Prime Time

One of the most annoying things after spending hours perfecting a smokey eye or creating amazing eyeliner, is to have it crease on you before you've even left the house. Creasing can look really beautiful if it's intentional. If not, it's bloody annoying. Like almost everyone obsessed with makeup, I've dabbled in many a primer; some have been awful, some amazing. After a little root through my make up collection, I've chosen the ones I use most regularly:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

The UDPP is probably the most widely known and used eye primer out there. Hailed as a "legendary' product, it promised more 'vibrant eyeshadow that lasts 24+ hours and NEVER CREASES'. While it is a great product that does increase the vibrancy of eyeshadows used after, something about its texture puts me off. To me, its greasy. Even a tiny amount of product patted onto the eye takes a while to sink in and for me, has never really done much to help the longevity of my eye make-up. My eyes will still crease after a few hours and its wand does nothing to help spread the product. While I have never finished a full bottle of UDPP, its packaging makes me slightly weary, even after a few uses the primer potion seems to dry up and nothing seems to be left. Although UD have changed the bottle, the fact that I have to cut open the bottle to seize over half the bottle irritates me. Especially when it doesn't work that well on me. Am I doing something wrong?

MAC Painterly Paintpot

While I've tried many of the paintpots in MAC's collection, it is Painterly that I always revert back to. Its matte texture and skin colour makes it the most wearable, and it is definitely more hard-wearing than UDPP. By taking the smallest amount on your ring finger, gently placing it on the eye, it creates a thicker layer than the UDPP and makes the colour more vibrant and last a lot longer. But again, for me it doesn't last all day. There is still some small creasing, hardly noticeable unless pointed out. To make the product last longer, I gently apply a light layer of translucent powder, which helps to set the primer.

NYX Concealer in a Pot

And finally comes the NYX Concealer in a pot. Lots of people swear by using a concealer on the eyes, followed by a dusting of powder to set it; while others claim this never, ever works. For me, it works in the same way as the others. It lasts a few hours, until slight creasing can be seen. But for those on a budget who don't want to invest in a specific eye primer, its a great way to ensure your eyeshadow lasts longer. 

Do you have a preference when it comes to eye primers, or are you bothered?

Happy Sunday! 

Photoshoot One

As many of you are aware, I started my make up course last week. After eight days its incredible the amount I have learned, and I really love it. Yesterday, I completed my first photoshoot. Being seriously nervous person that I am, I didn't sleep the night before and kept myself awake drawing face charts in my mind. Come the morning, I was no better off in deciding what I wanted so I just went with the flow.

My beautiful friend, Jane, offered to be my model. And model she did. We had two looks to do: natural make up and bridal for our portfolio. While I was nervous at the start, the fact that I was doing make up on a friend and that the tutor created a strict but somehow relaxed atmosphere, I had a great time trying out different techniques to achieve the looks I ended up with. I used the MAC Face and Body C1 as foundation, a Cinema Secrets concealer, and a MAC quad for the eyes. The photos below aren't the photographers ones that will be put in my portfolio, but they give a good picture of what the make up looked like. 

The next shoot is male make up and trends! Let me know if you want to see those photos! 

Hope you like!

Natural Look

Bridal Look

Peachy Keen

After a recent trip to my local MAC, something The Mother has been saying for years finally struck a chord. Not only do I buy too much make up, but I repeatedly buy the same sorts of products. I was looking at the mass amount of blushes available, and was slightly overwhelmed until one of the artists came up and recommended Springsheen. Although I was initially looking for something more bronze, I instantly fell in love with its peachy tones. Money handed over, thank you ma'am.

Only to get home and discover that I had three other almost identical blushes. Doh! At the beginning I was a little miffed, having spent over twenty euro on such a similar product. But then rationalised that its a colour that suits me and as long as I don't buy another one (hopefully) equally similar life is peachy. Yeaah?

So the moral of this story? I should probably invest in a variety of products, but hey, I probably won't need to repurchase for a while!

Do you hoard similar make up? Don't even get me started on eyeshadows..

Nars Orgasm - A peachy pink with shimmer, but not glitter. Believe me, I am not a glitter person; so its fab.

Sleek Rose Gold - Sleek's dupe of Nars Orgasm and they are almost identical. If you have one, you really don't need the other. Oops.

Nars Orgasm Multiple - Ditto. Double Oops.

MAC Springsheen - Although very similar to both the Nars and Sleek blushes, its slightly more of a peach. Again, its probably not a necessity. Triple Oops.

Summer Lovin'

 

After being sick in bed all week with a virus, being able to wear make up again has made me far more excited than it should. Normally one to back away from bright colours with rapid speed, this little break from make up has made me slightly more adventurous. Cue all manner of make up slapped onto my face. And you know what, I kinda like it!

While I'll always be a Winter girl at heart, I'm happy to embrace the summer brights for the next while!

Inglot Eyeshadow Quad (bottom two colours)

MUFE Aqua Liner in 21L Dark Grey

Maybelline Volume Lashes Mascara

Chanel Pro Lumiere

Laura Mercier Secret Concealer

MAC Harmony Contour Powder

MAC Well Dressed Blush

MAC I Like it Like That l/s

Currently listening to this and this while reading Hello Beautiful and Buy Now Blog Later.

Do the summer months result in you wearing brighter colours?

Happy Monday! x

Haul Part 3: Eyeshadows

Final installment of my monster haul/swatch extravaganza!

Eyeshadows!

First up, from MAC's mega metal shadow collection:

MAC Spectacle of Yourself (sideways?)

MAC Spectacle of Yourself

While I like this eyeshadow, it comes across a little bit too orange for it to be an everyday neutral. I kind of wish I had gone for one of the purples in the collection instead, but oh well!

Next... NARS Cordura duo.

Cordura

Cordura

LOVE this. The only downside really is that the dark shade (my fav!) has a bit of fallout if you're not careful. So I just do my eyes before foundation when I'm using this, so it's no big deal! Smooth texture, beautiful colours that go amazingly well together... fab fab fab!

xox

Haul Part 1: Lipsticks

Hi everyone!

Here's part 1 of my haul/swatch post, going along with my monster of a video on Youtube, which I'll post as soon as it's up.

I thought I'd do this in separate posts so it's easier to navigate, so here we go with the lipsticks!

L-R: MAC Hue, Revlon Stormy Pink, Revlon Demure, Shiseido Perfect Rouge

Hue and Demure are quite similar, with Hue being a bit more on the pink side. Stormy Pink is a clear blue-pink matte colour, and it can be a bit drying so be careful! Also not as scary as it looks in the tube. Shiseido's red lipstick is fab. A nice deep red that works on fair skin! Win!

Same order as above!

I have yet to wear Demure, and have only played a bit with Hue, but the other two are lovely. Stormy Pink works best with a gloss or balm on top!

xox

Treasure Chest

The arrival of the beautiful weather to Ireland has resulted in me becoming a bit bored with the usual everyday make up I was wearing. I am safe in the knowledge that I will never be pried away from my neutrals, but a little variation every now and then can't hurt. While finding it difficult to sleep last night, for some reason a thought popped into my head crying "gold".

While I love the colour gold on the eyes, I always seem to bypass it when it actually comes to applying my makeup. Not anymore! After the slight panic that my eyes looked orange, I was pretty happy with the look and as I mentioned before it was a nice change from the usual browns that I had got into a habit of doing. 

MAC's Amber Lights is a colour I constantly overlook but adore when I remember to wear it. Has the weather made you want to change your makeup in anyway?

Face:

YSL Perfect Touch Foundation

MAC Harmony Blush (as contour)

Stila Blush in Hint

Eyes:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Urban Decay Sin e/s (all over lid)

MAC Amber Lights (from middle to outer lid)

MUFE Star Powder in Gold (centre lid)

MUFE Aqua Liner in Brown (2L)

Blinc Tubing Mascara

Lips:

MAC Florabundance lipgloss



Thou Givest Fever

HAI to all the new people who have followed, the number has done a little surge in the last while and it means a lot!

Last night, I went to the 21st of a friend. Having had work all day, I didn't have time to wash my hair or do much with my face so a quick smokey eye was the only way to go.

Face:

YSL Teint Resist

MAC Harmony (as contour) and Melba blush 

Josie Maran Lovely Palette (as highlight)

Eyes:

MAC Painterly Paintpot

MAC Tempting, Satin Taupe and Smut e/s

MAC Dazzlelight/Naked Lunch as highlight

MAC Smoulder Eyeliner

Eyeko Big Eyes Mascara

Lips:

MAC Hue l/s

Laura Mercier Pink Diamond l/g

Sadly, I borrowed my friend's H&M Guns and Roses top/dress so I have to give that back! With it I wore H&M leggings and Topshop knee-high socks tucked into Primark boots (which were a total of NINE euro!). And considering I wasn't drinking and was walking around in them for a good few hours, they were really comfortable! Energy drinks were the way to go!

Ones to follow:

Anouska - absolutely beautiful Irish model/photographer and so lovely! Her posts are really inspirational and she was voted Ireland's Most Influential Model 2010. Jealous.

Katie Elisabeth - Again gorgeous Irish blogger/vlogger. I'm always so happy when I see a new video or post pop up. Follow, follow, follow.

Onna - OhMyDays she's beautiful!

Songs on replay:

This, this, this, and this.

Happy Sunday!

Think I'll Pass..

I would have preferred to hide away yesterday instead of celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but my friends convinced me to go to the parade. Big mistake. Large crowds of drunken teenagers shoving their way into a crowd isn't exactly my idea of fun. We went for a lovely lunch in The Porterhouse and then had to wait over an hour for a bus, in which I was treated to a beautifully drunken rendition of Rihanna's S&M by thirteen year olds. Nice.

Anyway, we went to a friends house for the night as the thought of navigating our way through town among all the drunken teens was somehow unappealing. I was bored with the makeup I had been wearing all day, so decided to mess a bit with my face. I put on my eyeshadow and then decided to put a slick of Vaseline on top to make it shiny and let it crease. It lasted all night and I really liked the look.

Face:

YSL Teint Resist

MAC Harmony Blush (as contour)

Josie Maran Lovely Palette (to highlight)

MAC Melba Blush

Eyes:

MAC Patina and Satin Taupe e/s

MAC Coffee Eyeliner Pencil

Vaseline (patted on top)

Blinc Tubing Mascara

Lips:

MAC Hue l/s

Irish Bloggers Meet Up

  Yesterday, a few of us Irish bloggers met up after a while of chatting. It was really a lovely day and was great to meet other people who had the same common interests as myself. Not only did we all get on really well, but it was brilliant to actually meet the people you follow on Youtube or Blogger.

We had no real plan for the day, but a massive chunk of it was spent in Brown Thomas! We met up pretty early in the afternoon, shopped for a while and then got lunch in the lovely Calzone Cafe. Then we wandered over to find Make Up For Ever, which to our upset we found was closed on a Sunday. In order to immerse ourselves in make up, we made a lightening fast dash to Brown Thomas, where I'm pretty sure we helped MAC reach their targets for the week!

Almost everyone bought a few things in Forever21, MAC and Dior and it was really great to talk about products we liked and those we didn't. After a long day of shopping, we collapsed into the doors of Starbucks (Louise's first time ever!) and rejuvinated on coffee, frappucinos and hot chocolate. All that walking, talking and shopping really wore me out and I'm embarassed to admit I was in bed by half nine!

Katie and Laura

Myself and Sandra

Louise and Sarah

Like I said before, it was really great to meet the girls and ramble away about our love of makeup and beauty products. Especially because there are so little Irish bloggers out there. It was a great day, the weather stayed lovely and we shopped til we dropped! One's to follow: Louise, Katie, Sandra, Aoife, Sarah, Kate and Laura.

Here is a haul of the stuff I bought yesterday:

Passport Pouts

Holding to my word, I ventured out of my house last night. Bad idea, soon after I got up this morning I was back in my bed. The whole "sick skin sheen" destroyed my new passport photos on top of my disastrously red cheeks. Ah well, no one see's it much eh?

My friends and I have decided to go to the university ball on in two weeks. The prospect of hair, make up and pretty dress is more than I can bear, and I'm looking forward more to that than the night itself. Watch this space as I'll probably do a few looks so you can help me choose what to wear etc. Excited!


Today brings a FOTD, as my face hasn't featured in this blog for a while (lucky you)..This was before my body realised it still wasn't better. In bed with dark chocolate (with raspberry bits none the less), hot water bottle and a wad of tissues.

Happy Monday!

Face:

Laura Mercier Creme Smooth Foundation

Laura Mercier Secret Concealer

MAC Harmony (as contour) and Melba blush

Eyes:

MAC Constructivist Paintpot

MAC Patina (all over) and Satin Taupe (outer corner and crease) e/s

MUFE Star Powder in Copper 922 (centre of lid)

MUFE liner in Pearly Brown 2L

NYX Black Mascara

Lips:

Nada. Nothing. Zilch.

New Year, New Me?

I'll be the first to admit that I hate New Years celebrations with a passion. I hate the awkward ten second countdown to midnight, I hate the over the top hugging and kissing that ensues, I hate that people feel the need to get drunk in order to ring in the new year and I hate the fact that people feel they must go out to celebrate it.

Having said that, I did go out this year. My friend is moving away so had a joint going away/New Years party and I felt obliged to attend. While most of my friends drank themselves into oblivion, I just sat there feeling out of place and scratching the nail polish of my nails. There were good bits to the night, but I dislike the holiday so much I felt I couldn't enjoy it.

I'm not one for resolutions. I usually punch way above my weight and end up failing miserably in the first few days. However this year is one that I want to be better than last; to be happy, for my family to be healthy, forget some people existed and meet new ones I'm glad do.

I've put in a few photos of what I wore last night, sadly had to change the dress because I thought it was too fancy. I got a new video camera thingy yesterday that takes photos too. It's HD so every blemish is highlighted, I apologise in advance!

Face:

Laura Mercier Creme Smooth Foundation

Laura Mercier Secret Concealer

Mac Harmony and Melba Blush

Sleek Rose Gold Blush

Eyes:

Mac Painterly Paintpot

Urban Decay Sin e/s (all over)

Mac Amber Lights and Antiqued (middle) and Twinks e/s (outer corner)

Urban Decay Aqua Liner in Black

Eyeko Big Eyes Mascara

Lips:

Nivea Lip Balm/Condtioner

Happy New Year!

Inspiration

I've said a few times that I love the cut crease eyeshadow look. It wasn't until I got the Louise Young LY38 that I was able to do it properly, none of the brushes I had were precise enough. The face of the day I do are usually daytime looks and I never really show night makeup so I thought I'd do this (also procrastinating uni work!)

Although I won't be wearing this tonight, I will definitely be wearing it over the holidays!

Face:

YSL Teint Resist

MAC Harmony Blush (as contour)

MAC Melba Blush

Eyes:

Sleek Storm Palette pale matte brown for eyebrows

MAC Brule e/s (all over)

Sleek Storm palette (matte brown and black)

Eyeko Graffiti Liner in Black

MUFE Liners in 10L and 16 (under eye)

Eyeko Big Eyes Mascara

Lips:

MAC Creme D'Nude l/s

MAC Florabundance l/g

 

 

 

 I then decided to see what the look would be like with a bright lipstick, and I think it works. I used Eyeko Liptastik in Loud Mouth.

This look might be familiar to you, I used Pixiwoo's video for inspiration. See it here. 

Happy Thursday!