Blush and Contour Basics

3 Step Smoky Eye Video

Pushing The Boundaries Of Blending

Because I still haven't unpacked all my make up (there is nowhere for it to go!!!) I am having to trawl through my stash every morning when I want to put my face on, which is having the unforeseen advantage of me finding products I haven't used for ages, or have never used, and giving them a go. Today's look is the product of me thinking "hey, how about I give cream eyeshadow a try?" I have never had any inclination to use it before, and the only two I had were a dark purple from Illamasqua's sale, and a mint green from Illamasqua's Fundamental palette. So, because I'm that kind of girl, I decided to use them both at once in a look. I actually initially tried this last night, but the colours were too different to blend properly so I got it a little more the way I wanted to this morning.

I started with Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed as always, and over that, used a tiny angled brush to apply Illamasqua Debauch cream shadow (an aubergine purple) over the lid and winging out as you can see it in the picture. In the crease I patted Illamasqua Bedaub (the similarity in the two names is really freaking me out) cream pigment using my index finger. This was actually a really pretty look alone, but it was starting to crease and smudge just while I was sat down doing my face, so I decided to layer up with powder shadow too. I used Urban Decay Jet, a dark shimmery purple from the Black Palette, on top of the purple cream. I used a tiny tiny brush (Sephora Classic Smudge Brush) and really packed it on because the glitter is beautiful and I wanted to make sure it was visible! Originally I used Wet'n'Wild Cool as a Cucumber over Bedaub but it was just...too green. So this morning I thought I'd take it down and make a little easier to blend by using MAC's Vex, which is an amazing colour, basically a silvery base but with green and pink duochrome. I used Sephora's Classic Crease Brush to blend Vex down into Debauch and I really liked how it softened the look and made it a little more daytime friendly. 

I took this picture to show that I'm experimenting with a look that's much dewier and less flat and matte than I usually go for. This is NARS Orgasm/Laguna used as blush and contour, but with Benefit Watt's Up! highlighting the top of my cheekbones and down either side of my nose. I also used a paler foundation on top of my usual base, applied with a lip brush, to highlight in the centre of my forehead and along my cheekbones. Lips were Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp Lipgloss in Coral, which is my current go-to gloss. I don't use clear gloss because I have uneven pigmentation in my lips, but this is sheer enough to be very natural whilst evening out the colour of my lips. 

Hope you enjoy!

Alison xx

Jewelled Manicure

Illamasqua Charisma topped with nail gems from the pound shop.

Naked and Dramatic (+Tutorial!)

I love this look: this eye forms the basis of my 'everyday' wear but yesterday I ramped things up with an amazing Illamasqua Intense Lipgloss in Temper. I've always struggled with this one - it's very sticky and almost -too- pigmented! But yesterday I thought I might be applying too much so used about half of what I would usually and applied with a lipbrush. It's not very long-wearing but my God it's pretty. It has an almost stain-like effect when applied like this and is definitely a better choice now.

This is a basic brown smokey eye using neutrals from the Urban Decay Naked Palette. This, like all of my Urban Decay Palettes, gets used SO much. It took a while to learn to love it because I am so not a neutrals girl; however, it's brilliant for smokey eyes and the softer and pale shades are brilliant for blending. 

This is how you create my standard brown smokey eye - really easy and can be daytime or evening depending on how dramatic your make up usually is. 

1) Apply Urban Decay Eye Primer Potion all over the lid and up to the brow
2) Using any brush you like - I prefer a small domed fluff brush (like the MAC 239) - apply Urban Decay Smog all over the lid up to the crease, using a reasonable amount of product and buffing it in, which I find makes the colour truer and longer-lasting.
3) Using a fluffy crease brush (I'm using Sephora's Rounded Crease Brush to excellent effect in pretty much every eye look) to apply Darkhorse through the crease, and winging it up toward the brow.
4) Using that same brush, blend any harsh lines into each other.
5) Take a clean brush and apply brow highlight. For a shimmery brow highlight, I like Virgin and Sin mixed together, whilst Virgin alone is more of a satiny sheen shade.

Hope you enjoyed this!

Alison xxx

I Am Generation Q

Illamasqua's new collection, Generation Q, is absolutely beautiful. My favourite look is on the model Georgia. The strong highlighting and contouring mixed with the insane colours. I tried to recreate it today, using some Illamasqua products and lots of others.

I don't know how well you can see from this photo, but I've mostly used Georgia's eye make-up as a starting point. The strong highlights down the nose I definitely toned down - but for the first time ever I got busy with a lip brush and a pale foundation to highlight. It worked a lot better than I was expecting to be honest - you can to some extent see it on the pictures but in person the effect was definitely impressive! Lots more light thrown on my face and an overall more contoured, almost 'slimmed down' effect. To achieve this I darkened my usual base somewhat by mixing Revlon ColorStay in Ivory and Bourjois Healthy Mix in 51. I then used the Revlon alone to create the highlights. For blush, I used Illamasqua Ambition, a beautiful rosy coloured shimmer blush, which I placed along my cheekbones and blended down into my contour, which was actually an eyeshadow today! I use Nars Laguna a lot but I wanted something a little more brown and so used Urban Decay Naked eyeshadow as a contour, underneath the hollow of my cheekbones. 

I've been really wanky here and shut my eyes so you can see the way I've used Georgia's look as inspiration. I really liked the way there was iridescent purples and brown tones used in her look and I used that as a starting point to create something that's pretty heavy for daytime but actually turned out to be a really flattering smokey eye with an edge. The colour shift (and blending!) was a lot more obvious in person but this picture is useful because you can clearly see where I've used each colour. I used Illamasqua Cream Shadow in Debauch as a base for this look, all over the lid, over my usual Urban Decay Primer Potion in Greed. I then loaded Urban Decay Half Truth from the 15 palette onto the lid, patting some Urban Decay in Omen onto the centre part of the lid. This is a gorgeous blue-violet duochromatic shimmer and placed in the centre of the really caught the light and lifted the look. In the crease - and winged out - I used MAC Blue Brown pigment. I really packed it on so that it was mostly born and the blue was mostly visible from extreme angels or in direct light. I blended like a mo'fo but didn't feel it was quite defined enough at the edge of the 'wings'. I dived back into my UD 15 palette and mixed MIA and Deeper to create a deep, shimmering brown to line around the wings. I used a wet brush to really give some strong definition. I then used Urban Decay Virgin to put a highlight on the browbone and down towards my tearduct and then on top of the brow to mimic Georgia's bright highlighting. Eyes are lined with Illamasqua Glister.

On the lips is Versace V2010C, an iridescent plum, and NYC Big Apple Spice, a copper gloss. 

Tuesday Tumblr Round-Up!

It's that time again guys... I'm picking out anything that's inspired me or tickled me this week.

GB-themed and so so cute: WAH Nails are always my favourite.

Illamasqua's nail art looks are always super-beautiful and Leanne from Do Not Refreeze has recreated the nails from their gorgeous new collection Generation Q. Not from Tumblr, but they're SO pretty.

Nail Nerd does possibly the best thing I've ever seen on nails.

Putting a fashion twist on the gorgeous galaxy manicure.

Polish You Pretty gives us some Pineapple Express nail art.

Another classy Essie manicure: I'm getting simple and sophisticated in my old age.

Bazinga! I still loves ALL THE GLITTER

Enjoy!

Alison xxx