What was the last…?

I thought it’d be fun to do a post like this once a month or so where I just do one overview post of the most recent additions to my make-up collection. The main reason is actually to help myself figure out if I’m getting good use out of the things that I’ve been buying, but hopefully it will also be interesting/useful to post a whole bunch of mini-reviews in one go!

Soooo here’s a photo of my newest make-up babies.

Eyeshadow: I’m such an eyeshadow fan that I couldn’t really remember the last one I bought so I’ve included three. One is the MUA Dusk Till Dawn palette and there is an Accessorize baked duo in Venus and Look Beauty triple hit eyeshadow trio in Party Fever. I haven’t used any of these as much as I should have so that’s definitely been interesting for me to realise and I will try to dig these out more. It’s also interesting to note that the duo and trio both contain very similar shades so they’re clearly favourites of mine at the moment for some sub-conscious reason. I think the deep purple in both will be a great staple colour for autumn.

Mascara: Scandaleyes Show Off Mascara by Rimmel

I’m always interested in trying out new high street mascaras when they launch and I thought this one looked pretty cool. I know the bright pink won’t be everybody’s cup of tea but I quite like the packaging. Unfortunately it doesn’t do much for my lashes as the formula just doesn’t want to build up on my stumpy, sparse lashes. However I’m not worried as I will put this aside while I finish off my current mascaras and when it’s dried out and thickened up a bit I’m sure it will actually perform much better for me.

Eyepencil: MUA Intense Eyeliner in Royal Blue

I bought this because 1) I thought the colour was really cool and 2) it was only £1 – wow! That’s even more impressive when you consider that it even comes with its own sharpener in the lid. It’s really soft and intense when applied and also easy to smudge and blend out but I can’t actually remember if I’ve worn it or not yet so I can’t comment on its longevity – eek!  Another one to make more effort to use…

Foundation: Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation

I don’t actually buy foundation that often so I got this one months ago now but I haven’t needed to buy one since. I tend to have two or three foundations on the go at once and I only really wear it at weekends (I stick to tinted moisturiser during the week just to save time in the mornings). I really like this foundation which I use when I want a dewy finish. It’s quick thick so I only need one pump for my whole face and it’s light to medium coverage.

Blush: MAC mineralize blush in Solar Ray and Mineralize Skin Finish in Star Wonder

I bought these in July and I’ve used them loads so even though they were really expensive I’m happy that I’m getting my money’s worth out of them.  There are also loads of pictures of them on my blog now already as I keep harping on about them and featuring them in my looks posts! The only issue I have is that Solar Ray is a bit powdery and I have trouble getting it to last on my skin which is combination to oily. I have not made a dent in these yet so I think they will last for ages. In fact, I’m probably never going to see the bottom of them as I have so many blushes and love rotating them depending on the weather (yes, really!!)

Lipsticks: No. 7 Stay Perfect lipstick in Glace and Stay Perfect Lip Lacquer in Sugar Mauve

I haven’t really worn the lipstick yet but I wore the lip duo to a party on Saturday and it definitely did the business, staying on through a two-course Indian meal and two pints and a lemonade! It’s a great long lasting lip colour, but it does take ages to apply so I never wear it during the week, although I really want my lipstick to be long lasting when I’m at work. The gloss is quick and easy to apply though as it has a really good brush applicator so I would definitely be able to apply that during the week on my way to work. I have high hopes for the traditionally shaped lipstick therefore, but I have a couple of older ones that I’m trying to finish up first. I bought it as it was on half-price offer but I’m going to avoid buying any more lippies until I get through a few of the ones I have.

That’s it for this month. I feel like it was actually very useful to go through my make-up in this way and I actually learnt a lot so I will hopefully be repeating this exercise very soon!

Keeping Cool

Phew, it sure has been hot in London this weekend!  There was no option but to go for cool colours all over my face today.

I used some old favourites and some new products.  It’s a pretty uncomplicated look but I think the result is still quite striking and cute.

First up I swept a shimmery lilac all over my lids then applied a turquoise gel eyeliner.  The eyeshadow was a mixture of the two lightest shades from my new Look Beauty Triple Hit eyeshadow trio in Party Fever and the eyeliner was one of the new MUA gel eyeliners in the shade Tribe. The product comes with an integrated brush in the lid – you just have to remove the protective sticker and click it together.

This eyeshadow feels absolutely massive in its packaging and you do get a generous 10g for £7.50. The eyeshadows are quite smooth and pigmented and easy to apply and blend.  My only slight bugbear is that all the shades are shimmery – very shimmery – so you do end up with a very shiny and reflective result if you decide to use all the shades together to create a smokey eye. I can see myself using these shades individually or blended together as one colour to create a wash of block colour across my lids.

The gel eyeliner is a lovely colour and I quite like the fact that they have kept the packaging small and the price low (£3) as gel eyeliners have a habit of drying out long before you manage to use them all up.  The consistency is soft and creamy and it’s very forgiving when you apply it so it’s perfect for beginners.  It’s also long-lasting and easily lasts all day on me.The integrated brush is actually quite good too, even though the tip of mine was a bit bent.

I actually bought another shade of this eyeliner at the same time although I’m not wearing it in the photo above.  It’s a lovely sparkling grey in the shade Fairground. It has the same consistency and longevity as Tribe so I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re interested in gel eyeliners.

I used some blue mascara today as I wanted something more colourful than black.  I used the Body Shop super volume mascara which I think is fantastic and a product that I definitely don’t use as much as I should.

In keeping with my cool theme I went for this cool toned pink blush in the shade Sakura by MAC.  It was a limited edition from spring 2012 and a shade that I usually reserve for spring but it seemed to go well with the cool tones I used on my eyes. I’ve featured it several times on my blog already and you can click on the “MAC” label in my side bar to read the other entries.

Limeade

So far this month this fizzy green eyeshadow has been my favourite colour – it seems to strike the perfect balance when it’s too hot and light for deep colours but not quite hot enough to go totally tropical with my make-up colour palette.  At weekends I like to pair it with bright pink – here I’m wearing pink on my cheeks and lips.

The green that I used is from the Sleek Monaco palette, which was a limited edition release (part of the Mediterranean collection) last May.  I didn’t actually use it that much last year and just started re-discovering it this spring. It has some great colours in it and I’ve been getting good use out of it over the past few weeks. The green is light, bright and shimmery and I think it looks great as a block colour across the lids paired with a generous flick of black eyeliner. It lasts all day on me on top of a primer.

The eyeliner that I used was “Flirty Flick” by Look Beauty, a brand that I’d never actually tried before.  I bought one of their trio eyeshadows in Superdrug this week as there was a special offer to get an eyeliner free.  The normal price is £5.

The liner has a nice formula that’s really long lasting, but I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners as the applicator is a very stiff felt tip that’s quite difficult to control.

On my cheeks I’m wearing my favourite blush of the moment, a mineralize skin finish by MAC from their summer 2012 “Heavenly Creature” collection in the shade Star Wonder.  I was umming and ahhing over whether to get anything from the collection as basically MAC is pretty expensive, but eventually I bought this in Duty Free when I went on holiday a couple of weeks back as it was a good few quid cheaper there.

The pattern is kindof weird but cool – outer space inspired swirls of raspberry, light pink and gold.  I think this would suit a wide range of warm-toned complexions as I’m pretty pale but I’ve also used this on friends with medium skin tones and it looked great on them too. I sweep it across my cheekbones with a duo-fibre stippling brush for a light pink shine, but the colour is very buildable for more intensity.

Finally on my lips I’m wearing a product from Revlon’s Just Bitten range, the duo-ended lipstain pen + balm in the colour Passion.

You’re supposed to colour your lips in with the pen then apply the balm on top to moisturise and add shine.  The colour is very long lasting, but I’m not a big fan of this product. It’s actually quite difficult to get an even colour and I don’t like the fact that you have to add a lipbalm on top to get any moisture. You can see the finish a bit more clearly in the swatch on my arm below than on my lips.

There are loads of pen-style lipstains on the market from various brands at the moment but I can’t see myself buying any more any time soon.  I did pick up a completely different type of lip product this weekend though to show soon that I am excited by – watch this space, pics + descriptions will be coming to Chilled Pink Grapefruit very soon!