Face Facts: Fresh, Summer Evening Make Up

Woah, hello close up of my face!  I thought today I would share a recent make up look; you may have seen it on my Instagram page, but if you didn't, here is exactly what I used on my face that evening!  I went out for a few drinks with friends, and thought I'd try something a little different; blue liner.

FACE FACTS

Benefit Porefessional Primer

MAC Studio Fix Fluid NW18

Soap and Glory Kick Ass Concealer in Medium

MAC Mineralise Skin Finish in Medium

MAC Mineralise Skin Finish in Give Me Sun 

Clinique Cheek Pop in Ginger Pop

Urban Decay Naked Palette (Sin, Naked)

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette (Nooner, Darkside)

Topshop Magic Liner in Yonder

Benefit They're Real Mascara

MAC See Sheer Lipstick

Real Techniques Buffing Brush

Real Techniques Pointed Foundation Brush

Real Techniques Setting Brush

Real Techniques Contour Brush

The Body Shop Blush Brush

I was quite pleased with this make up look; even though my base has such a high coverage, I felt surprisingly natural and fresh faced for an evening in town.  I'm not too sure on how I feel about the Barry M Brow Kit at the moment...I've only used it a couple of times and I don't feel convinced on it, especially now, because in these pictures my brows look super light, soft and almost powdery.  I definitely think I prefer a sharper, more defined brow.  My favourite part of the whole look though is the blue eyeliner.  I picked it up from Topshop with the gift card I got for my birthday back in January, and I'm so pleased with it!  

I'll be sure to add some specific reviews of any products used which are not underlined in the face facts list soon so keep checking back, or comment below any products you'd like prioritising!

What do you think?

MAC X Marge Simpson: Packaging Design

This post is  a little bit different...  I don't tend to blog about upcoming collections from brands.  I love reading what's coming up, but when a MAC collection is being released, my Bloglovin' feed is filled with the same thing - the promo shots.  Being a designer, when I heard about the MAC X Marge Simpson line coming later this year, not only did the beauty addict in me get excited for what might be coming our way, but my design intuition kicked in.  I instantly started imagining what I would do if I was working for MAC; what products would I release to represent Marge Simpson, and just as importantly, how I would package it.

MAC have been getting a lot more creative with their packaging lately.  Their latest collection, Alluring Aquatic, was a gorgeous, metallic turquoise with realistic 3D water droplets .  Although I don't own any of this collection, I was seriously in awe of the packaging and how MAC translated the theme of the collection through the selection.

I decided I would do a quick mock up sketch as to how I would package a MAC X Marge Simpson lipstick. I mentioned this on Twitter lately, and got some nice feedback.  I went straight for the obvious; The Simpsons is a well known animation - we've all watched it and we've all grown up with it!  The collection is a celebration of 25 years of The Simpsons!  They're older than me!  (When I was younger, I used to get an annual every Christmas detailing all the episodes!)  I wanted to bring the animation across in the lipstick packaging, and created a simplistic, recognisable figure of Marge.  I used the base of the lipstick as her green dress, the usual silver rim was replaced for Simpson skin yellow, and the removable cap is textured, bright blue Marge hair.  I also slipped in a sneaky orange MAC logo to act as a little reference to her necklace!

I'm so excited for this collection, and I absolutely can't wait to see what they bring out!  I'm definitely hoping to get my hands on some of it, even if it's just one piece!  I hope you all liked my mock up!

What are your guesses for the MAC X Marge Simpson Collection?

MAC Relentlessly Red

Hurrah for new lipsticks!  Even more of a celebration when they are a prize!  I was lucky enough to win a MAC lipstick of my choice on Danielle's blog The Imperfect Beauty, and as I couldn't make a decision between Lady Danger or Relentlessly Red, I left it up to Danielle to decide my lipstick fate!

She chose Relentlessly Red, which I was so pleased about.  I actually thought that when these first came out, they were part of a limited collection, so I was really surprised and pleased to see Relentlessly Red in stock across MAC stores!

The formula is a Retro Matte, and MAC mattes aren't a formulation that I have tried before, so I was a little nervous to try as I've heard mixed reviews about this finish.  As with all mattes, your lips do need to be in pretty good condition so that dryness isn't emphasised when the lipstick is applied.  I couldn't wait to try this, and applied it over non-exfoliated lips and didn't find it drew too much attention to any dry patches.  It applied evenly, but did feel a little chalky on the lips without a quick slick of lip balm underneath.

The colour is like nothing I own already; it's a bright red which definitely pulls a bright fuschia within it.  The matte formula is absolutely gorgeous, and provides opaque lips in one swipe.  I say swipe...the matte lipstick does drag a fair bit, but not enough to bother me!  The finish is beautiful, and I feel very pin up when I have this shade on!  I've tried this with the MAC Cherry Lip Liner underneath, and it's great for really defining the lips for a lip this bright.  (The swatches shown don't have Cherry underneath, so you can see the true colour of Relentlessly Red, but keep an eye out on my Instagram - I'll be sure to show it there next time!)  The colour is so bold, and I definitely would recommend a liner underneath to get a nice lip shape - you can see in my swatches that the colour has bled slightly outside of the lip, so apply carefully over a lip liner with a lip brush for perfect definition!

The wear time on this shade is literally amazing.  I intended on wearing this all day in Milan, but plans changed and I worried that my tiredness could leave me with horrific looking lips if I didn't keep up with applications.  I wore this shade all day this week, and the wear time was literally all day.  The shade didn't disappear during or after eating or drinking, and it just started to fade on me at the end of my working day.  But the fade still packed a pretty decent colour punch.  Getting this off my lips was way more of a challenge than applying it!

So if this is my fourth MAC lipstick...which do I need to try next?  Have you tried Relentlessly Red?

Beauty Comparison: A MAC Sumptuous Olive Dupe?

A few weeks ago now, I won a MAC eyeshadow on Katie's blog Sugarfixx Beauty.  I chose the shade Sumptuous Olive, as it is one I hadn't heard much about, but had once seen on a Youtube video and fell in love with the shade.  It wasn't until I had chosen it as my prize that I started to panic after seeing comparisons to Sumptuous Olive and a shade from the Wet n Wild Comfort Zone palette, which I already had...

I wanted my first MAC eyeshadow to be a shade that I didn't already own, so naturally I felt a little disheartened that I had unwittingly chosen something I supposedly already had.  Last week, my prize arrived with the postman and I was relieved to find that Sumptuous Olive is definitely not a dupe for the shade from the Comfort Zone palette.

Right...finger swatching, they do look pretty similar, I'll give you all that.  On the left we have MAC's Sumptuous Olive, and on the right is the eyelid shade from the right side of the Comfort Zone palette.  You can see though that MAC has a brown undertone to it, with a gold shimmer running through it - sort of an antique bronze?  Whereas the Wet n Wild shade definitely has a lot more green in it.

The real difference is when the shade is blended out a bit.  Believe it or not, the shade on the top of my wrist is the MAC Sumptuous Olive.  The shades are completely different when reflecting light.  In some lights, the MAC and Wet n Wild shades are similar, but what makes the MAC stand out is its ability to transform from your somewhat standard golden khaki, to a beautiful golden copper.  It's nothing like any other shade that I own, and I am so pleased with it.  If you were thinking that you would save and go for the Comfort Zone "dupe," don't - whilst I love my Comfort Zone palette, Sumptuous Olive is just perfect.

Have you been disappointed/relieved from any supposed dupes?  Does MAC or Wet n Wild get your vote?

MAC Sumptuous Olive

This...this is my first ever MAC eyeshadow.  I won a giveway over on Katies' blog, SugarFixx Beauty, where I won a MAC eyeshadow and NARS blush of my choice!  I wanted an eyeshadow that wasn't the standard 'everyone has it' and thought I'd try something I might not normally go for.  So I chose Sumptuous Olive.

Sumptuous Olive is a Veluxe Pearl eyeshadow.  I had to do a bit of research into the finishes seeing as this is my first venture, but it seems Veluxe Pearl finishes are similar to Frost finishes, but are more metallic, with a pearly shimmer rather than a full on sparkly finish.

It is described as a golden khaki, which I completely agree with.  In the pan, it looks pretty standard as a khaki shade, but once applied the colours really shine through and it's like nothing I already own.  I was so pleased, because I did have a panic after choosing it that I had something similar, but you'll have to check back tomorrow to find out what that was!

Swatched heavily on my finger, the colour seems to be a lovely metallic green with a slight golden shimmer, matching what's in the pan perfectly.  Once it has all been blended out though, the khaki green fades a bit to reveal a gorgeous brown, almost copper, undertone which reflects the green in the light!  It's so, so pretty and I absolutely love it!  The below photographs show the eyeshadow at a light intensity, as I would most often wear it, but the pigmentation is great and can be easily built up to the intensity of the swatches on my hand.  I'd most likely up it to this amount of pigmentation on an evening out, and team it with a bit more of a smokey eye to make it multidimensional.  

In the day, I'd also probably take a nice brown in the crease, but I wanted to keep my swatches simple so you can see exactly what colour you'd be getting!

The only thing I was a little disappointed in was wear time; it's not really any longer lasting than any of my other eyeshadows.  It does crease a little throughout the day, but I find that it's pigmented enough to be easy to blend back out again if that does happen!  I will admit though I don't use primer on a daily basis; I really ought to start introducing  primer into my daily routine as I do wear eyeshadow quite a lot!

What do you think of Sumptuous Olive?  What's your favourite MAC eyeshadow?

The In Flight Beauty Bag

At half past midnight tonight, I'm setting off on my travels to go to Milan.  You already know what I'm planning on wearing, so I thought I'd share what I'm taking in my bag beauty wise!  I'm only going to Milan for the day, and will be back very early Sunday morning, so all I need to take is hand luggage.  Even though my flight is only a couple of hours, my day is going to be ridiculously long - I want my make up to be in tact, and I want to be able to look fresh and awake when I land even though I'll have had pretty much zero sleep.

I'll be applying my make up last thing tonight.  It seems a bit silly really to even bother with make up that late, but I still want to look presentable when I arrive and I won't have time to be applying make up on the journey down, or in the airport, as I'll be hopefully sleeping!  I will need some touch ups though, so I've packed a small selection of bits to help me out.

First up, I've got my trusty MAC Mineralise Skin Finish in Medium.  It's got enough coverage to even out my skintone, so I won't have to pack a separate foundation.  I can also use this during the day to help get rid of any shine.  To give me a flush of colour, I've picked my Maxfactor Miracle Touch Creamy Blush in Soft Pink.  I got this as part of a gift with purchase ages ago now, and it's so handy for popping in your hand bag and gives a gorgeous, natural flush.

To make my eyes more awake, I've picked out Benefits Eye Bright.  I'll be applying this to my waterline tomorrow morning and maybe even throughout the day to help disguise the fact that I am so damn tired, and hopefully reduce any red eyes.  I've also decided to bring a mascara to lift my lashes, and open my eyes.  This one is the Covergirl Clump Crusher.

For my lips, I've picked my newest lip balm which I bought from Poundland, and it's the Blistex Orange Mango Blast.  I have the Raspberry Lemonade Blast, and it smells and tastes amazing!  Citrus scents are said to be uplifting, so I'm grasping at straws and hoping this will help me out.  It's also going to be my base for my newest MAC lipstick, Relentlessly Red.  But, more about that next week - I'm trialling wear time when I wear it tomorrow!

As my make up will be on for a lot longer than usual, I wanted to make sure I had something to take my make up off when I start my journey home.  Flights are notoriously bad for your skin, so I'll be removing my make up as soon as I get on the flight home.  I'm packing a sample of Bioderma Sensibio H2O (review here) and a few cotton pads.  As my skin will need some serious hydration, I've also packed the Bioderma Atoderm PO Zinc Creme and the Bioderma Hydrabio Serum.

I might also pop a small hand cream in my bag, but I always get worried with how much liquids I'm actually allowed on a flight...  We'll see how much room I have left in my bag!  Looking at these pictures, I've realised I'm missing one critical thing...a mirror!  Queue me running upstairs to track one down...

Are you travelling away this year?  What would you take in your In Flight Beauty Bag?

MAC See Sheer Lipstick

If you are looking for the perfect Spring/Summer lipstick...look no further, for I have found the one.  It comes in the form of MAC See Sheer, the newest lipstick to my small MAC collection.

I have had a voucher burning a hole in my purse since Christmas.  It was my Debenhams Beauty Club voucher, and I had £15 to spend - just the amount for a MAC lipstick.  Coincidence?  On their Mega Week (I used to work at Debenhams, I don't know if people outside of Debenhams call it Mega Week, but the discount across the whole store for a week when you work in Debenhams is called Mega Week and it's an all hands on deck week...anyway...) I stocked up on a few bits with my standard money, and treated myself to my third MAC lipstick with my Beauty Rewards!

I chose See Sheer, which is described as a grapefruit pink.  I think it is a perfect balance of red and orange, and seems to have a touch of brown in the bullet, but it really is so nice once applied.  See Sheer is a lustre finish, so it doesn't have a massively long wear time, and it is quite sheer, as the name suggests.  But at the same time, this colour is easily buildable so you can get a more peachy pink punch to your lips if you wanted.  It's ridiculously easy to apply, especially on the go.  Because of the lustre finish, it's not as essential to use a mirror, so just crack it out and get going.  The above photo on the lips is applied quite liberally, and the photo below shows the lipstick blotted.  If you compare the below photo to my lips in yesterdays post, you'll really see the difference as it looks very sheer below!

I have been reaching for this alot recently, and wearing it both through the day and in the evening.  It's the perfect shade for Spring and when it's on, it's really moisturising on the lips and the finish has just the right amount of shine - not too shiny, but not too matte yet you definitely know it's there.  One thing I did find though, was when this shade had worn off, it did leave my lips a little dry which is unusual as I have another lustre lipstick and that shade doesn't do that to me...maybe I was just having off day!

I actually won a MAC lipstick this week, amongst some other goodies too so expect another MAC lipstick review up soon!

What is your go to lip product?  Do you have a favourite shade from any brand I need to try?