Current Favourite Blushers

~ Powder Blushers ~

Swatched From Left to Right:

MAC Merrily - A red with golden shimmer

MAC Pinch O' Peach - A fairly neutral matte pink

NARS Deap Throat - A peachy-pink with shimmer

NARS Torrid - A coral with shimmer

~ Cream Blushers ~

Swatched From Left to Right:

NARS Cactus Flower - A watermelon red with gold shimmer

Topshop Flush - A bright warm pink

MAC Something Special - A soft pinky-peach

Graftobian Raspberry Wine - A rosey-red shade 

Has anyone else tried any of these? Let me know what you think of them or what your recent favourites are! I always love checking out new ones being the blush addict that I am :D

My Top 10 Make-up Products

I was tagged by the very lovely Lil Lady's Life to do my top 10 beauty products so here they are! I'm obviously always trying out new products and finding new things that I love but these are all products which I can always rely on and which I will probably keep coming back to.

1. Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation - A gorgeous foundation which gives medium coverage and has a lovely healthy, slightly dewy finish. It photographs beautifully too despite it containing SPF. This is probably best suited to normal-dry skin types. It's apparently being discontinued at the end of the year though so stock up before then if you like this one!

2. MAC Pro Longwear Concealer - A fantastic concealer for under eyes or to cover minor redness (not ideal for blemishes). It's got great coverage but never looks cakey or dry around the eye area. 

3. Make Up For Ever Super Matte Loose Powder - This is definitely the best loose powder I've tried. It's finely milled so it doesn't look overly powdery and it does a fantastic job of setting foundation and concealer. Shade #12 is translucent and suits fair-medium skins but this comes in a range of other shades too.

4. Dior Shimmer Powder in Amber Diamond - A beautiful powder highlighter. It's got a very fine shimmer so it gives the skin a really gorgeous, sophisticated glow and doesn't look over the top.

5. Shu Uemura Glow On Blush - I can't say enough good things about Shu Uemura's blushers! Both the matte and shimmer ones are absolutely gorgeous - super soft and they apply seemlessly. My favourite shade is P Pink 30 but they have a huge range of really amazing colours. Love these!

6. Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme in Iced Gold - A cream highlighter which I think will always have a place among my top beauty products. You can take a look at my review of it here.

7. NARS Alhambra Eyeshadow Duo - These are two great staple lid colours. I love the quality and texture of these as well - they're buttery soft and lovely to apply.

8. Clinique Brush-On Cream Liner in True Black - I favour this over any other gel or cream liner because it stays really creamy and doesn't dry out like ones from other brands do. It's very easy to apply and can be used on the waterline too.

9. MAC Paint Pot in Painterly - Painterly is a great eyeshadow base. It acts like a concealer, covering up any redness or veins on the eyelids and leaves you with the perfect blank canvas! Eyeshadow clings really well to this too which means you get a stronger colour pay-off.

10. Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara -This has been my favourite mascara since it came out. It gives great length and separation and never looks clumpy. The one in the photo is the 'Fusion' version. I'm not quite sure what the difference is between this and the original - they seem like practically the same product to me!

Hope you like my favourites. Feel free to do your top 10 too!

Dupe Search: Taupe Eyeshadow Comparison Swatches!

Woohoo! Don't you love it when I ransack my stash and do comparison swatches? What's more, these are swatches of taupes, glorious taupes! Now to be fair, these are just some of my taupes, definitely not all of them. It started when I reviewed the new Edward Bess eyeshadow single in Storm, and I thought - don't I already have these colours? So I looked through my stash, and dug out the colours that I thought would be most similar to Storm. So in other words, what you're looking at is just those of my taupe eyeshadows that I thought might have some semblance to Storm.



Here are the shades we're comparing today, in order:

1: NARS Belissima II (darker shade)
2: L'Orea HIP Electrified I (lighter shade)
3: MEMEME Beautifully You Eyeshadow Cafe 7
4: First Light Cosmetics Storm Grey
5: Bourjois Stretch Eyeshadow Brun Nylon 09
6: GOSH Glamorous Eyeshadow Grey Brown 7
7: Edward Bess Storm 07
8: Stila Cloud

Isn't it funny how many taupe eyeshadows that are numbered are given the number 7? And on another note, gosh, it's embarrassing how many taupe eyeshadows I've bought over the years of being a makeup fanatic. Anyway, here are swatches of all of them, in that order, with my thoughts on each of them below. By the way, the eyesahdow labelled L'Oreal Sassy is wrong. The duo is actually Electrified:



NARS Belissima II (darker shade) is the only true matte in the bunch, as the rest all have some sort of shimmer. This is a cool-toned grey-brown with hints of purple. Texture is decent, pigmentation is sheer but buildable.

L'Orea HIP Electrified I (lighter shade) is absolutely rockin'! Don't be fooled by the cheap plastic packaging or the drugstore brand - this is awesome taupe goodness. As you can see, it just stands out among my swatches. Its texture and pigmentation are also excellent, and it has a frosty finish that, depending on your preference, can be a good or a bad thing. I've actually reviewed the Electrified duo before and have even previously compared Electrified to a much more expensive Bobbi Brown Heather Mauve eyeshadow.

MEMEME Beautifully You Eyeshadow Cafe 7 is also another cheapy-but-goody. This is cheap, but good, and I really need to get around to reviewing this sometime. It's a brown-based taupe, and thus would be very wearable for warm-toned girls who find a lot of taupes pull purple or greyish on them. It also has slight shimmer, that for some reason isn't showing up in the photo.

First Light Cosmetics Storm Grey is another underrated gorgeous colour. Like Edward Bess's Storm and MEMEME's Cafe, it's a light brown-based taupe, only that it has more shimmer than either. Pigmentation and texture are also pretty good. An EOTD (Eye of the Day) with Storm Grey is available if you'd like to see more of this pretty little thing.

Bourjois Stretch Eyeshadow Brun Nylon 09 is not as similar to Edward Bess's Storm as I initially thought it would be. For one, it's less brown-beige-y and slightly more purple and grey on. They did look quite similar in the pan, however. Texture is good, and pigmentation is sheer but buildable. I've previously swatched Bourjois Brun Nylon before, and also once did an FOTD with it. My, that FOTD was just a year and a half ago, but I think I actually looked visibly younger then. And my photography skills back then sucked.

GOSH Glamorous Eyeshadow Grey Brown 7 is one of those I keep meaning to review, but never get around to it. No fault of the shadow, though. This one has the texture of baked eyeshadows (it comes in a round, hard dome), and pigmentation is sheer but buildable. It leans more grey than most of the other taupes featured here, and also has some sparkles in the eyeshadow.

Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow Storm 7 is a brown-based taupe. Honestly, compared to the rest of the taupes on my arm, it looks a little blah. But since it leans brown, it's less likely to pull purple or grey on warm-toned girls. Pigmentation was sheer, and not the best, but still buildable. Texture was also decent. I'm not going to say too much about this since I just reviewed it in the last post.

Stila Cloud is a taupe that pulls purple and grey, and has a frosty finish that makes it look silver, like how the L'Oreal Electrified taupe looks silver due to the frost finish. I actually should feature this sometime, I have had this eyeshadow since I first became a makeup junkie years ago and it's still with me...Brings back all the nostalgic times when Stila eyeshadows came in little paper pots, and when collecting Stila eyeshadows was the "in" thing of the day. Anyway, this one is cooler-toned that some of the other taupes, and is more purply-grey than some of the other more brown-based ones. It also has frosty shimmer, which some may like and some may not.

So here you go, eight of my lighter-coloured taupes! As a taupe junkie, I love all of these shades and I think they are all different enough to own all, although I'm sure not everyone would agree with me. They're almost like my babies! I hope this post was useful for some of you who wanted a comparison between some taupe eyeshadows.

NARS!! Everlasting Love Palette!!

I was so excited when I recieved an email from NARS cosmetics stating that my 40% discount was approved and I'd be recieving my discount card shortly!! I love NARS cosmetics!! Ofcourse the blushes are my favorite. The blushes were the first products that I tried by NARS. I worked my way to the glosses, eyeshadows, bronzers/illuminators and just in that order!

I was in Sephora a few weeks ago and had accumilated some points and they had the NARS face primer. So I've been using it and I love it!! But to the product at hand! This Everlasting Love Palette is on my wish list! It's sitting in my basket on the website but I must have this palette! I actually was looking for the Bridal palette after reading Scandalous Beauty's blog and watching a video by PinkPornstar on You Tube about it. I wasn't for sure if this was another version of the Bridal palette but I like how in the video the palette seemed to be a very nice size. I really don't care for small personalized palettes because they get lost amongst all my makeup. I thought this size would be perfect! Something I'd see amongst my madness!

Once my funds are looking great I'm going to get this palette along with some other goodies I saw on the NARS website! It's someting about a 40% discount that I just LOVE! Lol

Have you tried this palette! How do you like NARS products?

January Jones Inspired Make-up Tutorial

I think January Jones always has really beautiful make-up. She keeps it quite simplistic a lot of the time which makes her look so effortlessly gorgeous. She tends to wear orange or warm red lipsticks quite often paired with minimal eyeshadow. I think it's such a fresh and modern look. I obviously haven't copied the make-up in these photos exactly - I just tried to re-create the general feel of it. January also has hooded eyes which means that it's impossible to see the eyeshadow she's wearing well. I can, however, see that she's wearing a golden colour in her inner corners and also black liner on her upper lash line so I just did a bit of guess work from that! Other than that, the skin is kept very light and natural with a nice glow on the cheeks.

~ Products Used ~

Face:

Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation 20

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20

MAC Prep & Prime Powder

Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow

Dior Bronze Matte 002 Honey Matte

MAC Something Special Cremeblend & MAC Pinch O' Peach Blush

Eyes:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

NARS Alhambra Duo

MAC Arena & Vanilla eyeshadows

Clinique Cream Liner

MAC Powersurge Eye Kohl

Chanel Mascara (Sublime)

Ardell Individual Lashes

MAC Dirty Blonde Brow Pencil & Omega eyeshadow

Lips:

MAC Hibiscus Lipstick

1. Fill in brows quite thick and not too precisely as January's brows have a natural shape. Apply MAC Painterly Paint Pot to lid as a base. Next, take the golden shade from the NARS Alhambra Duo and apply all over lid. 

2. Apply MAC Arena eyeshadow very softly into the crease. This shouldn't be too obvious - it's just to create a tiny bit of dimension.

3. Run a little bit of that MAC Arena eyeshadow underneath the lower lash line too.

4. Apply MAC Vanilla eyeshadow underneath the brow as a subtle highlight.

5. Line the top lash line with a black liner (I'm using a cream liner) and add a wing at the end. The wing should be small - much smaller to what I would usually do!

6. Line the waterline with MAC Powersurge Eye Kohl which is a lovely antique gold colour. You could also use an off white pencil if you wanted to. Apply mascara.

7. Add some individual lashes with some DUO eyeslash adhesive. Apply another layer of mascara to blend the false lashes in well with your natural ones.

The finished eye make-up............

That's it! It's a very simple, minimal eye make-up look. The main focus should be on the bright lipstick!

Some Exciting New Goodies!

A few bits that I've picked up over the past couple of weeks which I thought I'd share with you.....

Make Up For Ever Face & Body Foundation

 Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer

As I mentioned in my must-have products for summer post, Make Up For Ever's Face & Body is one of my favourite summer foundations. I've worn it for the past two summers so I had to pick up another bottle for this year! I got shade #20 since I've been wearing a bit of false tan. I also picked up Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer because I'm a big fan of the Healthy Mix foundation and thought the concealer looked quite promising too. I got #52 which is the same shade as the foundation I have. I've used this a few times now to cover dark circles and minor redness and so far so good...I've no complaints!

Kiko Milano & Topshop Nail Polish

I was in Rome at the weekend and we came across a Kiko Milano shop one of the days where I picked up a couple of their nail polishes. I'd only briefly heard of this brand before but I thought the nail polishes looked quite impressive and they had a huge range of shades! I got #'s 313 (hot pink) and 332 (purple). They were also a huge bargain at €2.50 each! I also bought a Topshop nail polish before I left in the shade Celestial which is a gorgeous cornflower blue. I love Topshop nail polishes - they always have great colours, they're opaque in two coats and are very easy to apply! Swatches below are all two coats. 

Topshop Celestial

Kiko Milano 332 & 313

MAC Hibiscus Lipstick (Surf Baby Collection)

Dior Addict Lipstick 578 Diorkiss

I went into MAC about a week ago to have a look at the new Surf Baby Collection. I wasn't exactly bowled over by anything in the collection except for one of the lipsticks called Hibiscus. I've been looking for the perfect orange-red lipstick for a month or so now and I think I've found it with this one! It's a cremesheen formula but it also has a tiny bit of a subtle gold shimmer running through it. I also bought another one of the Dior Addict lipsticks in the airport on my way back from Rome since they were significantly cheaper than they are here. I got the shade Diorkiss which is a lovely medium pink colour. I'm really loving the formula of these Dior lipsticks!

MAC Hibiscus

Dior Addict Diorkiss

RMK Ingenious Powder Eyes Eyeshadow ME-02 Metallic Gold 

I've been eyeing this RMK eyeshadow for ages now but since we don't have the brand in Ireland I was waiting to get it on my next trip to London. However I recently found out that ASOS stock RMK now so of course I had to order it! I also had a 20% discount code which I was very happy about since these are quite pricey! ME-02 is a very light gold/champagne colour and it's extremely metallic. I think it will be great in the inner corner or as a wash over the lids with some black eyeliner. I love the packaging too!

NARS Cream Blush in Cactus Flower

MAC Cremeblend Blush in Something Special 

I've recently had a complete 180 when it comes to cream blush. I used to really dislike it but since realising that they're not all a sticky, gloopy mess I now can't get enough of the stuff! When placing my ASOS order for the RMK eyeshadow I also ordered NARS Cactus Flower Cream Blush. It's a beautiful watermelon colour with some gold shimmer running through it. It may look a bit scary in the pan but it's softer when it's applied and you can sheer it out or build it up as much as you want. I think it's a great summery colour and can see it working on most skin tones. I also got one of the MAC Cremeblend Blushes when I was in there last week. The shade I got is called Something Special and is a light peachy-pink colour. Neither one of these is sticky - they're both very smooth and easy to apply. So far I really like them!

NARS Cactus Flower, MAC Something Special

Well that's it for all my new purchases. If you've tried any of these let me know what you think of them!

First Ever Face Of The Day - Pinky-Browns

Face: 

Graftobian HD Glamour Creme Foundation in Bombshell

Benefit Erase Paste Concealer in Fair

Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow in Iced Gold

Make Up For Ever Super Matte Loose Powder #12

MAC Harmony Contour Powder

Graftobian HD Glamour Creme Blush in Peach Blush

Eyes:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

MAC Haux eyeshadow

NARS Alhambra Duo (pinky side)

NARS Surabaya Duo (right side)

Face2 Cake Eyeliner

Clinique Cream Eyeliner

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

Laura Mercier Brow Pencil in Blonde

Lips:

Make Up For Ever Aqua Lip Liner in 3C

MAC Plushglass in Ample Pink

How To Clean A Sticky NARS, or Becca Compact Case

Edited to add: It has come to my attention that this method of cleaning the case results in any logos or printing on the rubberized surface being removed as well. So unfortunately NARS logos on the compact will be affected. However other brands that don't print designs or logos on the rubberized portion of the compact, like Smashbox or Becca, should be unaffected. I have been told that using a silicon-based lubricant instead of alcohol to clean the casing helps to solve this problem. However, I've yet to try it myself, and so can't be certain if it works or not.

Every girl who has had a NARS item for long enough will know that the sleek, rubberized NARS packaging will eventually become a hot, sticky mess - literally. The plastic starts melting and it basically becomes tacky goo that picks up a lot of dust and is sticky to the touch. And for some reason, it has been my experience that hot, humid climates tend to accelerate the degeneration of rubberized packaging. Often, when this happens, people resort to depotting (removing the metal pan from the plastic packaging). Fortunately, there is a fast and easy way to restore the packaging to non-stickiness that does not require you to depot.

NARS, of course, is not the only brand to use such rubberized packaging. After all, if it looks cool, everyone's going to do it. Smashbox also uses identical material for their packaging, and Becca uses something similar, so here, I'm going to show you how to clean up a sticky compact using a Smashbox case. As long as the material is made out of the same type of rubberized plastic material, this cleaning method will work.

Here is the before picture. You can imagine how sad I was to find my Smashbox eyeshadow trio looking like this:



Yes, it was horrific. It was gross, sticky, and everytime I touched it, my fingers would come off with gooey residue. It needed cleaning, stat.

Before I start, I'd like to mention that two of the more popular methods I've been seeing around - baby wipes and water - don't really work when your NARS or Smashbox case has disintegrated to this level. (Trust me, I've tried.) Both are good for cleaning off the dirt when the case is just dusty but hasn't gone sticky yet. However, once your case has degenerated and becomes sticky to the touch, neither method is particularly useful.

In order to clean your compact, you need alcohol. And I'm not thinking of booze, I'm thinking of isopropyl alcohol. If you're in the USA, rubbing alcohol is sold by the bottle, and it's relatively easy to get one. If you're in the UK or elsewhere, isopropyl alcohol isn't usually sold by itself, so you'll have to settle for surgical spirit, or a similar alcohol-based surgical disinfectant. It may not be isopropyl alcohol, but usually as long as its some sort of alcohol it will do the job. Just make sure the alcohol content is decent - I normally suggest 70% alcohol and above.

So, now that you've gotten your rubbing alcohol, all you need is a piece of tissue paper, and your sticky compact. Pour a little of the isopropyl on the tissue, and start wiping your compact:



You'll notice the alcohol will somehow remove the stickiness from your casing, leaving only behind a shiny plastic surface. It seems like the ispropyl alcohol somehow dissolves the top rubberized layer that was getting sticky, but left the underlying plastic casing untouched.

After a few wipes, this is what your new-and-improved NARS or Smashbox case will look like. Look ma, no stickiness!



However, there are going to be issues with this packaging that will make some people unhappy. For one, it changes the surface of the packaging. Before, the packaging was rubberized and matte in finish, but after cleaning, because the alcohol dissolves the rubberized bits, the casing that is left behind is a shiny black casing that's plastic but not rubberized. I guess this is how NARS, Smashbox and all the lot of them make those casings that look so cool - they get cheap black plastic containers, and coat them with some sort of rubbery material to get that matte finish. So it seems to me like it's the rubbery coating that gets sticky over time, not the plastic beneath it. Wiping the compact with alcohol removes that rubbery top surface.

Here, you can really see the difference. The container on the left has not yet been cleaned, while the one on the right was wiped down with alcohol:



I know some people dislike this cleaning process because they think it cheapens the look of the compact. That may be true, but if you ask me, I'd rather have a clean but shiny (if slightly cheap looking) than a sticky rubberized compact that grossses me out each time I touch it. Of course, it's all a matter of preference, but I've yet to discover a method that removes the stickiness without removing the rubbery layer. I'm hoping I'll eventually find one! But in the meantime, at least I can make sure that my NARS and Smashbox compacts can cleaned and usable again, without having to depot them!

NARS Tonkin Pure Matte Lipstick: Up Close and Reviewed

Last time I featured NARS, I swatched all the Pure Matte Lipsticks, so this time I'm focusing on the colour I ended up with - Tonkin, since I figured some of you would want to see what the matte texture looks like on the lips.

First of all, let me stress the teensy size of these things. If you're ordering online and can't check out the size of these things IRL (in real life), these things are tiny. They're the size of a slim lipbalm tube, and you get all of 2g of product.



I guess the tiny size is okay though, because when you apply these, you ideally shouldn't use too much. Actually, when the lipsticks were demonstrated on me, there were quite a few steps before the lipstick was actually applied. First they removed whatever I was wearing, then they put some moisturizer/exfoliater, then they applied a primer to my lips, and then they applied the lipstick. I think that in real life at home, that's way too many steps for me to take before I even whip out my lipstick, but I have to say that it did look good with all those preparatory steps.

So, I'm sure most of you are thinking at this point - I know I can get the model look by cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing, and priming, but what would the lipstick look like on if I just swiped it onto bare lips, like I usually do? Well, fortunately I have no aversion to showing it like it is, so here is NARS Tonkin on my bare lips:



It does accentuate fine lines and any dry spots (as you can see from how gross my lips look), so I'd definitely recommend that you engage in some form of preparatory work as opposed to just slapping it on. Also, when applying the lipstick, remember to dab lightly instead of swipe heavily, to prevent the lipstick from looking cakey. The great thing about this is that it's so heavily pigmented that just dabbing on the lipstick will give you pretty good coverage. NARS definitely didn't stinge on the pigment!

I'm not too sure why all the bloggers out there are saying this is so moisturizing despite being matte, because while it isn't as drying as it could potentially be, it definitely isn't moisturizing. It just sat on top of my lips but didn't do anything, if you know what I mean. I guess that's good enough for a matte lipstick.

That said, I do love the colour of Tonkin, although it's texture makes it hard to work with. It's a gorgeous neutral pinky-brown, and although it looked brown in the swatches, it's actually very universally pretty on. I know everyone's all hyped up about Bangkok and Vesuvio, but seriously, Tonkin is the underrated winner of the bunch for me.

I know most of us, in our daily routine, wouldn't be able to spend all that time cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing and priming before putting on lipstick. But we would be able to slap on some lipbalm before our lipstick. So this is how Tonkin looks with balm:



It does look better, but at the same time, it's no surprise that the balm detracted from the "pure matte" finish of the lipstick. I do think it's still wearable as a matte this way though. It's matte with a bit of a sheen, methinks, although of course opinion will be divided - some will think it's matte enough for them, while matte purists will scream that there's no way this can be considered matte. Ultimately, it all boils down to a matter of preference - some love the matte-matte look, some prefer it a little less harsh.

Wear time was pretty great on this one. It stayed on for as long as I didn't eat or drink, but unfortunately once food went into my stomach, so did this lipstick. I know a lot of people have been touting matte lipsticks as longer lasting than glossy lipsticks, but to be brutally honest, I'm not sure if that's the case. To me it's excellent, but it's not going to last past a meal. It was definitely better than a gloss, but I'm not sure if it functions like a stain.

So if you're reading yet another beauty magazine that has their pockets lined by NARS claiming how moisturizing this lipstick is, don't listen to them - they're obviously lying LOL. However, what I can tell you is that this lipstick has excellent staying power (as long as you don't eat), and that it is richly pigmented, and that Tonkin is a gorgeous, beautifully wearable shade. So if you're willing to try the matte lipstick trend, this is a great one to start with.

(This product was sent to me for review. As you can tell, this review is my honest opinion and I'm obviously not paid or compensated by the company.)