Finishing Touches (#LipsNspritz) of the Week 2nd May 2016

 Bright reds and dark berries, plus one glorious pink this week, alongside some classic fragrances too. Top left were the gorgeous white flowers of Narciso  For Her, which is a fragrance I love a great deal, and could even smell it slightly through my parosmia last year, which always grants a special place in my heart for a fragrance. I wore this on Friday with Mac Hot Tahiti, a soft and gentle red.  

Middle Left: I'd also worn Narciso Rodriguez Musc For Her this week, which is a powdery musk, somewhat clean-smelling (reminiscent, slightly, of laundry musks), but the oil format keeps it close to the skin.  I wore this with the most emailed about lipstick ever featured on this blog, Rouge Baiser 306, which I picked up in Paris a few years ago.  (Incidentally, I'm not a stockist or supplier of these lipsticks - which are only available in France - so, please, stop asking me to get them for you!)

Bottom Left: I wore Mugler Cologne, which features a little creaminess in amongst the usual neroli and bitter orange that you get in a classic cologne, making this just a little more interesting than the usual plain citrus blast you might get with a sharper cologne.  I wore this with It Cosmetics Vitality Lipstick Stain in Pretty Woman, which is a sheer deep berry.  I'll have a lot more to say about It Cosmetics products later on this week.

Bottom right is Chanel Rouge Coco Lip Stylo in 208 Roman, which is a beautiful bright pink.  I've not bought anything from Chanel in AGES, and it's hard to get across in this picture just how bright, beautiful and juicy these shades are in the flesh.  I'll be picking up some more for sure. I wore it with Chanel Exclusifs Sycomore, which is a fabulous smoky vetiver that I should really pick up a proper bottle of at some point.

And finally (top right) Reiss Grey Flower.  Still one of the most unusual and haunting fragrances you could buy on the high street for less than £50, it's filled with guaic wood, which has an oddly fleshy kind of effect (smelled neat, its a bit like parma ham), and this doesn't smell flowery, either.  It's hard to say what it smells like (apart from good, interesting, unusual), but it's definitely worth a sniff if you can find a bottle.  I paired it up with YSL Rouge Volupte No4, a bright and beautiful sheer red.  Not my favourite of formulas - I find it too slippery - but a gorgeous shade.

What have your favourite finishing touches been recently?

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


This post: Finishing Touches (#LipsNspritz) of the Week 2nd May 2016 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

LipsNspritz of the Week 06.12.15

After spending last weekend doused in Tom Ford's finest Black Orchid (albeit in the new Eau de Toilette version rather than the EdP), I was obviously stuck in a rather Tom Ford kind of groove for the early part of this week.  

Monday brought Tom Ford Black Violet, a scent which I have always preferred to Black Orchid, for some reason (but it's now discontinued), a gloriously rich and decadent fragrance, one which reminds me of the glory days of women's cinema in the forties.  It's a fragrance with shoulder pads and red lipstick, which I subverted by not wearing shoulder pads, and wearing with MAC Hot Tahiti, which is a slightly browned wine-shade, which reads like a neutral on my lips.  I did wear black leather though ...

Tuesday was Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, long one of my favourite fragrances.  I was surprised on wearing it this time, however (the first since I lost my sense of smell last year) that I can now pick up the raspberry notes that, in other writers descriptions, have always mystified me somewhat.  A nice discovery!  It still smells leathery to me - which I love - but now it has an extra dimension that I never noticed previously, a great thing. I wore it with Bare Minerals Call The Shots which is a great red lipstick.

Wednesday brought a neglected gem from my perfume collection, which was Maison Francis Kurkdjian Amyris Femme.  This had been shuffled to the back of one of my drawers, and I confess that I'd completely forgotten about it as a result.  I'm completely kicking myself about that now, as it is incredibly beautiful.  I described it on Instagram as luminous and sheer, bright with citrus in the opening, and warm with woods and resins in the base.  Classy and expensive-smelling, it's radiant and gorgeous, and I can't wait, actually, to wear it again.  So I'm wearing it again today as I write this ... I paired it with Laura Mercier Cherries Jubilee Lip Parfait, which is a sheer natural red, which I like a great deal too.

I spent some of Thursday talking to various government bods (like you do) so I thought I'd wear something classic.  Naturally, when I opened the box, I was a bit hacked off that my bottle of Chanel No 5 was actually a bottle of Chanel No5 Eau Premiere. Not the end of the world, admittedly, but annoying, especially when it turns out that Eau Premiere is just a little too restrained for my damaged nose to pick up in any detail.  It's very nice, I'm sure, but it's no No5.  Now I'm wondering where my bottle of No5 has got to, I know I have one!  I wore it with Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain in India Intrigue, which is one of my favourite pinks, as it lasts and lasts.  It does dry a bit though.

On Friday, I was planning to meet some friends for dinner, so an old favourite fragrance was in order, and I picked Guerlain Pamplune Aqua Allegorica.  Grapefruit scents have been tricky for me for a while, thanks to their sulphurous qualities (I struggle with vetiver as well for the same reason), but I think it's coming back now.  Either way, Pamplune smelled good, well as good as a sweaty grapefruit (and I mean that in a good way) can, let's put it like that.  I wore it with Smashbox Lip Lacquer in Legendary Red, which is a smashing red - I'm ashamed it's taken me so long to wear it.

Saturday I was ill, again, I'm totally fed up with it now, but  it's becoming a way of life at the moment, it appears. Anyhoo, I still wanted to smell good, so I picked up my bottle of Balmain Ivoire, which is soapy-fabulous (even though rather thin in comparison to its 80's-tastic fabulousness before reformulations and re-releases happened to it) and classy and very, very clean.  Still lovely.  I had been planning to wear it with a revlon lipstain, but as I spent the day in my pyjamas, that didn't actually happen ... 

What've you been wearing?

The Fine Print: PR Samples and purchases, all combined.


This post: LipsNspritz of the Week 06.12.15 originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

LipsNspritz of the Fortnight, Pt II

 This week, I basically took a "lucky dip" approach to my perfume and lipstick choices.  After three months and nearly 80 lipstick and perfume pictures, I realise I'm probably something like a quarter of the way through my fragrance collection, and possibly, maybe, a tenth (perhaps?) of the way through my lipsticks.  There's a few months of this to go, yet, I think!

Monday was Miller Harris Cassis en Feuille, which bears a passing resemblance to Jo Malone London's Blackberry & Bay (a perennial autumn favourite), but just has a little more grassy vetiver in the mix, so has a little more ... oomph. I wore it with MAC All Out Gorgeous, which is rather aply named.

Tuesday was Etat Libre d'Orange's Antiheros, which is the lavenderiest lavender there ever was.  Luca Turin described it as "cheap lavender soap, but strong", and so it proves to be.  I've missed lavender a lot whilst I've been parosmic (up until recently, it has smelled burned and awful), and to have it back is wonderful.  Lavender contains such a variety of scents, it's herbal and floral, and has a hint of balsam, and mints in there too.  That it is maligned as a "granny scent" is an eternal mystery to me.  I wore it with Charlotte Tilbury's Red Carpet Red which is one of the best red lipsticks ever.  

Wednesday had me in something just a little more ladylike, the musky prettiness of Sarah Jessica Parker's Lovely.  I only like a couple of celebrity fragrances, and this is a good one. It reminds me of Narciso Rodriguez, only at a much more acceptable price-point.  I wore it with Illamasqua Stark, which I also like very much, though it's a little patchier than I recall it being on application.

Thursday brought a board meeting and Lancome's Climat - a little-known fragrance from Lancome's back-catalogue.  It's a sweet and powdery ladylike little whisper of a thing, a proper "Grown-Up" fragrance so I rarely wear it, for that reason.  Paired with Stila Long-last Lipgloss in Firey (I think, the label has worn off), it saw me through a board meeting where I managed not to kill anyone, so a winner, I think.

Friday I wore Boucheron by Boucheron, which is a big heavy-hitter of a floral fragrance, in a beautiful bottle, designed like a piece of jewellery, which always delights when I spray it.  Paired with Estee Lauder lipstick in Dominant, which is a very fine pink indeed.

On Saturday I was heading to a party in Soho, so I wore the ultimate party-girl fragrance: Tom Ford Black Orchid, in the new eau de toilette formulation, still loud, and one of the happiest fragrances around, it's a joy.  I paired it with the Matte Balm from Revlon in Striking, which is the loudest red I own, and wore them both with sequins.  A jolly good time was had by all.

The Fine Print: PR Samples and purchases.



This post: LipsNspritz of the Fortnight, Pt II originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Current Favourite Blushers

I didn't see the point of blusher for the longest time, and so, for many years I didn't use it.  I've had high-colouring for many years, so the thought of adding MOAR COLORZ to my skin was a scary one, to say the least!  These days, however, I'd rather leave the house without lipstick than without my blusher!

Blush brightens the face, and can add shade and contour to even the widest of faces (personally, I don't bother with all that contouring malarkey because, as has been extensively reported on this blog, I am a cack-handed muppet), but blusher does make such a difference, making my skin look alive, and helping me avoid looking like a trainee goth who forgot to attend the lesson on  not dressing like an accountant.  

After my recent colour analysis, I've found blush difficult, as the shades which are nearest matches to my fan do NOT look good on my skin - NARS Sin is consistently recommended as a good blush for someone with my colouring, but ... well, it's too dark and far, far, far too brown for me, so I challenged myself to find some more suitable blush shades. 

Initially, I didn't think I had any, aside from one, but after digging deep into the recesses of my blusher drawer, I managed to scramble up seven or so ... (may you never know the horrors of saying "But I don't have any like that" only to discover you're lying to yourself about it ... anyhoo, here's my pick of my blusher collection:

Clockwise from top left we have:

Accessorize: Merged Baked Blush in Sensation
MAC: Blushbaby
Stila: Convertible Colour in Lillium
Laura Geller: Ethereal Rose/Sateen Subtle Berry
Benefit: Hervana
Burberry: Cameo
Bare Minerals: Ready Blush in The One 

In the past couple of years, I've been pretty much inseparable from NewCID iGlow in Coral Crush, but I've been trying to use pinker shades recently, and, even though a couple of these have a touch of coral to them (in particular The One by Bare Minerals - bottom left in pic above), I think the pinker look is just a bit more "healthy" to my newly-educated eye.

Accessorize is very pink, and works well as a highlighter, also, it was very cheap!
MAC Blushbaby is an old, old favourite, but it's a little on the brown side, so needs applying with a light hand.
Stila Lillium is a great neutral shade of blush, and one I wear over tinted moisturiser.  You can wear it on your lips too, but that's really not a good look for me.
The Laura Geller has been my day to day staple blush recently.  A slightly berry pink, it has a gentle sheen, and is very pretty without making me look too flushed.
Benefit Hervana is a very pretty cool-toned matte pink.  It's a little on the sheer side, but it's a good shade for just the lightest possible flush of  colour.
Burberry Cameo is another subtle berry shade, which is on the matte side, it's a lot more pigmented than the Laura Geller, so again, needs a lighter hand (or a duo-fibre brush).
Bare Minerals is a heavily-pinked coral, and is a good easy to wear shade, even if it is a little bit warmer than the other shades in this selection.  I LOVE the Bare Minerals "pressed" powder formulations, and need to pick a few more up.

So, what are your go-to blushers at the moment?

The Fine Print: Mainly purchases, ironically.

This post: Current Favourite Blushers  originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

MAC Stereo Rose vs New CiD Coral Crush Comparison

 I once read a tweet - or possibly a blog post - about a girl who had hysterics when she discovered that MAC had sold out of their Stereo Rose Mineralize Skinfinish almost at the exact instant it was first released a couple of years ago.  I've been boggling about both the product, and the state of mind of that poor girl ever since.

On hearing that MAC had recently re-released this cult item, a blusher capable of making grown women weep, I naturally picked one up.  I think the hype has died down a bit on this one now, as I bought this from the Covent Garden store well after the release hit the shops, and they still had them in-store.  I have seen people tweeting about stocking up on it though, so ... who knows?

Well, it's a very nice blusher, a pink-coral, highly pigmented, and the gold veining is very nice indeed.  It's a highly shimmery (not glittery) finish, so you won't need a highlighter with it as well.  Can I figure out why it's a heartbreaker?  Well, not really.  It's lovely - genuinely - not hard and prone to glazing as a lot of MAC powders can be, it's soft and easy to blend, but if I didn't have it, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

I'll show you why:

I appear to already have it!  On the right there is Coral Crush by New CiD,  don't let the picture fool you, my camera is making it look pinker than it actually is, for some reason, but these two products are actually very similar in shade, so much so that if you're not a makeup obsessive like myself (and even I'm distancing myself from the crying girl I opened this post with, let's face it),  then you won't need both.

MAC Stereo Rose is actually a little more pigmented than New CiD as you can tell in the unblended swatch above, which, if you don't own the right brush could be a little problem, you need a very light hand in application, whereas the lighter pigmentation in the New CiD enables it to be a bit more buildable, which, for a cack-handed muppet like myself, is a blessing.

 
On blending the differences are even less obvious. Both give a gorgeous glow to the skin, and, it has to be said that New CiD is one of my most used cosmetic products of all time because of this.  So, do I need both?  No!  Am I glad to have both? Yes.  Have either of them made me cry? No!  

MAC Stereo Rose is a limited edition product, so stock up on tissues just in case you can't fnd it.  If you're of a more sensible bent, New CiD Coral Crush is a permanent part of their lineup.  No tissues required. 

The Fine Print: Mixture of PR samples and purchases. Q: Why did the rubber chicken cross the road? A: She wanted to stretch her legs.

This post: MAC Stereo Rose vs New CiD Coral Crush Comparison originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

MAC Club Vs Bare Minerals Mirage

Club is one of those iconic products from MAC that most appear to have in their makeup bag.  Described as a "red-brown with green pearl" it is, in fact, a beautiful, and versatile eyeshadow that deserves its cult status. When I was sent the new Bare Minerals eyeshadow duo in "The Vision", I thought one of the shades looked familiar, so I thought I'd do a comparison post.

Can you see what I saw?  The Vision eyeshadow duo (on the right there), contains a pistachio shade ("Illusion), and, what Bare Minerals refer to as a "deep lagoon" colour "Mirage" on the right.  I immediately thought that this was a dead ringer for MAC Club!  Take a closer look:

Mirage's texture is a little more reflective than Club's, so it looks a little more washed out in these pictures, but next to each other you'd be hard-pressed to say there was any difference at all.


So, how do they swatch?  

Swatches applied with finger, no primer - MAC has two layers, and Bare Minerals has one. Now, it must be said that many MAC shadows need a primer, but just look at the pigmentation of the Bare Minerals!  And you can see the pearl straight away, too.


Here's another look:

Can't deny that the MAC has disappointing application.  Club is one of their Satin finish eyeshadows, and mine is a couple of years old, so it may be that my pot has dried out a little, but I've often found that MAC shadows can be a little hard and underpowered in the pigmentation department over the last few years, I can't deny.


Mirage is from Bare Minerals' new "ready" range which features their famous loose mineral powders made solid - they're not "pressed", by all accounts, but they are a really lovely, soft, buttery texture with excellent pay off and wear.  Just in case you want to see both shades in The Vision palette swatched, here they are:

Again, there is rich pigmentation, but I find the shade itself a little chalky, and, I have to admit, it's not a shade I'd ever wear in a million years, but it's definitely a high-quality shadow.


MAC single eyeshadows cost £12 for 1.5g, and the Bare Minerals duo is £19 for 3g,  (which works out at £9.50 each)

The Fine Print: Purchases and PR samples all mixed up ...


This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

How I lost touch with MAC ...

I haven't written about MAC since July 2010, when the "controversy" about their Rodarte collection which was eventually pulled from the shelves, was raging.

Since then, whilst I have, in fact, picked up the odd piece from a collection or two, I haven't really got excited about anything, and I just haven't been bothered enough about what I have bought to blog about them.

And why is that?  Well, increasingly, it seems, that by the time the stuff is out on the shelves, MAC have already moved on, and released their next collection. So blogging about the things you buy is almost entirely irrelevant, owing to everything being limited edition, and therefore, your posts are already out of date on the first day of release, as the products will have sold out already ...

Annoying.  Add to this that MAC do fifty five collaborations a year.  That is FIFTY FIVE collaborations a year, more than one per week, and it's almost entirely impossible for people to keep up with what they're doing.  Then add to this that they're constantly  - it seems - withdrawing basic staples, and then randomly releasing them in ever-more limited editions making it impossible to know from one week to the next if that lipstick you bought a few months ago is in stock or not. Or even still exists or not.

It all makes me feel like they're too trendy for me.  I don't really care about fashion, and I care even less about trends (it's all I can do to keep up with the changes in the weather, to be honest), and, if I don't know if a brand will be carrying the products I do want to buy from one week to the next, well, what's the point of me going to the shop in the first place?  Especially if I'm only going to get sneered at by the sales assistants for daring to be in there asking where on earth the "Behold" eyeshadow is.  I'm definitely not trendy enough for a MAC store, these days, being all, like over forty, and dressed like an accountant and that.

Plus, it seems to me that the quality of the products doesn't seem to be increasing with their prices.  When I started buying MAC, the eyeshadow singles cost £8 or so - a high price, but not unreasonable.  Now, they're £12, which is a fifty percent increase in  price over the last ten years.  These are high-end prices, for what I've always really thought of as a mid-range brand, to be honest. And I still think the quality of the products is rather middling (not to mention variable) for the price.

And now ... now they've moved into selling cosmetics in China, which means that they've had to re-introduce animal testing.  MAC are keen to let people know that the products they sell in the US and the UK will not be tested on animals, that only products sold in China will be tested, but this doesn't alter that they're going back on one of their major plus-points.  I've always happily recommended MAC to my vegan friends, knowing they're about the best animal-friendly brands out there, but now, no more alas.

Does any of this mean I don't like MAC anymore?  Actually, no.  I first really got interested in makeup through MAC, some of the tips and tricks I've learned came from MAC artists - who are, it must be said some of the best-trained in the business, when they're not ignoring accountants in Selfridges, that is - and I still think that some of their basics are some of the best in the business.  If I open my train case on any given day, there are more eyeshadows from MAC in there than there are from any other brand, but I just don't care about them any more.

How about you?



This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

MAC Rodarte Collection - but it is art?

You're going to be reading a lot of posts on this matter this evening, and I just thought I'd add my tuppenorth into the matter.  The new MAC collaboration with Rodarte is due out (in the US) in September.  A collection of ethereal pale greys, pinks and taupes, it's meant to be inspired by the beauty of the countryside in Mexico, and specificially, items (according to Rodarte) were inspired by the female workers "floating to work" in the factories at dawn.

So far, not so unusual, but several of the items may have been insensitively named: Juarez, and Factory, are the nail polishes in the collection, and here's where the controversy begins, for, over the last several years, women in their dozens have been abducted on their way to work in the factories of Juarez, and they have been raped and murdered. Juarez is a notoriously impoverished factory town, and has been named one of the most dangerous places to live in the world as a result of these abductions, murders and rapes.  Very little is being done by the police to investigate the situation, as the women (aged between 12 and 20, in the main) are every poor, and it's not seen as worthwhile to try and bring their rapists and murderers to justice.

After an outcry in the US, MAC have released a statement announcing that they are aware that some people consider these names controversial and/or offensive, and, as a result, they are going to donate a "portion" of the proceeds of this collection to the people of Juarez.  Rodarte themselves have merely said that the names of the collection were inspired by their "travels", and have not apologised for the controversial element.

This strikes me as a shame, and a missed opportunity.  Why not release the entire collection as an awareness raising one, and donate the entire proceeds to the people of Juarez? MAC, of course, have a track record in this area, donating as they do, the entire proceeds of their Viva Glam releases every year to Aids charities.  I'd feel a lot less uneasy about MAC if they'd done this, I'll be honest.

Can you imagine if, in the UK for example, Illamasqua had released a collection with an item named "Soham" and then claimed it was simply because the town was so beautiful, and that was the only reason they chose the name?  It shows a massive amount of naivety on the behalf of the Rodarte team that they didn't consider the implications of naming parts of a collection this way, and ignoring any offence they may have caused too.

Please be aware that I am NOT calling for a boycott of this collection, and if you want to buy the items, you are, of course, welcome to (personally, some of the items I've seen, I think to be very pretty, in all actuality - it's certainly not a collection for our darker skinned sisters, judging from the promos though), but I'd like to see MAC do more to redress this situation, (what proportion of the proceeds are they willing to donate, for example) and I'd like to see more in the way of action from the Rodarte team to acknowledge the situation too.  Makeup shouldn't, if you ask me, be glorifying the rape and murder of women ...

What say you?  Legitimate outcry, or storm in a teacup?

Makeover: Helen S

 Gosh, it's been a few weeks since I posted a makeover, I'm really sorry! I hope you'll all make Helen very welcome, she's a great friend of mine, and we've been makeup shopping A Lot over the years. Mainly because it took me a very long time to cure Helen of her frosted mauve lipstick fetish .... Here she is, all fresh-faced, and only slightly apprehensive about what the day is going to bring.

Helen popped along on Valentines Day for some chocolate, a girly gossip and a brand new look, we've worked on her "polished neutrals" for work before now, but this time Helen wanted something completely different and dramatic, suitable for a night out.  Having a look through both our makeup collections, we thought grey would be a great option to bring out the beautiful brown of Helen's eyes.  But, as always, before that, we started with the base, which in Helen's case was a mix of Bobbi Brown tinted moisturiser, and Mac Studio Fix powder:

Initially we had decided on Bourjois Liquid eyeshadow in Platinum Gris, but once it was on the skin, I realised that although it was certainly dramatic, it really wasn't dramatic in the right kind of way. So, immediately after applying it, we took it back off.

We replaced it with Benefit Creaseless Cream in Skinny Jeans, which has long been a favourite eyeshadow of mine, it's slightly more pewter, and as such tends to be a little more flattering on pale-olive skintones.

A dramatic evening look seems to demand lots of eyeliner, so we took the skinny jeans around the eye, and used a little black liner to define the top row of lashes.  Next stop, mascara:

We used Bourjois Ultra Care mascara - which is one of my all-time faves for makeovers -  and here we also added a pop of Bourjois Rose Coup de Foudre blush to Helen's cheekbones. Helen had never worn mascara before, but I'm reliably informed she's been out and bought one now!

 Breaking all my own rules (I wouldn't normally put pink with this look, but we were going for different) a slick of Lipstick Queen's 15 Minutes of Fame gloss in Minute 3 finishes off the look,and Helen's all ready to party!


















Here's the before and after:

Makeover: Isobel

Another very quick makeover this week, featuring the lovely Isobel, who came to visit Chez Lippie recently.
Meet Isobel:

Isobel wanted a very simple evening look.  One that looked polished, and elegant, but that wasn’t too dramatic.  We had a chat about colours, and discovered that muddy purples were the order of the day.
As ever, we start with the base.  Now, Isobel is 60 years old, and has skin that many a thirty- or forty-something would envy, barely any pores, and very minimal lines, I was in awe!  With this in mind, we used a very, very light base of Benefit You Rebel in Lite:
Then, onto the eyes.  We wanted to make them the focus of the look, so we picked out a Laura Mercier eyeshadow (one of my own personal favourites) in Twilight, and used that all around the eyes:
I also used the same shade as a liner – applied with a liner brush – and followed this with a touch of Bourjois Ultra care mascara in black:


To highlight those lovely cheekbones, I used Physicians Formula Shimmer Strips as both a blush and a highlight.  I love these US-only versions of Bobbi Brown’s shimmer bricks, the quality is astonishing for a “drugstore” product, and they’re very flattering.

I added a touch of lipstick (sorry, very, very sorry, I can’t remember which one) and used MAC Behold eyeshadow to darken Isobel’s eyebrows a touch, for added definition.
Here’s the before and after:

Apologies – as always – for the terrible photographs in this makeover, this was a nighttime makeover, and we struggled with the lighting.
Thank you, Isobel for taking part, it was great fun, and I really hope you enjoyed your new look!

Makeover: Rebecca

I recently put out a call on my blog for volunteers for makeovers, and the lovely Rebecca from Le Salon de Beaute had volunteered almost before I’d finished writing the post!  Take a look at her blog if you get a chance, it’s a lovely one, and I’m a big fan.
Anyway, this is Rebecca refusing to give me her best “Prisoner Cell Block H” impression.
I was a bit nervous during this makeover, as Rebecca is a talented makeup artist in her own right, so I was really putting my amateur skills to the test here.
As always, we start with the base.  Rebecca has very pale skin, and I had a little trouble matching her up with my small foundation supply, but the nearest match we came up with was – once again – Max Factor Seamless in Porcelain:

It’s evened out her skintone well (it’s a foundation I use a LOT), but I can’t help thinking it’s  just a touch too warm on Rebecca’s skin.
We had a fun time picking out some colours to use, and eventually we decided to do something a bit different, and went for a pink and burgundy smokey eye.  As a colour wash, I used ELF’s Shimmering Facial Whip in Pink Lemonade:

It’s a lovely soft pink shade that you can use anywhere on your face, and it makes a nice eyeshadow base too. 
It’s not as scarily bright as you might think on the eyes, and I thought it was a lovely, brightening shade.  In order to smoke it out, I used Korres 77s eyeshadow in plum, which is a lovely  burgundy, and an eyeshadow that I use very often.  I used it as a liner, and to define the outer V of the mobile eyelid and into the crease:
I then finished off the eyes with a sweep of Bourjois Ultra Care mascara (full review of that coming soon!) and added a little of MAX lipgloss in VI to Rebecca’s lips:

I think she liked it:


Here’s the before and after: 

Thanks so much for taking part, Rebecca! It was lots and lots of fun!

Smokey Eyes - How I do it

Lots of pictures here, and not too many words, merry Christmas everyone!

 

Applying a colour wash - Mac Dovefeather

Defining the crease - Laura Mercier Twilight

Powder Lining - Laura Mercier Twilight

Lining the lower waterline - Laura Mercier Twilight (considering botox, priceless)

Applying Mascara - Lancome Hypnose Drama

Deciding I need liquid liner - Make Up Forever purple

Applying blusher - Cargo Plant Love Illuminator in Wind (fnaar)

Lipstick - YSL Rouge Volupte 23

How the eye make up looks close up

And, how the look is complete:

(possibly the worst picture of me, ever taken, hence the close cropping!)

This is my smokey-eyes party look, and it's what I'll be sporting today.  Hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas!

I'll be back around the new year, I'll see you all soon!

Luce

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