Collection Work the Colour eyeshadow

Hola Dalimoo's,

There has been a lot of hype recently over the new Collection Work the Colour eyeshadow pencils.  When they were first released I put all the colours in my superdrug basket but decided that actually I really didn't need them and I was only buying them because of the hype so didn't get them.  

Weeellll the other day whilst in superdrug getting  nappies I just thought I would have a look at the make up stand and I ended up getting two of the eyeshadow pencils..no reason  just because - don't judge!!!

You can tell which one is loved more!

The two I picked up were Vintage Blush and Hot Chocolate.  They are a creamy eyeshadow but they set and do not budge!  This is brilliant for me as I have pretty hooded eyes so for a creamy eyeshadow not to crease is a great find and for the price I cannot be more happy!  At the moment superdrug have them for £2.50 each instead of £3.19.

Saying that though, I do have a favourite.  

After trying both the colours, the vintage blush is not really for me, I do not know what it is with this colour but I cannot seem to be blend this to a nice finish, it looks streaky and unblended...does that make any sense "unblended"?  I have even over blended this to practically no colour!  I dunno, may be it is the way I apply my shadow, I just cannot make this work for me, I will try it as a base colour though as it may give my shadow a nice finish.  

The Hot Chocolate on the other hand OMFG....I LOVE LOVE LOVE this shadow!  I have only used this on its own and not as a base yet but this is an absolutely lovely colour.  It is a chocolate colour but when blended it has such a beautiful shimmer running through it, I would like to say a rosey-goldy colour.  Jeez I'm sorry, I am so crap at trying to describe colours I just hope you can see the shimmer in the picture above.

I have worn it pretty sheer with only a small amount blended or pretty dark and intense for a daytime smokey eye. 

Anyway my lovelies, I cannot praise these shadows enough and I am contemplating actually getting the other colours too.

Have you got any of these?  

Which ones do you have?  

What do you think of them?

Until next time....

Ciao for now

NOTW: Hanging onto Summer

Hola Dalimoo's,

I know we're in September now and Summer has technically gone, but I couldn't let these nails go without showing them!  They are technically a summer nail but I would rock these any time of the year as they make me happy...

These are the ladybird nails.  I was looking through the #nailart on instagram the other night and came across different variations of ladybird nails and these are so damn cute that I had to recreate them.  I used Rimmel's Double decker red, OPI's Alpine Snow and Barry M's nail art pen in black. 

This design I saw on Pinterest...OMG to digress a little, is anyone else addicted to Pinterest?  I have had to have a detox from it as I would wittle HOURS and I mean hours just looking and re-pinning, and looking and re-pinning and looking........

For these nails I used again Rimmel Double Decker red all over the nail, I used Barry M lime green on the tip, then used a nail brush to do vertical lines with Barry M Spring green once that was dry I used Barry M's nail art pen in white and used the black Barry M nail art pen to do 3 lines to imitate seeds!  It was a pretty easy design to do and I loved it.

*before I sign off I would like to say that I cannot remember who these original designs are from and I am by no means taking them as my own and from now on I will remember to write down the names etc so I can give them props as credit is deserved where credit is deserved.

Anywho my lovelies...

Ciao for now

WEEK 4: Bronzer

Hola Dalimoos,

Welcome back for week 4 of #theSOProject.  This week it is all about bronzer.

Bronzer is a product that is used to add warmth or colour to your face this can be matte or shimmery finish and is either swept across the whole of your face or applied as in a three shape from your forehead to your cheek to your jawline, anywhere the sun would hit naturally.

Bronzer is usually used after you have concealed and put your foundation on, or if you use powder after you powder.

Top: Bare Minerals (matte)
Below: W7 Honolulu Matte

Top:  Look Beauty in Ibiza (shimmer)
Bottom: Rimmel 025 Sun Glow (slight shimmer)

There are many different types of bronzers matte powder, shimmery powder and cream.   I have never tried cream bronzer's before but I would really like to try the bourjois bronzing cream but haven't got round to getting it yet, may be this is the excuse I need!  I tend to stick with matte colours but on the odd day I do like a bit of shimmer.

For the Bare Mineral's warmth powder I use the powder brush it came with.  For my normal day to day bronzing I like to you the Real Technique's multi-task brush.

You shouldn't really use a normal bronzer as a contour as bronzers are normally too orange/reddy, contours should be matte and of the greyish tone to give the more natural look, the aim of a contour is to give the illusion of more dimension to your face.  You can put contour down the sides of your nose, in the hollows of your cheeks, on your neck, under your jaw/chin...

I was going to upload a picture of the contour that I am using at the moment but I cannot find it for love nor money!  I love using the sleek contour kit or the sleek blush, highlight and contour kit.  For contouring I like to use the Real Technique's contour brush, this is just the perfect size for the hollows of your cheeks.

I have shown the bronzers I tend to use all the time.  I do have other's in my collection that are just as good/nice but didn't want this to become a "collections post" so whittled it down to just a few as I don't want to overwhelm you with too many.

Would you recommend something different?  What bronzer's/contour would you recommend?

Anywho my lovelies, until next time...

Ciao for now

WEEK 3: Foundation

Hola Dalimoos,

Welcome back for the third instalment of #TheSOProject.  This week it is all about foundation.

To be honest, I have never really been a foundation wearer because I had such oily/acne prone skin I never really found a foundation that suited my skin.  The problem I always had was it oxidising on my skin and turning orange or slipping and sliding and it ending up down near my jaw line in one big slick...not attractive!

Because of this I am not really able to go in depth on this post but only really tell you the "small" amount of products that I found did help especially on a night out or on a day that I was having a severe acne breakout.

I do tend to talk in the past tense in this post re: using foundation as since being on Roaccutane I don't use foundation on a day to day basis I only use concealer and powder.  It is now on the "rare" occasion of a night out that I will still use a foundation!

Finding the correct shade for your skin tone:

To find the correct shade of foundation you need to determine what skin tone you are, the best way of doing this is to do the vein test.  In natural light (during the day), look at your inner wrist,  if your veins are mainly blue then this is means you are cool toned (pink), if your veins are green then you are warm toned (yellow). If your veins are a mix of blue and green then you are a like me and of a neutral tone (a mix of both pink and yellow).  

In the highstreet it is harder to get an exact colour match of foundation but if you know your skin tone then it is slightly easier determining what foundation has a pink hue and what foundation has a yellow hue.  Then to get a colour match, put a stripe on your jawline, go in to natural day light and see which one matches your skin without too much blending.

Base:

Primers

If you are a sufferer of oily skin, you should think about using a primer before your foundation (but applied after your moisturiser).  Primers help with the foundation sticking and not sliding off your face.  Personally, I do not think it helps with the foundation staying put on your face, but it does make your appearance seem smoother and the foundation does look nicer on.  The three primers I go between are the Porefessional from Benefit, 17 Photo flawless and Bare Minerals Prime Time.

Foundations:

There have been three trusty foundations which I can honestly say suited my skin and I have used for many years.

The first being Bare Minerals foundation.  I had two different types, the matte one for that time of the month when your face is exceptionally oily because of hormones and the normal one when my skin wasn't as oily (but still oily).  I found this foundation has the most staying power for the day time and it was buildable if you preferred a fuller coverage, I never found it powdery and when I felt the oil was coming through I would just use some more mineral veil (finishing powder) and it would re-set the make up!

The second being Revlon Colorstay for Oily/Combination skin - I absolutely love this foundation for a night out, it has the best staying power before I felt the need to blot with my face powder.  It never oxidised with my skin and had excellent fuller coverage, which I prefer on a night basis not so much on a day to day basis.

The third foundation was the Bourjois healthy mix serum foundation.  This was my day to day go-to when I felt I needed to mix it up a bit, this foundation is a light to medium coverage.

With all foundations there are certain tools you can use.  The best tools you can use is your hands, but if like me you are paranoid about bactaria transferring on to your face then there are various brushes you can use that do a great job.

Tools:

The brushes I like using are:

Bare Minerals: I always use the brushes provided in the Bare Mineral starter kits.  To use Bare Minerals properly, you  only need to put a small amount of the powder in the lid and using the full flawless face brush to swirl in the lid, tap the excess off and then buff on to your face, buffing in circular motions from the hairline and buffing inwards.  If you have smaller areas that need more of a coverage, then you can use the foundation with a concealer brush using the same technique of swirl, tap and buff.

 

Liquid Foundations: These brushes are my favourite to use with liquid foundations.  (from Left to Right) The Real Techniques Buffing brush, a CVS duo fibre brush, Real Techniques duo fibre brush, this is smaller and more dense than the CVS one, GOSH foundation brush - this is more of your traditional brush and it can streak if it is not blended well enough.  Lastly, The Real Techniques expert face brush.  A part from the CVS which I bought from superdrug, all my real techniques and my GOSH brush I bought from trustee old Boots!

You can apply liquid foundation directly with your hands like mentioned above or you can use the brushes using a buffing circular motion until the product is blended in.  A top tip is to always make sure you blend the foundation down your neck this is so you do not have a visible foundation line on your jaw!

So these are the products I have found that have helped me a long the way and may be you have tried them yourselves?  I am now thinking that I will probably experiment more with different types of foundation as my skin is not as oily as it used to be.  I will keep you posted of my new findings...

Until next time my lovelies.

Ciao for now xx

WEEK 2: Concealer

Hola Dalimoo's,

So it is that time of week again and as the title suggests it is all about concealer.

What is concealer?  Concealer is a product that helps to "mask" any imperfections, i.e. blemishes, redness or dark circles.

You should really put your concealer on after foundation otherwise you will end up wiping the concealer off when you apply your foundation, but if you are like me and you rarely wear foundation use your concealer before you powder.

(a) Coastal Scents Corrector Quad;
(b) Benefit Powderflage
(c) Pixi Eye Brightening
(d) Bare Minerals Concealer - Well Rested
(e) Real Technique's setting brush

 If you feel that your concealer is just not cutting it with the coverage stakes you may need to try a colour corrector too.  Colour corrector concealers are designed for a specific complexion issue.  Green is used to neutralise redness/pinkness which could be from roscea, blemishes or broken capillaries.  Yellow helps neutralise black, blue purple tones, as in bruises and under eye circles.  purple/lavender helps neutralises excessive yellow pigmentation and is good for olive skin types.  Light blue neutralises any orange tones.

The colour corrector I have is the Coastal Scents Corrector Quad (a) - $7.95 - CS, this quad is very pigmented and you only need to use the smallest amount and work it in really well before putting your concealer on top.

For a brightening effect under the eye you should use a salmon/peach tone corrector.  I use Pixi Eye Brightening (c) - £12.00 - Pixi which I have had for a long time as you only need to smallest amount and dab until blended.  This product is amazing and would definitely be repurchasing it when I finish it.

To highlight and illuinate the eyes I like to use a highlight pen under my eyes (I have currently used mine up and Superdrug's didn't have the one I normally like in stock - so is not in my pictures).  My favourite at the moment is the L'Oreal Paris Lumi Magique Touch of Light in shades 1 and 2 mixed - £8.49 - superdrug.  I apply this as a "v" shape from my out corner to the inner eye and blend.  I use this after I have concealed my eyes but before my brightening powder!

Two brightening powders I like to use on alternate days are Benefit powderflage (b) £19.50 - Benefit, I use a dusting of this with the small fan brush that comes with it or the Bare Minerals Concealer in well rested (d) - £19.00 - BM, I use my real techniques setting brush (e) - £6.29 - feelunique to apply this, I swirl, tap and buff it on to my eye area.  These two products I use as a finishing/setting powder for under my eyes.

Then use a concealer for the smaller areas feel need it most like redness round your nose or any blemishes you have.  You can use your fingers to dab and blend or you can buff it in with brushes, my two favourite brushes to use to blend concealer in is MAC 217 brush (iv) - £18 - MAC and the Crown stiff tapered crease brush (v) - £3.09 - Crown.  You only need the smallest amount of concealer, but can build up if you need to.  Remember that concealer is not a foundation and concealer can settle into fine lines and look cakey if too much is used.

When I choose a concealer for myself I always choose it like a foundation.  I put a little on my jawline and use natural light to gage whether it is the nearest to my own skin colour/tone as possible.

The concealer's I like using are:

Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection in Medium 3 (i) - £3.69 - Superdrug.  This is a cult product within the beauty world and rightly so, I absolutely love this product and it is my definite go to, it is also the only concealer I keep a back up of;

Bourjois healthy mix in 52 (ii) - £7.99 - Superdrug, this one is pretty full coverage and I personally think it drys more like a powder, you only need the smallest amount as it is very pigmented;

Mac Select Cover up in NW20 and NW25 (iii) - £15 - MAC, these are my  newest purchases as I was having such bad acne at the time and felt I needed something with more staying power, the formulation and pigmentation I think feels like a mixture of lasting perfection and Healthy Mix.

As my eyes are now my only real "problematic areas" this is where I tend to use the most products.

Once I have concealed the areas I need to, I use a setting face powder and finish doing the rest of my make up.

I hope the above helped a little in using concealer and correctors.  I am NOT a make up artist and the information I give may not be entirely correct but this is how I apply my concealer and it works really well for me.

Anyway my lovelies, until next week

Ciao for now xx