour! I almost feel that I should insert some animated fireworks into the post, but I won't, I'll let the images speak for themselves...

Eyes

L -> R: Zest, Lime Light, Aqua Blue, Blue Note, Noir

In a nod to the burgeoning trend of 80's makeup, four new and LE coloured Inimitable Waterproof mascaras are released, together with a re-promote of Black/Noir (permanent):

Aqua Blue (a light turquose blue)
Blue Note (a slightly muted almost-royal blue
Lime Light (an almost-but-not-quite-aquatic green)
Zest (a burnt golden yellow shade).

Retailing at €30, these are fantastically bright colours and not for the faint-hearted, but I personally love coloured mascara and also the Inimitable mascara formulation, so I am most certainly excited about trying these ones out.

Fantastical brilliant colour blocking shades

L -> R: Cool Gold, Pink Lagoon, Jade Shade, Blue Bay, Moon River, Black Stream

The collection also features six new formulation (am also a little bit excited about this one!) eye crayons called Stylo Eyeshadows in beautiful summer shades to complement the butterfly theme. This long-lasting water-based formulation can be used for eyeshadow or eyeliners, will have an almost wet-effect finish, and can be sheered-out for a hint of colour or built up to deliver a more intense colour block.

From what I can make out of the PR release, the shades will be as follows:

Cool Gold (yellow-based gold)
Pink Lagoon (cool toned metallic coral pink)
Jade Shore (green with golden pearl)
Blue Bay (almost royal blue with silver reflects)
Moon River (platinum shot through with metallic taupe)
Black Stream (black with silver reflects)

These are all LE and will retail at €28.

Finally a new (LE) Stylo Yeux waterproof eyeliner in True Blue (to complement the blues and greens in the collection) will also feature and retail at €23.

Lips

L -> R: Zéphyr, Envolée, Eden, Idylle, Pygmalion

The eyes and nails have it for this collection, and lips are deliberately down-played in raspberry and peach shades. There will be three new Lèvres Scintillante lipglosses (€26) in

Envolée (mandarin with gold and silver reflects)
Zéphyr (pearl effect beige)
Eden (Raspberry)

and two new Rouge Coco Shine lipsticks (€30.50) in

Idylle (Peach)
Pygmalion (Raspberry)

Again, all will be LE.

Nails

Le Vernis - Lilis

Le Vernis - Azuré

Le Vernis - Bel Argus

L -> R: Lilis, Azuré, Bel Argus

The collection features three new Le Vernis in

647/Lilis (a creamy coral-tomato red), nicely off-setting the blues, greens and yellow golds of the rest of the collection
657/Azuré (an iridescent metallic almost-teal green, darkened with blue)
667/Bel Argus (iridescent shimmery royal blue)

All are LE and will cost €22.50.

Launching 31st May, the following shade card shows just how vibrant and bold the colours will be - it's not a typical golden/bronzed summer release and I'm looking forward to trying some of these shades out in the flesh - in particular the Stylo Eyeshadows and the mascaras.

L'Eté Papillon de Chanel - shade card

Drugstore Challenge: full makeup kit and brushes for €160?

2013-05-24T08:20:00.001+01:00

An entire kit and all brushes...

This is a long enough post but one I've been meaning to publish for ages as I'm continuously being asked to recommend "inexpensive" makeup that people can get in their local pharmacy or online. Read on if you want to find out how to have an entire makeup kit for €160. Before you choke - this as an entire set of everything, including brushes and products! When you consider that you could easily drop this at a high-end cosmetics counter for two or three items, it's worth a read!

Note that of course this is all assuming you want to go with drugstore or at least "more inexpensive" brands. Some of these are only available online. None of these that I have recommended below are in anyway lacking in quality - in fact I have all of them myself and think they're absolutely brilliant, and not just "brilliant for the cost" - but quietly, efficiently, aesthetically, brilliant.

Note - for the base (foundation, concealer, powder) I'm assuming pale-medium skin colour. I also didn't include delivery costs for online items, as some items are available in-store too.

Base

Face primer - €18

L'Oreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Resurfacing Primer is almost a perfect dupe for the Clarins primer which I love. It's about €18 and the best primer I've seen (and I am a bit of a primer junkie) to suit all ages and skin types. You may not need it, but if you do, this is definitely the one I recommend.

Foundation - €15

The particular one that comes to mind is Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation, but as it didn't suit my skin at all I hesitate to recommend. I have had a huge number of replies to the effect that this is a fantastic foundation however, and seems to works for the vast majority of people who tried it. So it makes the cut here... I personally prefer to spend more money on foundation and concealer/corrector and less on lipsticks, eye products etc, but whatever floats your boat. Look here for my review.

Tinted Moisturiser - free!

Stop wasting your money! Buy one medium coverage makeup, layer it and buff powder over it for a fuller coverage. Sheer it out with moisturiser to get a lighter coverage. Do not get me started on tinted moisturisers. Zero cost.

Powder - €5

I've recommended this before - Rimmel's Clear Complexion is not a bad cheap purchase for a standard setting powder (if it's still available) - I think it's around a fiver. That or Rimmel Stay Matte (approx the same price).

Concealer - €4

Collection Cosmetics (formally Collection 2000) does a great all-round concealer called Lasting Perfection. I use Medium/3 and it's brilliant. My review is here.

Corrector - €30
(only if you need it - I haven't included it in the overall cost)

This one is a little more difficult. If you have dark circles and need a dark circle corrector, then you are going to need to correct before concealing. I don't honesty recommend any drugstore products for this, as I spent years trying them all out and coming to the conclusion that this is one area you need to spend a few quid on... but you can always use a concealer with a tiny amount of the appropriate shade lippie mixed in (eg orange or peach non-shimmer lipsticks would do the trick). I do otherwise recommend either the new NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer (look here for my review) or the Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer/Corrector (my review for this one is here).

Under eye highlighter - €5 to €10

L'Oreal Touche Magique is brilliant at a tenner, as is Aldi's Lacura Beauty Concealer Pen at a fiver - it's a fantastic dupe for YSL Touche Eclat.

Face

Blusher - €5.50

Sleek blushes are brilliant, have colours to even rivel NARS and Illamasqua, are highly pigmented and long lasting. Pick any of the colours and you're on to a winner. They even have the best dupe for NARS Orgasm I've ever seen called Rose Gold (which I don't particularly rate as a colour, but which gets a huge amount of love).

Contour - €2 to €7

(my recommendation: 2x MUA, so €4)

MUA matte eyeshadow shades #17 and #19 are fantatic light greyed/cool-toned brown shades which would do the trick nicely, especially at around €2 a pop. Either that or Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo (cream shadow) in 40 - Permanent Taupe (this one is a more cool beige, the MUA shadows are more cool grey-brown), at around €7.

Bronzer/Highlighter - €8

The Sleek Face Contour Kit should categorically not be used for contouring, it's far too warm, but it's brilliant as a very pigmented and super-strongly pigmented bronzer-highlighter duo. The "Light" version is more than sufficient for most of us Irish faces but it comes in Light, Medium and Dark. A very light hand is recommended for this!

Eyes

Eyeshadow palettes - €10

Sleek do brilliant ones - their original iDivine palette, Storm, or one of its re-incarnations is a great one to have in your own personal kit. That or the Au Natural palette. In any of my classes it's the two I watch like a hawk :-) as everyone covets them. Better, I daresay, than either of the Naked palettes, and the Au Natural in particular is amazing as is contains shimmer, matte, cool- and warm- mid-tone shades, a great white, a brilliant black and a fantastic highlighter shade for the tear duct area. Gorgeous colours, pigmentation, payoff, wear. Can't recommend enough. Cost is about €10 online or in Superdrug stores.

Single eyeshadows - €2

MUA are brilliant and have a huge range of MAC dupes - every bit as good if not better, and a brilliant price at around €2 per eyeshadow. Available in Superdrug.

Brow shadow/pencil/set - €2

1. Brow Shadow - €2
I had to have a think about this one - the majority of brow products (individuals or sets) available in drugstores are very warm based. For your eyebrows you usually need something cooler-toned. You could go with using something like a cool-toned MUA shadow like the ones recommended for contouring (#17 or #19).

2. Brow Pencil - around €2.50
Failing that, Catrice 150 Kajal liner (Up&Brown&Up&Brown) is a great grey-toned mink brown that could also be used - assuming it's still available - but it's kohl and doesn't set, so use a spoolie to brush your brows gently through afterwards to avoid a waxy-looking buildup.

2. Brow Set - free!
For a cheap and cheerful brow set? Simple - use a spritz of hairspray onto an old toothbrush or a brow brush, brush them into place, done. Everyone has hairspray, so I'm being cheeky and calling this one zero cost :-)

Eyeliners - from €2.50 - €8.50
(my recommendation: €5 + €8.50)

1. Kohl liners - from €2.50

Essence, Catrice, Gosh do reasonably good kohl liners and are inexpensive. Rimmel's eyeliners I have found to be a little drying.

2. Powder liners - free!
Most eyeshadows can be used as liners, either wet or dry. I'm assuming for the purpose of this that you're already going to have an eyeshadow or two in your arsenal :-)

3. Gel/Cream - from €5 for Gel/Pencil Hybrid

I am struggling to recommend a good gel/cream drugstore liner as all the ones I have used (Maybelline, ELF, Collection, Gosh, Essence...) are frankly not good, in my opinion. Avon Supershock Gel Eyeliner Pencil is by far the most superior gel-pencil hybrid on the market, beating all others (including pro/expensive) hands down. However Avon have pulled out odf Irish market and are a little difficult - but not impossible - to source.

4. Liquid/Pen style - around €8.50

L'Oreal Superliner Perfect Slim - really black, really long lasting and really good. I've reviewed this one here.

Mascara - €6

Sleek Magnitude Mascara (recently reviewed here) for both day wear and high drama - this nets you a trio: a day-wear mascara, which is waterproof, and a primer too for when you want to dial it up! I would also recommend Rimmel Sexy Curves but I have a sneaking suspicion it's been discontinued as I can no longer find it anywhere :-(

Strip Lashes - €3 + cost of glue (around €10)

If "stripping" floats your boat ;-) you can get decent strip lashes anywhere really, from around €3+. The thing to look out for is the glue; the one that comes with most lashes is bloody awful. You're better off purchasing a tube of Duo Glue (it will last forever and it's far superior), it's available in most pharmacies I think at this point in time, or salon services, or at major cosmetics' counters, or...

Lips

Lipglosses - €10

There are lots of lipglosses around but the best drugstore glossy lipglosses (non-drying, pigmented, lasting, ultra glossy) that I've personally found are the Bourjois Effet 3D ones.

Lipsticks - €2
(my recommendation: €8)

You can get semi-decent lippies for around €2 upwards but I have no hesitation here in recommending the Rimmel Moisture Renew (the purple ones) - they are hands down, by far the best for pigmentation and lastability. Don't get me wrong, I do actually think that the likes of Dior and Cosmetics a la Carte make far superior lipsticks that feel amazing, that last, and that nourish your lips to boot, but let's face it, they're a lot more expensive.

Lipliners - €4

Rimmel 1000 Kisses lipliner is great - cheap, not a huge range, but a very well thought out range of colours, these apply well and last well. They tend to be slightly drying, but nothing that a quick slap of some balm underneath won't fix. Most MUAs I know have all the shades of these in their kit!

Brushes

Full set of brushes - €40

Lauren Luke does a set of eight Essential Brushes which are amazing - some of them (the laydown brush, the blending brush in particular) are practically the exact same as some of the MAC brushes. Available online only at around €40 for eight of them, which works out at an average of a fiver a brush. Amazing value, amazing quality too.

Eyebrow + Eyeliner brush - €3
For an eyeliner/brow brush-in-one, look no further than the Catrice one. It's beyond brilliant and will set you back only about €3 - for two brushes in effect!

Spoolies - free!

For spoolies, just re-use old mascara wands that you've cleaned and sanitized. Same thing, zero cost!

So having seen that you can spend €160 on an entire kit, why would you bother spending more?

Well, the reality is that bigger brands spend more on luxury imaging and advertising/marketing. The packaging is fancier. They also, it has to be acknowledged, have better access to more expensive ingredients, use less cheaper/filler ingredients, and are usually front-runners in innovation and product development. In addition, a lot of drugstore companies have sister companies as part of their groups which in theory may share some of the science I would suspect (eg L'Oreal Group, Bourjois group etc), which allows the drugstore brands to benefit from the R&D of the high-end sister brands (and vice versa).

The reality is that there are some brands which produce some unbelievably beautiful and fantastically effective cosmetics products (and I'm not just talking packaging) and yet some of their other product ranges are below par, and are easily beaten by some cheaper brand offerings... I have a not insignificant volume of pro brand/high end makeup, which I will exclusively use on brides, for example, where perception matters and where you just know there won't be issues with quality or "last-ability", where you want to put on a face at 8am and have it still 100% perfect at 8am the next morning; in my personal experience, cheaper brands are great, but a lot of them they don't give you this absolute guarantee.

That said, I stand by all of the above named products as ones I have and use and recommend and replace when I run out...

In case it needs saying: this is not a sponsored/advert post, there are no deep links and I'm not being remunerated in any way for my opinions here.

Random ramblings

2013-05-22T08:00:00.000+01:00

Contemplating frozen strawberries blitzed in the blender with cheap vodka I found at the back of the press...

Finishing up with latest round of Makeup Brush Cleaning amid grumblings and moanings and general wishings that I had a Girl/Boy Friday to Do This Stuff for me...

Ruefully getting a shape on the apartment before the cleaner comes in tomorrow (I haven't met her, but she's almost my level of OCD cleanliness - I picture her tutting when she comes along on Wednesdays, wondering "what we've done with the place" since she last visited)...

Quietly admitting to cleaning up a bit before the cleaner arrives. Silently admitting to having a slight problem about it. Slightly admonishing myself for said problem. Deciding it's who I am and the world (aka my OH) needs to deal with it...

Eyeballing the nicely ripe peaches in the fruit bowl (ok, the peach bowl... lookit, I did say I was OCD and with reason)...

And wondering what they'd be like mixed in with the strawberry cocktail...

That I haven't made yet...

With some peach schnapps added in for good measure...

While drinking peach and raspberry sparkly water and telling myself that it will do instead...

Trying to figure what to publish in terms of blog posts for the rest of the week, as a combination of no camera + skeleton posts for which I have no swatches or images do not happy bedfellows make...

Convincing myself to haul ass off the sofa so I can wash my hair. It's too damn long. It takes a good hour or so to wash and style it... much as I like it long, this chore drives me mental...

Wishing I lived with a hair stylist who would Do My Hair for me...

Setting my alarm for 6am tomorrow morning as I want to get up early to do some bits and pieces before work...

Forgetting what those bits and pieces are...

Planning my makeup and clothes for tomorrow...

Moaning that I have to make a quick trip up into the attic to get down something I meant to bring with me to decorate my cubicle in work last week...

Mentally planning the makeup class and bridal trials I have setup for the weekend...

Looking at the destruction that is the dining table (replete with washed brushes and sanitised makeup) and wondering where I'm going to put it all before aforementioned cleaner arrives, as they will in no way have dried by then...

Trying to figure what I'm willing to eat for dinner tomorrow evening. My OH cooks on Wednesdays. He's a veggie. Am eating veggie food for weeks on end now as I haven't had time to do two different meals in the evenings. Realising that I'm well bored of lentils and chickpeas now...

Looking down at my fingers as I type and wondering how my nails are so damn bad. All the typing I do notwithstanding, I know buckets of people with gorgeous nails who type every bit as much as I do...

Wondering if I have time to put some nail polish on them...

Realising I can't do this and wash my hair at the same time...

Fuckiiiiiiit! Remembering I promised a friend I'd proof her latest novel... sorry P... I have been busy... I'll get around to it, I promise.

Mentally revisiting my failed visit to a new hair colourist at the weekend - I went there with a very clear description of what I wanted, down to pictures, and came out very light in pocket with a hair colour really not at all far off what I went in there with... Pissed Off Dot Com...

Re-living with fondness the twitter chat #irishbbloggers last night and some of the lovelies that I made contact with...

Reminding myself to actually listen to the Atoms for Peace album I purchased over the weekend...

Thinking about the designs for the cards I will make for various family members' upcoming birthdays...

Remembering that I need to pick a winner from the giveaway today - I'll do it tomorrow morning!!! Oh yes, now remembering *this* is why I'm getting up fifteen minutes early tomorrow morning...

Wondering why the effing beeeeeeeep-ing hell my blog traffic and google page rank has completely and utterly nosedived in the last few weeks and what to do about it...

Aside from yelling at the one person I know who works in (a completely unrelated job in) Google...

Wishing I didn't have to get up at stupid o'clock to go to work...

Realising this is a dumb-ass post and anyone who's read to the end deserves to finish off my (proposed) cocktail while I go sort out my life for the evening...

Apologising for said post and promising myself and anyone who reads this nonsense that I'll do better tomorrow, I promise...

(Chanel Summer collection and Catrice Candy Shock collection posts to follow... at least I can use PR images for those)...

Finally hauling ass off the sofa to get going for the rest of the evening... it's been a long day... and I'm tired already. Slán go fóill gach duine. Hasta mañana. Normal operations will resume...

Illamasqua Hydra Veil - the verdict

2013-05-21T07:55:00.003+01:00

Illamasqua Hydra Veil

I LOVE this stuff!!!!!

It's Illamasqua's latest product, a Rehydrating Gel, brought out as part of the Paranormal collection but new to the permanent line - and it's pretty damn spectacular.

Before... all nice and calm on the surface :-)

After - swooshed around with the spatula, for fun
(it settles back to non-smushed-up after less than a minute)

This is one of those weird non-Newtonian fluids - a strange substance that turns from an almost solid jelly to a scrunched-up smushy substance, like a broken jelly - and then back again when it settles after a few minutes.

As it's a gel, it's nicely cooling on application. A pea-sized amount, applied over the face, is more than sufficient either as a primer in its own right, or as a step between moisturiser and primer. Great for hot and bothered skins, or hot climates, or hot environments, or sensitive skins.

And why do we need to add yet another step to the morning routine, I wonder. Well, as most people who use Illamasqua's Skin Base foundation will know, it's one of those beautiful foundations which really only works for perfect skin (I call it a "goldilocks" foundation - it works when your skin is just right, not oily, not dry, not even combination - it shows up any dry patches on your skin quite noticably and can bunch and look patchy after a while (look here for my review), which is annoying). This is designed to work in tandem with the Skin Base foundation to prevent either of these from happening.

Initially I wasn't sold. The first time I used it, I didn't notice any particular difference to my skin which was quite dry in parts at the time, and the combination of Hydra Veil + Skin Base foundation didn't make any difference; the dry patches still looked dry. However - and here's the weird bit - when I looked again in the mirror maybe an hour later, the dry flaky patches had completely disappeared. And every day since I haven't seen them return.

How to use it is a little confusing - Illamasqua's website indicates a pea-sized amount to be applied using a brush. The in-box instructions on the product's leaflet suggest fingers. Either works - fingers are simplest and fastest.

It is supposed to give your skin a nice radiant finish - I can't honestly say that I've noticed this, however it most certainly makes foundation apply much easier than before, especially over dryer skin. And I have also found that I'm using a fraction of the foundation I used before, in addition (maybe a half to three-quarters as much). I have also found that makeup lasts significantly longer (with no creasing or fading or separating) using this as a base first.

In terms of ingredients, it's water-based, so will work better with water-based foundations, and it will also work with silicone foundations - but don't use it if your foundation is oil- or wax- based. It doesn't contain any nasty ingredients (parabens) or flash-back ingredients (titanium dioxide etc), but it does contain some alcohol though, so watch out for this one if you're dry/sensitive skinned.

The cynical amongst us could argue (in programming parlance) that this is Illamaqua fixing a bug in their existing Skin Base foundation by applying a patch, instead of a rewrite/reboot of the foundation, and then charging us additionally for the patch. Yep - I'm inclined to agree somewhat, except for the fact that it also works beautifully with other foundations I've tried it with. So in this instance I don't mind particularly. You may not need it, but if you do, it is a fantastic "fix".

It retails at £27 for a 30ml tub, which comes with its own spatula - handy. Look here for more info.

Estée Lauder Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lift Age-Correcting Creme & Serum

2013-05-20T07:49:00.002+01:00

Seriously. These are not skin care products

Considering the retail price of these, I thought I was actually lucky to receive them in my Estée Lauder Christmas crackers back in December - the sample of the moisturising cream would retail at around €75 and the sample of the serum, at around €45 - in other words, decent amounts. I forgot I had these but have been using the combination as night serum and night cream for the last week. It was a loooooong week. I wouldn't put this back on my face were I paid to do it.

Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lift Age-Correcting Creme

The Creme

This stuff is expensive (50ml of this will set you back €250 or thereabouts). And it's nowhere near as good as some other more expensive face creams (Creme de la Mer, Chanel Sublimage, to name just two which are genuinely deserving of their high price tag).

It is a thick cream formulation, which has a bunch of good stuff (like anti-ageing ingredients, vitamins C, E, milk ad vegetable proteins, hyaluronic acid and collagen - all designed to (and proven to) assist with ant-ageing and skin-plumping). Mind you, they're listed after the bunch of bad stuff

... and a bunch of bad stuff (alcohol, petrolatum, extremely heavy fragrance, parabens)

... and some debatable stuff: oleus barbatus extract & lady's thistle extract, both which can cause irritation - well, something certainly did on my face).

... and some stuff that you don't need in skincare: you don't need bloody ground-up pearls in skincare, to give you luminous skin - this is fine for makeup, it is not fine for skincare. Theres's also no proof - scientific or empirical - that refined gold dust helps skin at all. And don't get me started on silicones in skincare. I may have ranted about this before, once or twice. The top billing in this "skincare" product goes to various silicones.

Were there any pros? Yes, my skin most certainly felt softer after using it, at least for the hour or so before I went to bed - there was no lasting difference.

So what were the cons (aside from the ingredients listing)? Well, it stinks. It's a sickly sweet, ultra over-the-top cloying floral scent that just refuses to fade away. (it actually makes me personally slightly queasy and I think, contributed to a headache or two). And more importantly, it hurts! My skin had an immediate (and lasting) sensitivity to this cream - it prickled (way beyond a gentle tingle) and bothered the effin' life out of me. After a couple of days' usage (persevering with the fragrance and the prickly sensation, which, along with the scent, refused to dissipate), I found my skin to be even dryer than before. Likely down to all the silicones.

Nope, then. Next...

Re-Nutriv Ultimate Lift Age-Correcting Serum

The Serum

Apparently, this is designed to "deliver up to five times the levels of [...] ingredients found in the cremes" - so far so fair, it is generally true that most serums fit this bill.

According to Lauder, your skin will "immediately feel more lifted—tighter and more toned".

Nope. This is a standard, extremely silicone-heavy serum. Sure, it has some of the "good" creme ingredients as mentioned above. But if it's got five times the "good" creme ingredients, does that equally mean five times as many parabens? Five times as many silicones? Five times as much alcohol? Even if it doesn't why would I use a "skincare" product that actually dries the skin and can cause harm (parabens are known carcinogens)?

It also, annoyingly, has gold, pearl and mica powders, all of which make your skin look shiny and dewy and radiant and luminous, thanks to their pearlescent properties, but it doesn't do much else than alter appearance and perception - those ingredients certainly don't do you any good from a skincare perspective.

It also contains wheat protein, you need to watch out for this one if you're a coeliac.

Either way, having used it for a week, I can safely say it's absolutely and categorically not good enough to justify it's €235 (for 30ml) price tag.

Definite pass. I shan't be using either of these anymore. I won't miss the prickly skin or the overbearing, sickly sweet, cloying, clinging scent, every night for starters.

Illamasqua Blusher Brush v MAC 109

2013-05-17T08:05:00.000+01:00

Illamasqua Blusher Brush #1 v MAC 109

Another of my recent Illamasqua purchases, I mainly got this one to see if it was as good as the other Illamasqua brushes I have thus far (angled brow and liner brushes, new blush-up brush, three eyeshadow/blending brushes, all brilliant by the way).

It reminded me of something, and sure enough it's like a super-charged MAC 109...

L -> R: MAC 109, Illamasqua Blusher Brush #1

Essentially these are the same shape; a dense domed-shaped brush; the MAC brush is slightly smaller but otherwise these are more or less the same idea. There's a few differences between these two brushes - the MAC brush is natural fibres, the Illamasqua synthetic. The MAC brush is a little on the scratchy side, the Illamasqua one is quite soft. Either can be used for powder, liquid or cream product, although the Illamaqua one does better with liquid products (as it's synthetic). Either can be used for blusher, contour, highlighter, foundation, powder. The MAC brush works better as a buffer brush (as it's natural fibres). The Illamasqua works better for building product up from light coverage than the MAC one, as the bristles have a little more "give" in them (as they're a little longer than the MAC bristles).

L -> R: MAC 109, Illamasqua Blusher Brush #1

If you have one, you likely don't need the other. Which would I recommend? Honestly, either-or, take your pick, depending on your own preference with respect to bristles (synthetic v natural).

Look here for more on the MAC 109, or here for more info on the Illamasqua Blusher Brush. Alternatively, compare with the recently new blush-up brush, reviewed here.

Le Volume de Chanel Mascara

2013-05-16T08:31:00.002+01:00

Chanel's latest and greatest new mascara - Le Volume de Chanel Mascara...

Chanel have released a new (permanant line) mascara called Le Volume de Chanel Mascara in their Jeux de Regards collection. I received a copy of the black (01 Noir) to try out. It's fabulous - it's one of the single most beautiful, simple, elegant mascaras to give you the old your-lashes-but-better-like-you're-not-wearing-mascara-at-all look.

The three mascaras in the new collection (Jeux de Regards)

It is designed to plump-up, lengthen, thicken and intensify lashes, and it comes in three shades, Noir, Bleu and Prune.

... featuring a new applicator brush (spoolie)

According to Chanel, "the unique brush of the new mascara coats lashes from root to tip... lashes are longer, plumper, thicker and more intense... eyes are defined and look bigger with a wide-open effect".

Before: no mascara at all at all at all

I completely agree - with literally one coat, your lashes look longer and slightly thicker, but not in a clumpy stuck-together sort of way - each lash gets coated with just enough of this stuff to make them still just look like your own lashes, just a little thicker and a little blacker and a little longer - it's beautiful.

After: nice long, separated, natural-looking lashes but still quite intensely black

Part of the reason, I suspect, is the formula - it contains a combination of natural waxes (designed to boost volume and guarantee a fluid texture for application), and acacia gum (for volume and lash separation). The other reason is likely down to the new “Snowflakes” brush, which is composed of stacks of disks with a combination of both long stiff bristles and short soft bristles. The applicator itself is quite flexible-feeling, almost rubberised and has a little give and movement, which makes is very easy to use.

At €30 it's not an inexpensive one, but it's hard to find a decent mascara that genuinely looks like you're not wearing mascara at all.

Disclaimer: this product was kindly sent to me for consideration.

Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner

2013-05-15T07:58:00.000+01:00

Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner

This stuff, the latest in a line of new product releases from Illamasqua, is un-be-lie-vable. It is the gel liner to end all gel liners.

My previous holy grail product, Clinique Brush-on Cream liner, has just got the boot. David Horne, head of product development at Illamasqua, and his team, have got it just exactly perfectly right, yet again, with this product.

... nice

This is a gel-cream product which manages to combine the fluidity and ease of movement and use of any liquid liner, but without the attendant difficulties that liquid liner introduces, like bleeding into fine lines (very apropos for older or crepy-er eyelids).

One-swipe uber-black goodness

It's just exactly black enough. And just exactly pigmented enough. And just exactly opaque enough. And just exactly matte enough. It doesn't drag or pull. It allows you to produce very accurate lines, no feathering or bleeding...

By the way, those are not fine lines above LOL
- they're me drawing in really fine lines with my liner brush ;-)

Nothing remotely precise, literally just ten seconds of playing around with it...

In literally under ten seconds flat, I was able to do an eyeliner flick and some feck-acting around (nothing anyway precise, strictly just playing with it to see what this product can do) - you can see just how black it is.

It stays wet just long enough for it to be extremely easily useable. And then dries down and doesn't bloody budge - it's a waterproof formulation and requires some decent waterproof bi-phase eye makeup remover to get rid of it at the end of the day (seriously, it takes a bit of doing to remove this stuff). So it's going to work in wet conditions. Brides. Cry-babies. The gym. Hot countries... It doesn't fade, or flake, it doesn't dry out, it doesn't bleed into fine lines on application. It works on younger and older skin. It's amazing stuff. It's frankly what gel eyeliner should be.

Just released as part of the Paranormal collection (but permanent line), at £18 for 5g, look here for more info. Don't bother with any other liners. Ever again. Seriously.

Chanel new Illusion d'Ombre shades in Convoitise & Apparition

2013-05-14T07:53:00.001+01:00

L -> R: Apparition, Convoitise

Wheeeeeeeeee! Chanel have released another two new Illiusion d'Ombre shades in their Jeux de Regards collection (I'm a little bit overly-excited as I just love this formulation shadow).

I had already purchased the Illusion d'Ombre in Apparition in the past - this had previously featured as an LE product as part of the boutique/fast track Blue Illusion collection. As I've already swatched and blogged about this shade, this particular post features the other Illusion d'Ombre shade, #90 Convoitise.

Chanel Convoitise

Chanel have now a total of three gold Illusion d'Ombre shades

L -> R: Vision, Convoitise, Apparence

... or four, if you include Émerveillé, and they're all very different:

L -> R: Vision, Convoitise, Apparence, Émerveillé

This one, Convoitise, is a more muted, calmed-down, beige-based gold with the tiniest barest hint of a peach (it's not peach, it's just there in the background. Very very barely in the background).

Chanel Convoitise - yummy yummy

It's also, while frosted, more of a shimmer and less of a frost finish than some of the others. This makes it easier to sheer-out, but similarly, harder to build-up to a very obvious colour. That's fine - this is a pale subtle shade anyhow, so you're not going to want to build this one up hugely (I mainly got it, if I'm perfectly honest, as I'm somewhat obsessed by this formulation - it's not going to be one I use a huge amount).

Top: Mad Minerals Nude Frost
Middle: Chanel Vision, Convoitise, Apparence
Bottom: Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #13, Benefit Birthday Suit, Chanel Émerveillé

As you can see, there's a bunch of similar shades to Convoitise, especially when swatched:

L -> R: Mad Minerals Nude Frost, Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #13,
Benefit Birthday Suit, Chanel Vision, Convoitise, Apparence, Émerveillé

Convoitise (third from the right) is slightly similar to Émerveillé, but less pink and slightly more gold-peach. It's also slightly similar to Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream #13 (but more gold and less peach, and more shimmery), similarly it's somewhat like Mad Minerals Nude Frost* (but more gold).

* Mad Minerals Indelible Cream Shadow in Nude Frost is a brilliant dupe for - almost the identical same in fact as - MAC Bare Study Paintpot.

While we're on the topic of the Illusion d'Ombre shades, here's a post on the original lineup of shades first released, and my search for dupes. And here's some other posts (here and here) which outline the other Chanel gold Illusion d'Ombre shades.

MAC Temperature Rising Powerchrome Eye Pencils

2013-05-13T08:05:00.002+01:00

Powerchrome Eye Pencil

MAC's latest collection, Temperature Rising, features a bunch of new products, and four new Shadestick-type eye "crayons" called Powerchrome Eye Pencils. Let's get the annoying bit out of the way first: these are LE.

There are four colours in this collection:

Rich Glance (Light Gold)
Copper Strip (Frosty Midtone Copper)
Life's Luxury (Deep Bronze Brown)
Polished Jet (Charcoal with Pearl)

Of the four, I purchased two; Life's Luxury and Polished Jet.

As mentioned, these are similar to MAC's (discontinued) Shadesticks from the past, however they are an entirely new formulal; although similarly metallic, these are softer and longer lasting than even Shadesticks were.

MAC Temperature Rising Powerchrome Eye Pencil in Life's Luxury

Life's Luxury is a really really warm metallic bronze-brown which is shot through with a small amount of mid-sized copper and pink glitters. It's not enough to be scratchy and frosted, but it's definitely evident as another dimension.

MAC Temperature Rising Powerchrome Eye Pencil in Polished Jet

Polished Jet is truly gorgeous; it's a soft, warm, charcoal-grey-black with an almost-greened-silver duochrome metallic finish. Droolsome.

L -> R: Life's Luxury, Polished Jet

I love these - they are really soft, but for all that they set and don't budge. After about eight hours, I noticed a small amount of creasing however that's good going for my eyelids. After maybe ten hours, I noticed some fading. Long lasting, opaque and highly pigmented these most certainly are.

L -> R: Life's Luxury, Polished Jet

What don't I like about them? They set quickly - really really quickly. This is a blessing and a curse; they're a pain the rear-end to blend-out for that reason, you really do need to whack these on and get blending with them asap. But if you do work quickly with them (I found the MAC 217 the best brush to blend these out with, they need a slightly scratchier brush actually), you will succeed in getting either a wash of colour, or a nicely built-up metallic (but not wet-look) finish. Layering is the way to get these to last - as with all of these better-formulated soft crayon-type eye pencils, building up layers will mean you reduce the likelihood of creasing.

Look here while they're still available.

Curlformers Review (Or "How to look like a demented seven-year-old")

2013-05-10T07:39:00.001+01:00

Curlformers.. ringlets in disguise... (promo image)

I can't stop singing the theme song to "Transformers - robots in disguise" along with this post. Annoying eh.

I think I got these about a year ago, and it's taken me up until now to remember that I have them, and that I should try them out and see what they were like.

There are a bunch of different sizes and widths available - at the time I got short-wide and medium-wide ones. Which are, I've discovered, nowhere near long enough for my down-to-the-middle-of-my-back hair. No where near long enough. And frankly nowhere near wide enough as it turned out. That's fine though, because I thought I'd just use them on the lower ends of my hair anyhow, to give it a "bit of a wave".

Some curl the hair in a clockwise direction, and some in an anticlockwise direction (and they're colour coded so you know which is which - a nice simple touch). It's a good idea to mix them up a bit, but also try to have the clockwise ones on your right hand side, and the anticlockwise ones on your left hand side, at least those closest to your face, so you get the curls working away from your face, which is generally considered A Better Look.

She's wearing a kind of "you've got to be kidding me" smile (promo image).
I was personally convulsed in laughter...

In terms of using them, it couldn't be simpler - you push the plastic hook through the Curlformer, then thread some hair through the hook and pull it through the Curlformer, then let go of the hair, and move on to the next one. Simple enough. Their usage-ability is a major pro.

I have reasonably thick hair and I used about 38 of these (which is fine as I seem to recall there are 40 in a pack). You leave the Curlformers in your hair until it has fully dried (they're made of a plastic mesh so the air can circulate through them), then remove them by pulling them off each section of hair (they can snag a little, but by-and-large, they come out reasonably easily), and hey presto, curled hair.

Demented uber-curls...
immediately after I took the Curlformers out

Or, as I collapsed in a heap laughing, absolutely demented ringlets, the like of which I haven't seen since I was about seven. And I do mean demented. These babies were bouncy. Way way way bouncier than if I'd tonged them.

I'm not showing you a full shot
(a) no makeup on (b) I have added a foot
to my head size with these curls at either side
(not a good look ;-) )

OK, I thought to myself, I'll just brush them out and I'll have a nice retro-type Hollywood wave. Nope. My hair resolutely resisted every attempt to brush-out and quite a lot of the curls persisted in bouncing back to ringlets, albeit slightly less defined ones. After about ten minutes of firm-but-gentle brushing (the kind necessary to get a wave but not a frizz), I succeeded in down-sizing the Demented Ringlets to Slightly Softer Curls, but I still felt a bit like an escapee from a bad 80's movie...

They were good for one thing: I laughed very very very hard at the result. Then I put them all back in their bag and I know I will never, ever use them again. Recommended if you like springy, bouncy, fake-Irish-dancer-type ringlet curls. Or if you don't mind adding about a half a foot to either side of your head when you try brushing them out. Otherwise, nope. Perhaps the extra wide option would be better for producing a less crazed look, but at around €50 a set, I'm not going to bother trying. If you're a hair masochist, or a seven year old, look here for more info :-)

Inglot Milk & Tonic Makeup Remover Wipes

2013-05-09T08:09:00.000+01:00

Make Up Wipes... actually these are not bad

While at a recent Inglot event, I was kindly given these to trial by one of the staff and although I'm not a huge fan of makeup remover wipes, on occasion, let's face it, using something like these is better than using nothing... when you're caught short on makeup remover, or when you're unexpectedly away, or when you're at a festival or...

My biggest gripe with wipes in general is the amount of alcohol usually present; they're generally soaked through with the stuff, making them a poor choice for delicate northern skin-types. While these do contain alcohol in the list of ingredients, I'm pleased to note it's the second-last item in a very long list. I can live with that. Some other list-ticks: no parabens (good), not tested on animals (good). Pleasantly (and very lightly) scented (good), and suitable, apparently for sensitive skin types... ok, I'll bite, I'll try them out.

And I was pleasantly surprised. Not alone did they remove makeup, but also mascara, and they did it all without aggravating my sensitive skin - an achievement in itself. They stopped shy of removing all of my waterproof mascara and long-long-long lasting eyeliner, but they got most of it. They feel nice - they're more like a very soft thin cotton cloth than any other wipes I've used, and they are quite sturdy.

Nice feeling, sturdy, hardworking...

I think they're around €4 for a pack of 25, which is not bad value for something that (a) works and (b) doesn't do any harm while doing it. Whereas I in general shy away from using wipes, these are firmly staying in my overnight bag for those times I'm just too exhausted to be bothered cleansing properly. I certainly won't use them every night, but I don't object to using them as a stop-gap. For me, for wipes, that's unusually high praise :-)

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

2013-05-08T07:44:00.000+01:00

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

There's a new concealer on the block. And I love it.

I was eagerly awaiting the release of this on-counter as it's quite a new formulation and has been getting a lot of airplay. I've used it nonstop since I got it - I could wax lyrical about this for ever and ever. And bore you senseless. Let's just say that I won't, and I'll give you the whistlestop on it instead:

Why do I like it - it's extremely pigmented - a little goes a very very long way with this. It's water resistant. It doesn't crease. It doesn't fade. It doesn't bunch. It doesn't settle into fine lines. It works under the eye. It works as a blemish concealer. It seems to work on dry and oilier skin (so far). It doesn't even need powdering. It's fragrance free. Paraben free. Alcohol free. It's possibly the concealer-to-end-all-concealer-searches. My previous hitherto-used-without-a-blink concealer palette is looking in danger of not being replaced (not that it needs it, anytime soon, but how and ever).

It's a water-and-silicone based formulation. It contains a teeny tiny amount of bismuth oxychloride, which means it's great for brightening up under the eyes. I haven't found it to flash back.

The ten shades available

In terms of shades, these don't necessarily come in cool- or warm- undertones, like many other concealers (look here and here for some more information on concealers and correctors and here for information on all of the MAC concealers available), rather they mirrors some of the NARS foundation shades (which is a good and a bad idea in my mind), and there will be ten shades, ranging from a reasonably light shade to a reasonably dark shade. A few minutes swatching one on-counter should net you a shade you need for your purposes. Demonstrably absent is an ochre shade, but then again these are concealers, not correctors - it just so happens that some can double-up nicely as both.

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer in Honey

For example, I bought just one to try it out - in shade Honey, which is a peachy coloured one, great for cancelling-out blueness in under-eye dark circles then.

Before (no foundation, no brows, no concealer :-)

Applied a tiny amount of Honey shade along my dark circles,
then blended-out with a synthetic eye buffing brush

After (still no foundation, no brows :-))
Dark circles begone.
One step, replacing my previous correct-conceal-highlight-powder routine.

In terms of coverage, this is a medium-buildable-to-almost-full coverage concealer.

Annoying standard-doe-foot-applicator

Downsides? Doe-foot applicator; I hate these things, they're unsanitary.

Price-wise I think this was around the €26 mark as I recall - not crazy expensive, not crazy cheap. I would certainly not hesitate to pay this, as it works so well, and is the first product I've ever used that fully replaces the need for both corrector and concealer. In addition, as I don't need to correct, conceal, highlight, then powder, it's a major timesaver.

Look here if you want more information or to buy online.

Cheap-ass v Fancy-ass? Shiseido v Lidl in the Battle Of The Cotton Pads

2013-05-07T10:07:00.002+01:00

The humble cotton pad / cotton round...

Today's post was written in two halves - by both myself and my friend @MontyC. It's a review of something we all use and need; for makeup removal, for toning the face, for refreshing the eyes, for nail polish removal... the humble cotton pad.

Fancy-ass/Splurge: Shiseido Cotton Pads - A bit posh but are they worth it?

(This half of the post is with thanks to @MontyC)

Shiseido Facial Cotton

Shiseido and I don't know either very well. We're acquaintances more than friends. I have their foundation brush and one pot of their shimmering cream eye shadows. And now these cottons pads.

[Ed: strangely, I have exactly the same amount of Shiseido "stuff" in my arsenal, although likely a different colour cream shadow I imagine - mine is the black one and I love it].

When you think of the humble cotton pad, you may think to yourself what's the fuss? Aren't they all same? Why bother buying a packet of posh ones? Well, a pet pet peeve of mine is when the pad disintegrates in your hand as you're attempting to use it. So when I read the serious amount of love that was being heaped on these pads online, I decided to check them out for myself.

Firstly and most importantly, the price. There aren't many things you can get for a fiver at any of your high end brand counters these days. Well, now you can. The Shiseido cottons pads come in at €5 for a box of 60 pads. Yep, that's right. Five quid.

[Ed: a fiver for cotton pads - that right there is going to galvanise you one way or the other]

Secondly, and just as importantly, are they any good? Short answer - yes they are. I'm happy to report that they do not fall apart. Another great thing about these is that they don't soak up all your product; since I've started using these, I've noticed I'm using less toner/nail polish remover/cleanser than I did before.

Thirdly, are they really better than your average packet of cottons pads from Boots? I believe they are a lot better. So much so that I'm going to go back to my Shiseido counter to buy two more boxes.

Cheap-ass/Save: Lidl Iseree Cotton Pads - Sure will these ones not just do instead?

(This half of the post is written by myself)

Lidl cotton pads...

I understand, and share, MontyC's annoyance with cotton pads that disintegrate in your paws as you try to use them. At this point in time, I've used all the usual drugstore and supermarket offerings: Boots (not bad but not great), Tesco (separate-out as soon as removed from the packet), Tesco cheapies (disintegrate if you look crooked at them), Penneys (harsh and scratchy, awful, awful, truly awful, I can't overstate how bloody awful), The Body Shop (not bad but not cheap), DeMak'Up (nearly the same price as the Shiseido ones, ok-but-not-great), Irish Breeze (more or less ditto), Sephora (only ok and can't get them in Ireland anyhow), ones from Salon Services and Flair (the best I'd found so far and at trade prices, not bad, especially as I usually buy these in bulk) and of late, the Lidl Isereee offerings (my current favourite).

I could buy and sell shares in cotton pads. Between my own use, my kit use and my class use, I go through a lot of these. I am personally highly unlikely, therefore, to sit in the splurge category, but I'm always interested in hearing about an item that is a good buy because it's a good product, occasionally despite its price (I am no stranger to occasional splurging on certain products myself).

At the other end of the price scale from the Shiseido pads MontyC mentioned above are the Iseree pads from Lidl. At 79¢ for 120 of them, and after trying a lot of other offerings out, I've settled upon these as the best option in terms of value-for-money, for my level of usage. There's a textured side and a flat side and they're crimped at the edges. They don't separate into two halves, they don't shed, they don't disintegrate. They don't feel harsh but neither are they as silky soft as I believe the Shiseido ones are, but they'll do for me.

From a per-usage price perspective, 8¢ for 1 pad (for the Shiseido ones) equates to approximately 12 of the Lidl pads, or in other words, the fiver I'd spend on 60 Shiseido pads would net me about 800 Lidl pads, so I know which ones I personally will be buying and using, but for people with sensitive eyes, contact lenses, sore or sensitised skin, or simply a general intolerance to tiny tufty bits of cotton wool on their faces, it looks like the Shiseido ones are a good bet. And for all their (relative) expense, no where near as expensive as the Chanel equivalent (which are around the €20 mark (!!), as I understand).

Look here for more info on the Iseree pads and here for more info on the Shiseido ones. And as always, thanks to MontyC for her insights!

MAC's new Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation

2013-05-03T08:48:00.001+01:00

New kid on the (MAC) block:
Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation

This post was a labour of... well, just a labour really. I started out writing up this review the same way as I usually do for foundations - trying to cover all the bases (coverage, finish, lastability, cost, skintype, application method etc) and I realised that, while I would still be doing this, I needed to add a bit of a rant to the top of the post. So here it is:

<Rant>

So Here’s the thing. I wanted to love this foundation. I first saw this new foundation in action back in December and have been eagerly awaiting its release. What this foundation tries to do – in terms of finish – is everywhere at the moment; that glowy, radiant skin look is the biggest 2013 trend going. Aside from the fact that healthy glowy skin looks gorgeous, and apart from the fact that it’s coming into the summer and this tends to be a seasonal trend, this is a particular ongoing trend at the moment.

What I found was that it’s a blasted bugger of a thing to apply correctly. It needed quite a lot of investigation into what would and wouldn’t work. And when I found what worked (in terms of application), it didn’t necessarily last (in terms of wearability). But dear God it was hard work getting there, and involved a multitude of different application methods, different finishing methods, different priming methods over a seven day period, even down to doing things one way on one side of my face, and another on the other side, to compare! It involved a ten-minute earlier start all week to try get to the bottom of it (I’m looking forward to that extra time in bed next week :-))

Bottom line: now that I know how to make it work, how to use it, how to get the best out of it, I’m fine with it – in fact I absolutely love it. But it’s still not a foundation for when you’re in a hurry. It’s a needy-baby-greedy-baby foundation, to paraphrase The Big Bang Theory.

</Rant>

Anyhow, read on if you want to see how in the name of £$%@^ you can make it work…

Coverage

Coverage is light-to-medium. This is slightly buildable - but only to a point, at which case you will look like you're just wearing a layer of this stuff on your face. This doesn't produce a "flawless" look - it's not a heavy enough coverage - and you will need concealer with it (I recommend the MAC Mineralize concealer with this foundation).

Light to medium coverage

That said, however, it contains a huge proportion of optical diffusers, so although you do need to conceal, you don't need a heavy coverage concealer, as the optical diffusers do their job of blurring your imperfections out, if not covering them up.

Coverage caveat? You need to find the balance; you can build it to a point, after which it just sits on your skin, no matter what you do.

Finish

MAC Mineralize Moisture SPF15 Foundation
(featuring a very tired looking me)
No brow product, no concealer, no powder.
Not a bad finish for just raw foundation - dewy and luminous.

The finish for this is a funny one - MAC calls it a satin finish but it is categorically not - it's a dewy finish, but a new type of dewy; it has that very mineralised, slightly "almost shimmery" appearance without being greasy or oily looking. It's a definite nod to the radiant looking, fresh-faced, healthy skin trend of this season as I mentioned before. In fact, it's the perfect foundation for getting that result - I can see why it was used so much backstage for SS shows. It's perfect for that - for a certain period of time, at least. Finish caveat? None. But reference "Wear" below.

Wear

This is a mineralised product that works reasonably well with dryer skins, but I don't recommend it for oily skin types; quite a lot of buffing and powdering was needed to set it.

Which brings me to my next point: yes, it categorically and most definitely needs powdering, especially if you have oily areas of your skin - it can sit on top and slip a bit. And it will transfer everywhere if you don't, with little or no provocation. However, if you use a mineral/mineralised powder (I use MAC Mineralized Skinfinish) to set it, you'll still see that gorgeous luminosity through the powder, which is an achievement in itself. Because mineralised powders don't work particularly brilliantly as blot powders, you’ll need to re-powder a bit more frequently than you might otherwise be happy with.

Once applied correctly it looks like a gorgeous foundation. So what's the caveat on Wear? It is a reasonably "standard" wear foundation - about six hours' wear, at which point you're going to notice that it has annoyingly bunched on dry areas, and separated-out on oily areas, it goes from hero to absolute yuck in those six hours. Unless you use a finishing spray. In which case it lasted me about twelve hours. See "Best Applied With" below for more information.

Shades & Undertones

18 shades in NC and NW undertones

Colour-wise this comes in eighteen shades (NC15 being the lightest and NW50 the darkest, with eleven of these as cool toned/NC). I haven't found this to oxidise, so the colour you apply is the colour it stays on your skin.

NC20 on me - nice and dewy looking

I'm using an NC20 at the moment and while it's a tiny bit pale, the NC25 was too dark for me (the swatch above is on the back of my arm).

Best Applied With

First and foremost, this needs a really well moisturised skin underneath. And a primer is an absolute must. I can't stress this enough. And a finishing spray, if you want it to last and keep looking well. If you spend time working your moisturiser into your skin, and then spend time on your primer, and then spend time working the foundation into your skin, and then spend time finishing it (powder + setting spray) you will wind up with a gorgeous finish. But do you really want to go to all that hassle for just a base?

As I said at the outset, application of this foundation is a weird one. I spent some time trying out different methods. I didn't find a sponge (either wet or dry) worked particularly well - neither did a flat/paddle foundation brush. A dual fibre foundation brush was too lightweight to be much use. A dense buffing brush was too dense. Fingers didn't work great on their own, but as a mechanism for getting most of it on, sure. The best result I personally found was using my Shu Uemura #18 brush:

A match made in foundation heaven...

This is not a foundation for when you're in a hurry. It sits on the skin a bit, you need to really do some work with this, and it looks best when you buff it in - comprehensively but gently if that makes sense - and as I've found, with a fluffy (natural fibre) brush. Which is likely why the sponge/paddle/dual fibre brushes didn't work - this foundation is not a friend of synthetic fibres.

The only thing that I found with this foundation... moisturise (very well) first. Then apply a primer. I found that silicone based primers were not necessary, just any good primer (I am currently using and loving NARS Pro Prime, Cosmetics à la Carte Skin Veil). Then whack the foundation on (fingers, flat paddle brush) and buff it in/out/shake-it-all-about with a brush as described. Set it with a powder and then - and here's the bit that really stops it from bunching and separating later - spritz it with MAC Fix+.

This gave me the beautiful finish that I have seen in campaign visuals, and it lasted all day this way, no bunching, no crap. Use a synthetic brush: doesn't apply well. Miss out on the moisturiser or primer: harder to apply well, bunches and separates out later on. Miss out on the powder: transfers like bejeezus. Miss out on the finishing spray: bunches and separates out later on. See what I mean? Needy.

A fluffy dense brush with natural fibres and some give is the best bet...

Back to the issue of a the brushes - if you have something like the Shu Uemura brush I mentioned, or the Tom Ford equivalent, or even the MAC 168 brush; to work with this foundation, it will be fine. It needs to be a fluffy-but-dense natural fibre brush. Synthetic fibres won't work. Buffing brushes won't work - the brush needs some "give" in it. Otherwise, the foundation will just sit on the skin and look strange; like it's separated-out on your skin.

Formulation

In terms of ingredients, it's a water-and-silicone-based formulation with a lot of minerals (77 I think is MAC's boast) and a bunch of good skin stuff including Shea Butter and Vitamin E, so it is quite moisturising. It also contains optical blurring powders which really do their job. It feels nice on the skin, and looks gorgeous. Until it starts to bunch. And separate. Unless you do all the steps I set out.

Best Suited To / Skincare

Absolutely perfect younger skin. Reference "wear" for pretty much all other skin types. A definite no-no for oilier skins. I have found that this can clog pores somewhat. Not good. A silicone-based primer will help out in that area.

Flashback, SPF, Price

This is around the €36 mark for 30ml and it has an SPF of 15 (titanium dioxide) - there is most certainly a small amount of flashback with this foundation. Look here for more info on the MAC site.

I like the look of this foundation a lot, now that I know how to use it, I can say that yes, it's absolutely a beautiful one, but I can't in all conscience recommend it unless you have the correct tools to apply it - a decent moisturiser, MAC Fix+, the right brush, and a lot of time. Why bother when you can use something like this one instead - a similar coverage/finish/price with much less hassle and effort.

Cosmetics a la Carte - 40th Anniversary Celebration!

2013-05-02T08:27:00.001+01:00

Although I'm a relatively recent convert to Cosmetics à la Carte, this year they are this celebrating forty years in the business! To mark the occasion, they are hosting a creative beauty exhibition detailing the creativity and innovation of their makeup, and the impact that cosmetics has on modern culture...

Sadly I won't be in London at the time, but details are as below if you're in London and fancy a look!

Sleek Pout Paints v OCC Lip Tars

2013-05-01T07:52:00.000+01:00

I know this post is a little late (ok ok very late, I have been meaning to publish it for over a year now!) but how and ever, better late than never...

For anyone who doesn't know, OCC (Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics) are a cruelty-free all-vegan cosmetics store who make a bunch of different cosmetic products and tools - but their pièce de résistance are their Lip Tars. Ostensibly a pro product, these are great for anyone who likes to play with makeup.

Sleek Makeup (a drugstore/budget makeup brand that I absolute love) have released (oh, back in 2011 I believe) their version - called Pout Paints.

Here follows my compare-and-contrast.

One of the big things I love about Lip Tars is the scent - they are heavily peppermint-tasting, which is all fine and dandy if you like that, but it's a bit much if you don't. The scent fades slightly over the course of wear (I personally like it, actually, for me it's a nice break from vanilla- or rose- scented lippies, or - heaven forbid - fruity-flavoured lipsticks, yeuch). Sleek doesn't have that OTT OCC peppermint smell. Score this one in accordance with your preference.

In terms of appearance, the Lip Tars dry down to a satin (semi-matte) finish that categorically doesn't budge, and the Pout Paints are more of a slightly-glossy finish. This one is also a matter of preference.

With respect to wear, the Lip Tars probably last a little longer, but care is needed when applying Lip Tars - too much will cause feathering. Score +1 and -1 for Lip Tars for these reasons :-)

As far as pigmentation goes, the Lip Tars have extreme pigmentation - a dot of this product will do for entire lip coverage. The Pout Paints are quite pigmented, but nowhere as good as Lip Tars. Lip Tars 1: Pout Paints 0.

The full suite of OCC Lip Tars

What about colours? The Lip Tars also have a lot more colours; at this point in time there are 46 shades (at the time I purchased, I believe there were 18!) and feature weird and wonderful shades of blues, greens, black, white etc., making them a real artist's tool, as other shades can be created by mixing.

Sleek Pout Paint - current shades (April 2013)

The Pout Paints colours change from time to time - at present they come in 7 shades, all (bar the blue) are pretty ready-to-go day-wearable. There used to be a white shade for mixing, but at the point of this post, it didn't feature on their website. Lip Tars 2: Paint Pots: 0.

In terms of wearability and "last-ability"; I find that most of the Lip Tars wear nicely, and fade uniformly to a stain... rather than gradually in bits and pieces. The Paint Pouts didn't fade quite as uniformly, but they are not bad either (better than most lippies for eg). Lip Tars 3: Paint Pots: 0.

The big down-side of Lip Tars? The product separates in the tube - nothing a good shake can't fix, but still a little annoying (and from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, they do not look good in your kit!) Lip Tars 3: Paint Pots: 1.

Price-wise, at retail price, the Pout Pots (£6.99) are considerably cheaper than Lip Tars (£12). Lip Tars 3: Paint Pots: 2.

Would I buy again? Hmmm... given that I have a Pro card and can get Lip Tars (the real deal for me) at more or less the same price as the Pout Paints, probably not. But I wouldn't object to recommending them. Or to using them if I don't have Lip Tars to hand. Or to buying them completely on a whim if I happen to be in a Superdrug (not often) and I just "need" that exact colour.

More information on Pout Paints here. More information on Lip Tars here.