Megara Makeup Video

Photo How-To part 2

Brows

MAC Moisture Cover Concealer NW25

Dot under eyes and blend with ring finger

Sleek Blush in Life's A Peach

Photo How-To

This is a photo tutorial showing you how I create a daytime look - VERY pic heavy so most of it is after the jump. Go easy on me as there is a totally bare-faced picture in here....

NO MAKEUP AT ALL

MAC Pro Longwear NW25

Sleek Curious iDivine Palette

 I bought this palette at "Cheveux" on Williamson Street in Liverpool. They sell discontinued and discounted Sleek products and I picked up this iDivine palette for only £4.88! It's a shimmer palette with a mixture of colours, darks and neutrals. It's really pretty and pigmented - I wasn't expecting much as Sleek palettes haven't always been such good quality. The finishes range from high shimmer to satin. There is a fair amount of fallout, even when swatching, but I'm going to let them off because it's the really soft texture of these shadows which I have the feeling is going to make them really really easy to blend. The colours are brilliant, and I am so excited to use that yellow! 

Hope you enjoy this and if you get a chance, do check out "Cheveux". They sell mostly Afro hair products but a small amount of cosmetics too, and all at very reasonable prices. 

FOTD: Sleek Respect iDivine Palette

This look was basically an excuse for me to test out the sampler of Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation that I got the other day when I was in town. I also got a sample of their brand new Maestro foundation, but I think I might film using that because based on testing it out at the counter, I think it's going to be special!
Amazingly, my skin is absolutely awful today and I've managed to totally conceal it. I did this by first going over any red blemishes (there were quite a few) with Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Bedaub, a mint green which is great for cancelling out redness. I then went over this with the VERY pale Illamasqua Rich Liquid Foundation in 115. I don't know if this has always been too pale for me or if I have magically gone three shades darker, but this foundation (that I used to use a lot) was basically coming out white on me. However, I just wanted some extra coverage on my problem areas. After this I used the GA sample - which was very generous, I'll definitely get another few uses out of it - all over the face, dotting an extra layer on places I was worried about. It feels soft and pleasant on the skin and just melts in. It does seem to smell like emulsion paint, but given that my skin looks that THAT ^ I'll let it off.

Eyes are pretty fun today, using O'Jays and James Brown from the Respect palette. O'Jays was patted all over the lid and blended. I then ran James Brown through the crease and above nearing the browbone, blending a lot. To lighten the effect closer to the browbone I put a tiny amount of Urban Decay Half Baked on my blending brush as I blended it upwards, and dotted some of it into the inner corners of my eyes.

Lips are lots of balm (I'm dehydrated!) and a tiny amount of Chanel Rouge Allure in Lover, just enough to give my lips a little more pigment.

Enjoy!

Accessorize Merged Eyeshadow - 9 Cosmic Rays

Hello!

This was free in Superdrug's 3for2 on cosmetics deal, but normally priced at £3.95. It's a 'merged' eyeshadow which is probably slang for "a cheap rip-off of MAC Mineralize". It's called "Cosmic Rays" and is actually, against all odds, a really nice eyeshadow. Smooth and pigmented, but very glittery so beware of fallout. 

Close up for shimmery goodness!

Top swatch using mostly green
Bottom swatch using mostly gold

Sleek & PPQ Shangri-La Collection - iDivine Respect Palette

Here's some beautiful swatches for you guys: this palette is amazing. It's a brilliant mixture of darks, pale neutrals and red-oranges. Basically I have been eyeing this for quite a while because it combines my two loves: Motown and makeup. The shade names are right up my street and they're properly amusing. So this is a mostly picture post because I think this palette MOSTLY speaks for itself... with a couple of notable exceptions...

There's a nice mix of mattes and shimmers here,  seven mattes and five shimmers. I actually quite like that there's more mattes than shimmer as it will force me to experiment with them a little more! With five very soft neutral matte shades ranging from white to cream, taupe and soft beige-brown. The texture is gorgeous but these are a little sheer for my liking. I'm sure - if they're anything like the other Sleek shadows - they're pretty buildable though, so let's not worry!

The black, bright pink and dark aubergine matte shades are just perfect: gorgeous texture and highly pigmented. LOVE THESE. It's gonna be smoky eye central up in here, let me tell you that. I looked into Topshop today and everything was plum and gold, so I'm gonna do a lovely eye with this palette based on that mix of colours.

 The shimmers are like any Sleek shimmery shadow: PERFECT. I love them. I literally don't think there is a better drugstore formula eyeshadow out there, and at £7.99 for 12, you're not gonna get much cheaper. 

So, the shimmers. Well, aside from the fact it's named after Otis Redding, which guarantees me loving it... OTIS RED DUDE. LIKE SERIOUSLY. RED SHIMMER. Where has this been all my life??? And Aretha Orange? Oh man. In case you can't tell, I am totally enamoured of this palette and I will not apologise for being majorly freaking excited :D  

Gladys White - James Brown
Roberta Black - Vandellas

 To shorthand it: go to Superdrug - or www.sleek.com - and buy this. Right now. You won't regret it. If you're scared of brights, you can use the matte neutrals as a pale wash of colour along the lid, along with some James Brown in the crease (JAMES BROWN IN THE CREASE PAHAHA) and use a bright as a liner with a narrow, stiff brush. Oh I could try and talk sense for a little while...but I cannot. This is so freaking beautiful. Just buy it. Go on. I won't tell anyone. 

Shalamar - Count Basi Beige
Cameo Cream - Motown Mink

Aretha Orange - Otis Red
O'Jays - New Jack Pink

CK One Color Cosmetics - Counter Review

On Tuesday I had some stuff to do in town (more info coming soon...!) and while I was wandering through I went to Debenham's to take a look at the beauty counters. After swatching a few Bare Escentuals Ready shadows - which are beautiful - I noticed a brand new Calvin Klein cosmetics counter. I asked the MUA if there was a price list and was told that whilst no price list was available, they were offering absolutely free makeovers that day. So I sat down on one of those silly little stools and got my make up done for free! What a nice surprise. As I took a couple of snaps and had a really brilliant chat to Lauren, who did my make up, I thought I'd write up a little blog post about it. I think beauty counters are what put a lot of people off really loving make-up: between the uppity staff and the array of products with little explanation, as well as pushy women on commission, it can be a bit of a nightmare. Luckily CK One was definitely an exception.

The first product we talked about was foundation: I am a very fussy girl when it comes to base. I told Lauren I needed to start using products that weren't as heavy as I'd used in the past. She told me to try ck one's 3in1 face makeup in shade 200, fair. I was more than a little skeptical about a product offering sheer-to-medium coverage and built-in serum and primer. I have fairly oily skin and a very uneven skintone and didn't think this would do much for me. However, buffed in with a foundation brush I found this to be really comfortable on the skin and giving enough coverage so that my natural skin shone through - but only where we wanted it to! I really liked this and even better, it was still firmly in place that night after being fixed with airlight pressed powder. Got this applied at 11am, and when I went to remove it at 11pm, it was definitely still going strong.

Eyes we left alone as I had done them that morning - Urban Decay Roach, Smog and Baked - but my brows were refreshed somewhat with brow pencil & gel duo in 'wily brunette'. This was a brilliant product with a wedge-shaped waxy pencil on one end, and a sheer gel with a spoolie applicator at the other.

Face was given some serious warmth and shimmer which I love. The cream & powder blusher duo in 700 happiness - a lovely coral pink with a golden brown shimmer side - was applied and blended liberally all over the apples of my cheeks and up the cheekbones. I would never have a) used a cream product here or b) used so much of it so it was brilliant to have someone test out something new. I told Lauren I totally trusted her and let her do whatever she felt best. I definitely had a lot more dewiness and 'life' to my face than usual and as I've said it lasted very well. Some skin illuminator in 200 warm was also applied for a gold highlight on the tops of my cheekbones, browbones and cupid's bow.

Finally the lips - Lauren layered pure color lipstick in 310 apology underneath lipgloss in 500 mad for a really vampy lip.

A final word on the products: we used a small sample of the line on my face for this look, but Lauren was kind enough to talk me through the other products. Pricing was pretty much on a par with MAC, with some products coming up a lot cheaper - the eyeshadow bases which come in several shades are only £11, and the nail polishes only £9. CK One aren't selling brushes, as they feel it would be difficult for them to really innovate in this area within their price range. I totally respect this: brushes are a difficult market that is basically dominated by a few brands and it seems pretty pointless to me for lines to keep bringing out the same basic seven brushes time and time again. The focus for CK One is on multi-functional, space-saving and efficient products, and I think that really shows. Products like the blusher duos could work all over the face, and the eyeshadows came mostly in duos, trios and quads, making it easy to create a look with only one pan. Packaging is sleek and tidy for all products. The items that impressed me the most were definitely the double-ended brow product - why nobody has created that pencil before is a mystery to me - and the 3in1 face make-up, which incorporates serum and primer to give a long-lasting finish.

All in all a brilliant experience, and a brand that I will definitely be looking to in the future.