Makeover: Mel

It Sunday Makeover time, and this week I was delighted to welcome along Mel:

Mel's a schoolteacher, and was looking for a simple and easy day time look that suits her colouring.  Mel actually owns a bit of very lovely makeup, but doesn't use it very often, so I was hoping to show her how to get the most of some of the things she already owns, and introduce her to a couple of techniques to get the best out of her routine.

First of all, we started with the base, to even out Mel's skintone we used YSL Perfect Touch Foundation, and for the slightly darker skin around her eyes, we used By Terry Eclat de Teint to conceal.  I like both of these products as they have the brush built in already, and they're super-quick and easy to use:

 

 

Mel has really lovely grey/blue eyes, so we decided that they would be the feature.  As we were trying to keep this simple, we use Benefit Creaseless Cream eyeshadow in RSVP all over the lid, up to the brow area:

Then, to define the crease - and as an eyeliner - we used Cargo Plant Love eyeshadow in Sparrow:

 

 

Then a lick of mascara

And we were ready to add the finishing touches, which in this case were a light dusting of Cargo's Plant Love Illuminator in Wind over the cheeks and temples, and a light coat of Estee Lauder's lipstick in "Beige".  I also darkened Mel's eyebrows a touch with Smashbox eyebrow powder:

 

Lovely, quick, and natural.  Here's the before and afters:

 

Thank you, Mel. Let me know when you want to go shopping!

Face of the fortnight - as promised!

Sorry about the extreme close up nature of these pics, I'm in the middle of a major hair crisis!  A really major hair crisis ... But this is how my Maybelline/Bobbi Brown makeup looks when it's put together.  I've been trialling Lancome Teint Idole, and Clarins Wonder Perfect mascara in this pic too, so expect a post on those later on in the week ...

I'm wearing the Cargo Plant Love mineral baked Illuminator in wind on my cheeks, still totally in love with that product, and how it looks in these pics.

Organic Wednesday - Makeover Special!

So, something a little different this week.  As promised, every Wednesday I'll be seeking out and reviewing organic beauty goodies, but this week I'm bringing you a makeover first, and a full review later.

I've heard a fair bit about Plant Love over the last few weeks, and when Puresha offered to send me some of their range of cosmetics to try in a makeover, I jumped at the chance!  Plant Love is vegan, free from paraben, phthalates, petro-chemicals, and synthetic dyes and fragrances.  I love the fact that all the packaging is compostable, and is manufactured under carbon-neutral conditions, it makes my inner hippy happy.  I don't let my inner hippy out much, she tends to disagree with my inner control freak, but I'm digressing a bit here.  So, on with the makeover!

Meet Genna:

Genna's been offering to sit for a makeover session for weeks, but as she's a vegan I've been waiting for the right opportunity to come along, Plant Love seemed like an ideal fit.  Genna already has an excellent beauty regime of her own, but when we were planning this session one idea kept coming up: "California Beach Babe", and as that's what she wanted, that's what she got ...

First off, we used Genna's normal foundation as a base - looking tanned and glowing doesn't necessarily mean looking like a tangerine, then started straight in using PL's eyeshadow in Parakeet:

It's a lovely coppery shade, that makes Genna's blue eyes a lot brighter.

 

Once that was in place, we defined Genna's top lid with PL's eyeshadow in Sparrow:

 

Then we added a layer of eyeliner in bronze to her lower lids:

A layer of Genna's usual mascara (sadly, the Plant Love line doesn't carry a mascara, which is a real shame judging by the quality of the rest of the products), and we also added a little definition to Genna's eyebrows:

Genna's eyes were now finished, and we were ready to add more colour.  Using Plant Love's Natural Baked Illuminator in "Wind", which is a bronzer, blush and highlighter in one, I used it on Genna's cheekbones and temples, then added just a touch to her nose and chin for a bronzed effect:

Naturally, no look is complete without lipstick so we added a (very light) layer.  For this look we had chosen Joshua Tree which is a lovely shimmery pinky-brown:

And we're done!  Here's the finished look:

Subtle, simple, and softly glowing, I think it looks great.  Have a look at the before'n'after:

If you click on any of the pictures, you can see an enlarged version of them, please do! I'd like to thank Genna for being so patient, Puresha for being so generous, and the lovely Neville Fenn for taking today's wonderful pictures.

Full reviews of the products used will appear tomorrow, but I can let slip that both Genna and I have adopted at least one of these products as new daily staples, they're great!