Grey Eyeshadow Tutorial

Something a bit more fun today - dramatic grey eyeshadow with a pop of bright pink on the lips to brighten things up! You could tone it down with a nude lip though too if you wanted. Hope you enjoy it!

~ Products Used ~

Face:

Chanel Pro Lumiere Foundation 20

Make Up For Ever Lift Concealer #3

Make Up For Ever Star Powder on cheekbones

MAC Prep & Prime Powder

MAC Matte Bronzer

MAC Pink Swoon Blush

Eyes:

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

MAC Vanilla, Gesso, Scene & Typographic

Make Up For Ever Star Powder #902

Clinique Cream Liner

Max Factor False Lash Mascara

Ardell Demi Wispies

Laura Mercier Blonde Brow Pencil

Lips:

Dior Addict Lipstick in 865 Collection

 1. Apply MAC Painterly as a base. Sweep some Vanilla eyeshadow (or any shade which is close to your skin tone) all over the lid up to the brow. This ensures that the following eyeshadows will blend seemlessly. Next take some Gesso eyeshadow and appy it to the inner half of the lid.

 2. Take MAC Scene eyeshadow or another medium grey shade and, with a flat brush, apply this to the outer half of the lid. Now take a fluffy blending brush like the MAC 217 and blend this across the lid into the Gesso shade.

 3. Now take a dark grey (I'm using MAC Typographic) and apply this to the outer corner of the eye on a flat brush. I created an angled shape with this. Use the same flat brush to sweep the eyeshadow across the lid into the medium grey shade. So there should be a nice graduation of colour now from light to dark.

 4. Take some more Vanilla eyeshadow and use this to blend around the edges so that they're not so harsh. I used a MAC 222 Brush for this.

 5. Take some of MAC Scene and run it under the eyes. Now take some shimmer (I used a Make Up For Ever Star Powder) and press this over the area where the Gesso eyeshadow was applied on the inner corner. Take it around the tear duct area too.

 6. With a gel or liquid liner, line your top lash line. Apply some black liner to your waterline too. Add mascara to top and bottom lashes. Apply some false eyelashes and that's it!

Here's the finished eye make-up again.........

I hope everyone had a great week/weekend. I received my Visa for Australia a few days ago which is equally exciting and extremely scary! It definitely hasn't quite hit me yet that I'll be moving there very soon. Trying to think of how I'm going to manage packing everything is really beyond me at the moment. It will definitely be very nice to be going somewhere with some lovely sunshine though. I'm going to be passing through California too for a few days on my way there which I absolutely can't wait for. I lived in California for a few months several years ago and I love the place so it will be so nice to be back there. Beats Ireland any day! :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!

Pink Eyeshadow Tutorial

I'm still on a bit of a quest to stay away from brown eyeshadow all the time so I decided to use a bit of pink today. I don't use these kind of shades enough but I actually really love soft baby pink eyeshadow - it's a great colour for grey eyes in particular. I amped it up a bit here with some mauve and plum and lots of black liner.

~ Products Used ~

Face:

Make Up For Ever HD Foundation #120

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer NW20

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Pearl

MAC Harmony Blush for contouring

MAC Mineralize Blush in Gentle

Make Up For Ever Super Matte Loose Powder

Eyes:

Clinique Quick Eyes Cream Shadow in Starlit Pink

MAC eyeshadows in Seedy Pearl, Shale, Shadowy Lady, 

Vellum & Vanilla

Clinique Cream Liner 

Max Factor False Lash Effect Mascara

Elise half lashes

MAC Dirty Blonde Pencil & Omega eyeshadow on brows

Lips:

Topshop Lipstick in Show Off

1. Apply a pink base to the eyelid. I used Clinique's Cream Shadow in Starlit Pink.

2. Use a flat brush like the MAC 242 to press MAC Seedy Pearl eyeshadow onto the lid.

3. Blend MAC Shale eyeshadow into the crease with a 217 brush.

4. Run some of that Shale under the lower lash line using the tip of a flat brush. I used the 242 again.

5. On a slightly pointed brush, apply MAC Shadowy Lady eyeshadow about halfway into the crease and blend some onto the outer corner too. The brush in the photo is by Louise Young but it didn't pack on enough colour so I used the Laura Mercier crease brush after. If you have small eyes you could use a pencil brush for this too.

6. Take some Shadowy Lady underneath the eye too - just on the outer third of the lower lash line.

7. On a small pencil brush like the MAC 219, apply some MAC Vellum eyeshadow onto the tear duct area.

8. Blend an eyeshadow which is a shade lighter than your skin tone under the brow as a highlight and to soften the edges of the crease colour. I used MAC Vanilla on a 222 brush for this.

9. Line the top lash line with a black gel/cream liner and wing it out at the end. You can have a look at my winged liner tutorial here. I used Clinique's Cream Liner on a Louise Young LY24 brush.

10. Apply the gel liner along the waterline. Line the outer third of the lower lash line with the gel liner too and before it has time to dry smudge it out with a q-tip to soften it. I went back and added a bit more Shale eyeshadow under the eye at this point too. Now just apply mascara and add false lashes if you wish. I added some half lashes by Elise. .........That's it!

Please excuse the messy hair in the above photo...I was having some issues with it! It's been quite dry lately so I'm trying to use less heat on it when I can. I think I might get some Moroccanoil to try out but If anyone knows some other really great conditioning products then please do leave your recommendations in the comments! It would be very helpful!

Hope anyone in Canada had a good Canada day on the 1st. Oh and a happy 4th July (tomorrow) to everyone in the US!