Saturday Makeup

Hmm, cascading hair, smokey brown eye make-up and brown lips – seems like I went for a bit of glamour with my makeup today for no particular reason! I think this make-up is perfect for Saturdays though as the colours are pretty subtle for wearing during the day but there’s still enough depth to give a bit of added drama for going out at night.

This is a bit of a “bargain” look as most of the products I used were from low cost brands (although a bit of MAC did sneak in there….)

On Eyes: Essence eyeshadow in Light the Fire, Place! blended with MAC Extra Dimension Eyeshadow in Havana in the outer corner; Essence Sun Club Gel Eyeliner in BBC All Night Brown; MUA Mega Volume mascara in brown.

On lips: B. lipstick in Orchid

Germany 2012 – The Rest!

So here it is, only 4 months after my trip – a post on all the beauty goodies that I picked up when I was in Hamburg way back in Dec!

P2 Moisturizing Ultra Gel (cuticle conditioner) and Base + Care Coat.

P2 is a German drugstore own brand that have some great products at amazing prices. Both these products cost around EUR2 each and this is actually the second bottle of the base coat that I’ve bought. I bought my first one a few years ago and thought it was so good that I used it all up, so I was very happy that I had an opportunity to restock.

I haven’t actually used the Moisturizing Ultra Gel that much yet although I should because the reason that I bought it is that I suffer from dry cuticles. So I just have to hope that it lives up to its claim of being “intensiv feuchtigkeitsspendend” (intensely moisturising). I love how it looks in the bottle too with its tiny floating vitamin E dispensing red beads.

I discovered a new brand of nail polish on this trip in a pharmacists (or drugstore, if you prefer!) called Budni. The Blackbird line of nail polishes costs EUR2.49 per bottle and is shelved in displays that look like birdhouses – cute! I’ve worn both these colours several times now and can heartily recommend them. You can see my swatches of the chocolate brown I Need You here and my swatches of the Azure blue Free As A Bird here.

I also picked up a couple of random items from some limited edition autumn/winter collections: a peachy coloured cream blush by the brand Catrice in the shade Rose’s Wood (Siberian Call collection) and a silver lipgloss again by P2 (Keep the Secret collection).

The lipgloss is amazing; it’s really thick and pigmented and can be worn either as a very sheer layer to add a subtle glow to the lips or in a thicker layer as in my swatch above for opaque coverage. Definitely my kind of lipgloss.

The blush was a bit of an impulse buy as I’m not usually a fan of drugstore cream blushes but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the longevity of this one so far and I’ve discovered that the subtle shade is the perfect way to add a touch of colour to cheeks without overwhelming the face if worn with stronger eye or lip looks.

Next up, my personal beauty obsession – eye make-up! I bought: 3 powder eyeshadows, 2 eyeshadow bases, an eyeshadow stick and a mascara. Phew!

Above: Emporio Armani Eyes to Kill eyeshadow in shade 1 Blast of Blue (reduced from EUR30 to EUR15, hurray! Purchased at the Gaensemarkt Parfumerie, Hamburg)

Catrice Instensif’Eye Wet and Dry eyeshadow in 050 Lunch at Tiffany’s, around EUR4

Essence Home Sweet Home LE collection eyeshadow in 02 Light the Fire, Place! ca. EUR2

I do like the shade but I have to admit that I mainly picked this up because of the super cute knitted pattern!

Above, left to right: Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill in Blast of Blue, Catrice Intesif’Eye in Lunch at Tiffany’s, Essence eyeshadow in Light the Fire, Place!

My favourite shadow is the Catrice one; it’s wonderfully pigmented and easy to apply and blend, and it’s such an easy colour to wear. I got plenty of wear out of it through the winter, but I haven’t worn it so much lately as my attention has turned to brighter colours for spring and summer.

I haven’t actually worn the Armani (above) much at all, despite it being a lovely colour, because it’s very deep and intense and more an evening/night time colour for me and I haven’t gone out that much lately. I am going to make more effort to wear it though as it is definitely one of the most expensive single eyeshadows I own, yet somehow it still seemed to be an absolute bargain as I bought it as it was half price!

Above: Astor Volume Diva Black Velvet Mascara (ca EUR10), P2 Smokey Eye Stylist automatic cream eyeshadow stick (ca EUR3)

Again I did just buy this mascara for the beautiful packaging (but in my defence, I also had happy memories of good Astor mascaras that I owned when I lived in Germany years ago). The metallic-effect lid has beautiful "carvings” of roses in it.

I almost like this mascara – the packaging is beautiful and it comes with just the kind of wand that works well on my stubby lashes – a sparse, narrow wand that simply dumps loads of product onto the lashes for a nice volumising effect, but unfortunately this mascara smudges on me, so it’s never going to make it into my favourites.

I don’t even know why I bought this eyeshadow stick, but it found itself into my shopping basket all the same. I think I must have gotten to the point where I was just grabbing products! I do use eyeshadow sticks and pencils but they’re usually in light colours, and I use them as eyeshadow bases. I also use this as an eyeshadow base, so I can’t really testify as to how it holds up when worn on its own, but it does do a nice job of keeping my eyeshadow in place so I have no complaints. It also works well as an eyeliner – you can create a very thick line or use the in-built sharpener (pull the silver end off the pencil) to create a fine point to draw thinner lines. Oh and I should mention that it has a lovely creamy consistency so it doesn’t drag across the lids as you apply it at all.

And finally, the last two products of my somewhat random selection are two eyeshadow bases, again both by the brand P2.

Keep the Secret was a limited edition collection from Autumn 2012 – the silver lipgloss pictured above was also from this collection. Unfortunately the best thing about the Desirable Eye Base is the rather solid feeling glass packaging, as I’ve found it to be a bit of a flop as far as being an eyeshadow base is concerned. It reminds me a lot of Maybelline dream mousse foundation in both its colour and consistency, and didn’t seem to make any difference to the longevity of my eye make-up at all, which was sliding around all over my lids after just a few hours when I tried it over this.

I have higher hopes for the P2 Perfect Eyes! base which has somewhat simpler packaging but a plethora of positive reviews on the blogosphere already. However, I’m yet to give it a thorough road test myself. It’s part of the permanent collection though so I should definitely test it out before my next trip to Germany so that I know whether I need to restock or not!

Some Eyeliners for Spring

Bored of black eyeliner? 

I am at the moment, so here are the alternative colours that I have been wearing lately.

Clockwise from top left: Fashion Secret Gel Eyeliner in Cute Route by Fashionista (around £6), Precision Ink in Scribe by Illamasqua (around £17.50), Sun Club Gel Eyeliner in BBC All Night Brown by Esssence (around 3 euros) , Metallic Liquid Eyeliner in No. 6 by Barry M (around £4.50)

Cute Route is a bright lilac, with a rather nifty brush built in to the lid.

I actually think the brush is quite good and it’s nice to get a brush with the product for two reasons: you don’t have to buy one if you don’t already have one, and it makes the product much more travel friendly (and after all, liquid eyeliners always come with an integrated brush).  This eyeliner is quite creamy and can be used all over the lid as an eyeshadow but worn that way it creases quite quickly on my eyes so I think it actually performs better as an eyeliner.  It lasts all day on me if worn as an eyeliner, although it is the worst performer in terms of longevity out of the selection of four. All in all I wouldn’t buy this product in a very common colour like brown or black, especially not at £6 which could buy a very good quality eyeliner from another brand, but the range does have some interesting colours so they might be worth checking out if you’re looking for a more unusual shade.

Scribe is Illamasqua’s newest shade of liquid eyeliner and came out with their recent Spring Summer 2012 collection called Human Fundamentalism.  It is a very expensive product but I purchased it for being such an unusual shade – glossy opaque white.  I don’t begrudge the £17.50 for the quality of the product but I do feel that you only get a tiny tiny amount for the price – only 1.8ml.  I think that either the price could easily have been reduced or the quantity increased as I think I will use this up quite quickly (I wear liquid eyeliner very often so it’s one of the make-up products that I do tend to use up).

The product is quite opaque although as you will see in the swatches at the bottom if you are drawing a thin line you may need two coats to reach full opacity.  That doesn’t really bother me though as I have a few eyeliners that require two coats and the product lasts all day on me without flaking or smudging even with two coats. The formula is water-resistant but not waterproof which is great as it doesn’t run when I get watery eyes but also it can be removed easily at the end of the day with some normal make-up remover (unlike so many waterproof products that have to be removed with oil).  The applicator is also my favourite kind for liquid eyeliner; a semi-flexible felt tip that makes drawing flicks and wings a breeze.

I bought the brown gel eyeliner when I was in Germany last year for the Eurovision Song Contest.  There are a few drug store cosmetics brands that are available in Germany that aren’t widely available or available at all in the UK, including this brand, Essence which is available in several European countries and America but not the UK to the best of my knowledge.  This eyeliner was part of their limited edition Summer 2011 collection but they are always putting out new limited edition collections so if you come across one of their stands it’s likely you’ll find some interesting products similar to this.  I do like this eyeliner; it hasn’t dried out at all since I bought it, it has a smooth consistency that’s easy to apply, and I like the golden shimmer the colour has to it.  My only complaint is that it smells very synthetic and chemically, but at least once it’s on my eyes I don’t have to smell it!  I’ve tried some eyeshadows from Essence as well and I have to say that they are very good quality given their low price point.

I like to apply gel eyeliners with a rounded brush like the one below.  It’s just a synthetic haired brush that I got in an unbranded large brush set from e-bay about four years ago.  I find this shape easiest to control for both thin and thicker lines.

This metallic pink eyeliner by BarryM is such an interesting colour.  In the close up below  you can see that it’s actually a micro-glitter suspended in a gel, but the glitter particles are so tiny they give a metallic shimmer effect on the skin.  The applicator is a bit hard but it’s still flexible enough to draw both thick and thin lines.  When this shade is worn as an eyeliner it just seems to light up the eyes somehow…I really love the effect.  Definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in a slightly different kind of eyeliner – and for such an unusual shade I think it’s a total bargain at less than a fiver.

Finally here are some swatches on my skin.  I think it’s a nice little colour selection for spring and it makes a nice change to my usual black, blue and green eyeliners.