A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

As promised, my pigment pressing method…

It’s a mammoth tutorial and rather picture heavy, so please click ‘read more’ to continue on the pigment pressing adventure!

The cast of characters:

I’ve provided links of where you might purchase supplies, feel free to shop around – the links are there as a convenience only!

1. Minimum 70% Rubbing Alcohol (also known as surgical spirit or iso-propyl alcohol)

2. 5ml Syringe

3. Biosilk Silk Therapy (the link I provided is a VERY good price for Biosilk, I paid more than this)

4. Orange Stick or any suitable mixing tool you have to hand

5. Empty Palette or Pans (Those 26mm pans will fit in an ELF empty palette although may not be magnetized – easily fixed with a self-adhesive magnetic sheet though)

6. BarryM Dazzle Dust or pigment of your choice (Not MAC)

7. Suitable mixing container

8. 10 pence piece (I think the US size equivalent is a quarter?)

9. Textured material/kitchen roll

Read the rest of this entry »

I received this email in my inbox yesterday and thought it may be of interest to some of my UK ladies.

The blurb:

We’ve got just the thing to lift you out of the January blues and make you feel fabulous – a free Barry M make-up kit! The five-piece set includes an eye pencil, eyeshadow, nail varnish and lipgloss, which all come in a gorgeous pink cosmetics bag, worth £20*!

To get yours, simply collect four of the tokens that will be appearing in Fabulous magazine every week for five weeks from this Sunday (17th January). Then redeem in any of our Superdrug stores between 7-14th February to collect your goodies.

On a mildly related and not very PR friendly note… does anyone else get the urge to kick Ms. Holden up her smug, bony arse?  Just me then…

This week feels like it’s dragging… and it’s only Tuesday!!  Let’s have a quick Eye of the Day for a few minutes distraction…

Eyes:

Inner Corner: B Never Too Busy… – B Delight
Lid: BarryM – #88 Winter Berry
Crease: E.L.F Mineral Eyeshadow – Royal
Outer V: NYX Ultra Pearl Mania – Charcoal
Mascara: Rimmel Sexy Curves – Black
Eyeliner (1st Layer): MAC Fluidline – Silverstroke
Eyeliner (2nd Layer): eBay Infinity Liner – Black

Don’t know if it’s the ‘right’ thing to do, but I love layering my eyeliner like this.  I’m a total eyeliner fiend and have so many, it’s surely the only way I’ll ever get through them all!

Seriously, it’s a great way to wear a pop of bright colour along the lashline, without commiting yourself to making a statement with it.  I often wear gold and blue eyeliners in this way.

Ok, that distraction worked for about 40seconds… hurry up Hump Day!

I bought the Kryolan Supra Color to use as a base for my mineral eyeshadows which tend to apply sheerly without a solid base not to mention the fall out if they don’t have something to sitck to!

It’s basically a black grease paint.  Upon opening, it has a clear layer of grease ontop which I ‘patted’ off with a piece of kitchen roll until I got to the black stuff below!

As you can see by the swatch above, it’s a very deep and pigmented black which applies smoothly.  You can use a brush or your finger to apply, I’ve been using a synthetic flat shadow brush to apply which seems to work really well.

I then pat my mineral/loose eyeshadows ontop of a thin layer of the Supra Color.  The shadows stick really well to the Supra Color with minimal fall out and even more impressively, I’ve discovered that I actually do have some blending ability!  It is SO much easier to blend out eyeshadows over this base than it is over UDPP.

Here’s the finished result:

Unfortunately (and as I mentioned yesterday) my eyeshadows start to crease after a mere 3 hours 🙁  UDPP holds them firm for at least 9 hours on me.

The picture below was taken after 3 hours wear:

What a shame huh?

JoBetterDays & GraceLondon both recommend I try it over a little UDPP.  I’m really hopeful that’ll make the difference because my GOD I don’t want to give up my new-found blending abilities!  Imagine… colour that lasts AND looks fantastic!

Not too much to ask… is it?

I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of BarryM’s polishes.  I know that some people find them not as long lasting as the likes of Nails Inc and O.P.I (out of curiousity, do YOU pronounce it Oh Pee Eye, or Ohpee?) but I simply get equal wear out of these polishes with a fantasticly smooth formula and I can’t argue with that.

I’m on a bit of a “grey” kick at the moment and picked 2 of these shades up in Boots this week:

This is a real true “concrete” grey which I thought would look hideous on my pale pink toned skin.  I was wrong! That never happens! (no it doesn’t).

The photo makes it look slightly darker than it appears in daylight (picture was taken under flash conditions) – but the tone is true to life.  It’s nice and glossy and I’m really enjoying catching some admiring glances at my fingertips whilst out and about.

I am desperate for BarryM to release some more shades!  Duotones anyone? Do you have a favourite BarryM shade?

BarryM is currently on a 3for2 in Boots and these polishes are priced at £2.89 ea or £2.95 from the BarryM website.

I didn’t realise that it had been so long since my last FOTD back in the middle of August!

You may be able to tell from today’s look that I’m having a hard time saying goodbye to summer.  I was gonna do an Illamasqua FOTD featuring 2 products from the Dystopia Collection, but with this mini indian summer we’re currently enjoying I’m gonna postpone that for another week or so.  Hopefully by that time I’ll have my Phenomena  Liquid Metal too!

Anyway, back to this Blue and Bronze look…

Products Used:

Face:

Miss Sporty Light Energy Foundation in Shade 01 (This was an emergency purchase whilst on holiday, beware if you put it on even a tiny bit too heavily the texture is revolting and it goes all flaky.  I mix a little in with my moisturiser for this ultra sheer coverage.)
Body Shop Blush Trio in Cool Dusk (I thought I’d like this when I bought it, but I didn’t realise just how perfect a pop of pink this is for my ultra cool, ultra pale skintone.)

Eyes:

UDPP (of course)
NYX Loose Pearl Eyeshadow in Ocean Blue
Boots 17 Solo Eyeshadow in Mardi Gras lightly applied over the top of the NYX to tone it down a little
Barry M Dazzle Dust in #44 Bronze in crease
MAC Fluidline in Waveline on top lid
L’oreal Voluminous Mascara

Lips:

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in 112 Ambre Rose

Courtesy of Jen @ MizzWorthy, I received this lovely polish.  It applied beautifully, the above shows 3 coats (although it only needs 2).  Barry M’s Pink Flamingo is such a gorgeous  coral summery colour.  The name describes the shade perfectly!

I’m on my 2nd full day, and it’s not displaying any tip wear yet – incredible.  The only negative is that I’m unsure how well this colour suits my cool skintone, I think it would look amazing on warmer toned people.  Regardless, I’m showing off my tips with my pride, this is one stonking shade!

Here’s a simple, summery one colour eye FOTD using BarryM Dazzle Dust in Bronze #44.

I love this shade, and normally use a little on the centre of my eyelid to give a neutral eye a little bit of a pop. When I got up this morning, the weather was beautiful so I decided I was gonna go a little brighter on the eye makeup than usual:

I can’t decide if I look ‘glowy’ or just plain shiny.

Eyes:
BarryM Dazzle Dust #44 (Bronze)
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Golden Cadillac
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara
Sleek Ink Pot Gel Liner in Dominatrix (Black)

Face:
Clarins Truly Matte Foundation
Earthen Glow Minerals Blush in Copala Beach (♥)
MAC MSF Natural in Light/Medium

Lips:
Burts Bees Super Shiny Gloss in Sheer Lemon

And just for shits and giggles, we all know that it’s not easy taking these FOTD photos… arms outstretched, trying to find the right buttons to press (even harder on a DSLR), searching out the best light in the house and all the while trying not to gurn.

So here’s an outtake, “My… what a big nose you have.”  And fan-fuckintastic, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see what my nose blackheads looked like in full macro, technicolour glory.

You lot just need to thank God for small mercies.  I must have picked my nose at some point before taking this picture or it coulda been a hell of a lot uglier.

Mrs ‘Keepin’ it Real’ Lipglossiping xxxx

Love.

Longwearing, 1-2 coat opacity, smooth application, quick drying, non-staining, cool-toned suiting, hot & striking.

Only thing I don’t love is the application brushes, which I find a little on the thin side, requiring up to 8 strokes to cover the nail evenly and smoothly – but thankfully it’s not SO quick drying that it starts to drag if you go over it a few times.

Another thing I love is the price!  £2.89 each or 2 for £4.99 at the moment in Superdrug.

So I’m getting a little braver – go me!  Still nowhere near as accomplished or imaginative as some of you lovely ladies, but – baby steps!

As you can see, with this FOTD – the focus is on the eyes.  There’s a slick of sheer lipgloss there but it’s barely pigmented and again, I’m crap at making my blushes show up.  I either go too subtle or all out Bozo the clown stylee – grrr, it’s something I really need to get the hang of!

I can’t bring myself to apply above the crease either… I always end up attacking it with a q-tip.  It just doesn’t suit me – I look in the mirror and shout “Eurgh, garish – gerrit off!” – and yet it looks so lovely on other ladies.  Maybe my eyes are too deep set to carry it off?  Maybe I’m just a big pussy who doesn’t deserve to own any makeup if she can’t wear it proudly and unashamedly – I’m on the fence with that judgement.

Products used (Eyes):

Sleek – I-Divine Palette (Original) – Colours used shown below:

Sleek Ink Pot Gel Liner – Purple Rain
Barry M Glitter Dust – Black Purple (outer V and under eye)
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara – I love it!