S.O.S

i've been super busy these last few weeks with work, so unfortunately haven't had the chance to draft some nice juicy posts, they've been a little short & sweet, as i'm afraid this one will be.
I thought this week i would share with you my make-up bag essentials.
I more often that not always carry this in my make-up bag, so it's ready if i need to shoot of at a moments notice - something i've had to do a little too much for my liking this week.
It has everything i could possibly need for a nice little face of the day, & i find very easy to transfer my look from day to night.

I haven't included the brushes in this post, as at some point i'm hoping to do an indepth post about brushes & brands i love!

My make-up bag is 'see by chloe' & i've had since my 16th birthday aha, so unfortunately i doubt very much will still be available!

Right, let's do this!

Although there is not a lot in my make-up bag, a lot of the products serve more than one purpose, something that is so so important when travelling light!

PRODUCTS:

MAC studio fix fluid - i carry this in 3 shades at all times;
my actual shade, my contour shade & my highlight shade .. easily allowing me to intensify my look for a more evening look.

MAC studio fix poweder - simply to set the areas that need setting, for example under the eyes & the T-zone.

NARS 'Laguna' Bronzer - obvious reasons, i wanna be tan.

NARS 'Orgasm' Blush & MAC 'Sunbasque' Blush - personally i'm not a fan of blush, but these are both a shimmer blush & look lovely just on the top of the cheekbones, highlight & blush in one!

ILLAMASQUA 'Wolf, Obsidian, Stealth' Eyeshadow - I use these for both my eyebrows, & my eyelid, easily allowing me to darken my brows & intensify my eyes,adding a flick & highlighting under the brows, so much potential for 3 powder shadows!

RIMMEL Scandaleyes flex Mascara - a really great, everyday mascara, super if you want really thick, black lashes!

RIMMEL '700 nude delight & 04 Kate' Lipstick - nude & a deep purple once again, easy for amping it up for an evening.

What are your make-up bag must haves?

Toodles!
RWxo

baby, you're a firework.

Last week was bonfire night, which is one of my favourite days of the year. To me, it let's me know Winter, more importantly Christmas is on it's way!
I live in the Countryside, & every year my next door neighbours have a huge bonfire in their field, which is so nostalgic as we've been doing it ever since we were born.
All the parents get together & get merry (slightly more than merry) & all the kids reminisce about the good old days growing up. it's perfect & i feel so lucky i had the upbringing i did in the area i did with the people i did, truly truly blessed.
Anyway, as i didn't post last week, i thought i'd do a quick one before i get back to blogging normally & show you a quick face of the day from the bonfire & the products i used!
Very golden, bronze which i think suits the whole theme of bonfire night if i do says so myself.

A super super simple look!

 

PRODUCTS USED:

FACE

NARS 'pro prime' pore refining primer

MAC studio fix fluid

GRAFTOBIAN Concealer

MAC studio fix fluid - contour

MAC studio fix powder

NARS 'Laguna' bronzer

EYES

MAC 'woodwinked' - Lid

MAC 'omega' blend out

MAC 'blacktrack' fluidline

MAC 'defiantly feline' superslick liquid liner - metallic bronze liner above the black liner

RIMMEL scandaleyes flex mascara

EYEBROWS

ILLAMASQUA 'wolf' eye shaodow

ILLAMASQUA 'obsidian' eyeshadow

MAC 'blacktrack' fluidline

MAC studio finish concealer NC15 to sharpen.

LIPS

RIMMEL lasting finish liner '047 cappuccino'

RIMMEL moisture renew '700 nude delight'

BRUSHES
All brushes used were from CROWN BRUSH, they guys over at crown are really nice! & the brushes themselves are amazing quality & work like a dream, not to mention super super affordable! I cannot recommend them enough!

Toodles.

RWxo

P.S  I'm thinking Fridays post will be a monthly favourites!

We can live like Jack and Sally if we want...

Halloween is here! It appears a lot of people have already celebrated last weekend. WHY!!

I was hoping to be out on the town dressed as Jack and Sally with my love this weekend but unfortunately this will not be the case haha *sob*

I have been practicing all week my favorite Halloween ideas and here are the few I've done so far.

.

A rough version of Emily from Tim Burton's the corpse bride. Tim Burton is without a shadow one of my favorite film director /writers . Without the wig and dress my attempt isn't at it's full potential but I really enjoyed doing it. I used blue face paint, highlighted with white eyeshadow and used navy blue eyeshadow to define my eyes and contour my cheeks. The rest of the detail I used black gel eyeliner, white liner inside my waterline and a strip of eyelashes I had knocking about. I didn't have all the jazzy products to blot out my eyebrows so I just covered them the best I could.

I saw a lot of doll makeup all over Instagram and Pinterest I wanted to try something a bit different and less sinister... The eyes are brilliant and look really effective but only when your eyes are closed obviously, you'd have to get some black contacts if you wanted  this to look amazing as a Halloween makeup. I did my makeup as usual. My eyebrows I incorporated into my big eyes... And I drew some crazy ones just higher up. All the black detail I used eyeliner again I find it stays on better and I used white and blue facepaint for the iris and white of the eye.

I applied foundation all over my lips to make them look pale and used my brightest pink lippy and basically created a little love heart over my lips to make my mouth look teeny tiny and doll like. 

My alien came out as well as this by pure fluke. I had no facepaint at the time so I used the lightest foundation I've got, and eyeliner. This is contouring at it's most extreme I really enjoyed experimenting, and people still don't believe that's my face.

I used dark brown eyeshadow to contour my nose and make it look really thin I did the same with my cheeks and then added the black detail everywhere else using eyeliner, the creases round my eyes I used darker foundations, and the white I used eyeliner with white eyeshadow  over the top to make it look more intense. 

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all go out looking weird and beastly.

Sorry there are no pictorials there just isn't enough hours in the day :)

Ta ta for now

~M

sisters, twins, great aunts?

eyebrows.
For some people, the sheer thought of doing your brows sends chills down your spine..

Forget contouring, highlighting all that complicated stuff, in my opinion, eyebrows are the most rewarding thing you can do to help better the structure of your face.
There are many different shapes & sizes of brows, but today i'm going to give you a demonstration on how I get my brows looking like they do!

Okay so, to decide the shape of your brows, I recommend these three steps, simply get a pencil or something thin & do as the picture shows!
This decides where your brows should start, arch & end! voila! done in 10 seconds.
Once you have a basic idea of the shape of your brows, mark the three points if it makes it easier for you!
There are numerous ways to fill in your eyebrows, all giving different effects/finishes & textures.

1) eyebrow pencil - These tend to be quite wax based pencils & I find more often than not, are better for a more defined brow, they can give quite a natural finish if you brush them through, but because of the pencils being quite waxy, they are a bit of pain to budge & blend.

2) eyebrow wax kits - These tend to be a palette made up of two powder shadows (one light & one slightly darker) & a wax. The aim is to apply the wax through the brows, then go over with the powder shadow, these palettes tend to set quite quick so you have to be quite quick with them!

3) powder eyeshadow - this is my preferred method of doing eyebrows, it can give you both a natural finish & a strong defined one.  Because the powder has nothing necessarily to cling to, it's very easy to blend through & brush out! So any mistakes are incredibly easy to correct! Also, because of the vast range of eyeshadow shades on the market, it will be nearly impossible NOT  to find a shade that matches your hair!

4) gel eyeliner - This is an extra point, & not one many people would consider to use, but more often that not I use this product in my brows, mostly the tail of my brow, but sometimes throughout to give the impression of more hair! it's great for getting a really defined, strong tail & honestly cannot remember how I used to do my brows before this step! gel eyeliners come in a variety of colours, not just black, they're now available in various shades of browns so don't look nearly as harsh as you would probably expect.  this step is a life saver on nights out, amongst the dancing & the sweat, your brows will not budge, not even a little! I highly recommend this if you feel your brow routine needs spicing up a little!

step by step to prefect brows! 

 products used : 

illamasqua's eyeshadow in 'wolf' 

maybellines eye studio liner in '01 black'

illamasqua's concealer in '105' 

brushes:
mac 212 brush, everyday minerals angled brush, zoeva 316 'classic liner' brush. 

1 & 2. using the 212 brush & wolf eyeshadow map out both the bottom of the eyebrow & the arch of the eyebrow, making sure the two meet at the tail.

3. still using the 212 but adding no more product, fill in the brows, feathering towards the front.

4. using the classic liner brush & maybellines gel liner, define the tail of the brow, feathering in towards the middle of the brow.

5. now to super neaten the brows, use the concealer, I'd reccommend in a few shades lighter, & go around the brow, sharpening the tail & achieving an overall more polished brow! 
& the finished look!

probably the highest amount of compliments I get on both my own face & my clients is how they love my/their eyebrows, don't fret too much on getting them identical, symmetry comes with practice, aslong as you have the basic shape near enough for both of them, the rest will come in time!

as the renowned saying goes; 'eyebrows are sisters, not twins'  .. but they shouldn't be great aunts either! ;)

RWxo

Capsule Makeup Bag

In a perfect world, there would be a makeup tree at the bottom on the garden, with leaves full of all the latest products  our hearts desire.

*POP *

That right there is me bursting my own bubble! 

So back to the real world ...  Fortunately it is possible to achieve many looks with a relatively small amount of makeup...

My basics

- Foundation
- Powder compact
- Bronzer
- Blush

3 eyeshadows
- Beige shimmer
- Mid brown
- Dark Charcoal

- Mascara
- Eye liner Pencil and Gel/Liquid eyeliner
(I would have a softer pencil, that could double up for the brows)

- Favorite Lipstick
- Lip liner
- Nude or clear gloss.

So with a flawless base using your favorite foundation, you can go from pinky blush cheeks, nude lips with a little shimmer under your bottom lashes for a day look. To a feline flick complimented by a shocking red lipstick for a striking night look. Or really go all out and don the smokey eye with a shiney lip gloss and a lovely sun kissed complexion.

Over the next couple of weeks after these unfortunate blemishes have disappeared from my face, I'm going to do a face of the day ( FOTD ) using only my capsule makeup bag.
I will be posting them on my own page shortly. I'll try and include some step by step pictorials, that show the brushes I'm using.

Don't forget, even the best artist in the world would struggle on a uneven, neglected canvas. Look after your skin! Try and keep a good skin care regime, exfoliate once a week if possible to keep that fresh faced glow. And PLEASE drink your 7 glasses of water a day, we can totally tell when your telling porkies you know, the skin tells us everything.

Ta Ta for now
~ M