A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ve mentioned these maybe once or twice (or 7 or 8 times)…

When I first tried a GOSH Velvet Touch Liner, I was genuinely amazed at how they performed.  They just work.  They’re creamy and smooth to apply.  Once applied they don’t budge from the waterline on me for around 6 hours and if applied along the lower lashline, they don’t move until I remove my makeup that evening.

They come in an amazing array of colours and each pencil will set you back around a fiver.

I realised a few weeks ago, that since buying these I hadn’t reached for any of my other pencils (and eyeliner is kinda my ‘thing’, so I had a few!).  I ended up giving away, selling or binning my eyeliner stash and am now on the wonderful mission of hunting these down in every shade available.

Have you ever ‘purged’ your stash in such a way?  Now… if only I could do the same for mascaras…

GOSH Velvet Touch Eye Liners are priced at £5 each and are available from Superdrug (instore & online).  Don’t forget, there’s a Superdrug 3for2 promotion going on at the moment aswell!

Here’s that FOTD I promised showing the GOSH Smoky Eyes Palette I was sent.

Remember the one?

No, sorry not that one… I meant this one…

*alright, stop bitching about their crap stock imagery already*

Anyway, I was semi pleased that it wasn’t hugely pigmented as I find the Sleek MakeUP Graphite palette so hard to work with.  Although I was unsure if I would get much payoff from that light grey (2nd from right) at all…

And I was right! (which makes a change).

I do really like this for a non-overpowering smoky eye.  It feels more grown up, more genteel and sophisticated than the Sleek Graphite Palette.  Unfortunately, I got nothing from that pale grey shade at all.  I applied it in the crease and blended upwards but you just wouldn’t be able to tell.

I hereby class this a “nearly” palette… “nearly” good, but no cigar.

I was very excited to see the promo image for this latest GOSH collection which has been out for a little while now.

The eyeshadow palette in particular caught my eye:

*sigh* Such beautiful taupes…

Unfortunately for me, the stock image looks nothing like the product.  Way to go Mr. GOSH product photographer/retoucher.

This is what the palette really looks like:

Black to White… hey, where did my lovely taupes go?

I can’t really bitch too much – I was sent this by the nice people at GOSH.

Well I can bitch, ‘cos that’s what I do when I don’t like something… so yeah… where the hell was I?

Oh yes, it’s often helpful if the promo images reflect the actual product, don’t you think?

Let’s have a look at the packaging and see if the palette can redeem itself.

Oooh, a tutorial.  I’m a sucker for these and always happy to receive some inspiration and direction!

This is really nice, sturdy casing… good job!

2 eyeshadow applicators and a big mirror… all good stuff.

How about the actual shadows themselves?

Disappointing really…

They feel chalky and they’re simillar to Sleek shadows in as much as they’re quite soft and crumbly.  Shadow dust will fly everywhere when picking up the colour with a brush.

That’s where the Sleek comparison ends.  Unlike Sleek these give very little payoff in terms of colour.  Wanna see?

That third grey from the left is a real bastard to get much out of. *swipe, swipe, swipe*.

Having said that… hand on my heart, I don’t mind at all in this instance.  I usually err on the side of heavy-handedness when it comes to applying eye shadows and with a palette of this nature, my looks usually end up all black and not much else.

The Sleek Graphite palette is a real bugger for this as it’s *so* pigmented I generally look like I have a pair of black eyes after using it.  This, on the other hand gives me the chance to build up the colour and stop short of Panda.

However, for most… I’m sure that this lack of pigmentation is not a good thing.  And if it were a palette of different shades, I’d most likely agree with you.

One more thing I will say though, is that it does state that you can use these eyeshadows wet… I shall give it a go and be back with a FOTD, you never know… it could be amazing – eternal optimist that I am!

I’ve heard great things about the nail polishes from this collection.  In general, I find GOSH Nail polishes to be *awesome* but I’m still dipping my big toe into the world of glitter polishes and don’t need another black so didn’t pick either of these up.

The Gosh Bright n’ Black Collection is available to buy from Superdrug and the eyeshadow palette is priced at £8.99

How have you been finding the collection?  Have you tried any other GOSH eyeshadows?

I woke up to an email this morning announcing the arrival of Get Lashed lashes for sale on the Nails Inc. website (like that website isn’t tempting enough already right?)

Choose from 8 available styles:

L-R: Get Cute, Get Natural

L-R: Get Gorgeous, Get Kissable

L-R: Get Glam, Get Flirty

L-R: Get Funky, Get Playful

Prices vary from £7 up to £13 depending on style.  Personally, I’m loving the look of Get Kissable!

Which of these styles would be perfect for your Christmas parties this season?

A couple of weeeks ago whilst killing some time waiting to head off to the Maybelline event… Myself, Sian, Sophie, Lydia & Leanne spent a little time browsing Charles Fox in Covent Garden.

I spied upon this little palette and loved it’s metallic sheen  and wearable Autumnal shades.  Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a Kryolan “Shades” Palette in Santiago.

Pretty no?  I love the inclusion of the dark blue over there on the right… great addition.  And the brush that comes with the palette isn’t completely useless either which is more than refreshing!  I can’t remember the exact price but it was around £15.

Here’s yesterday’s FOTD using the above palette.  Apologies for focusing on the wrong eye & then being too lazy to retake.

Products Used:

Eyes:

~ Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion
~ Kryolan Santiago Shades Palette (palest gold on lid/khaki gold in crease)
~ MAC Fluidline in Sweet Sage on upper lid
~ MAC Fluidline in Waveline on lower lashline
~ Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara

Face:

~ Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation (still giving this some love… review to come soon)
~ Silk Naturals Maybe Baby Blush (Mac Blushbaby Clone)
~ MAC Blush in Honour (swept gently over the top of Maybe Baby)

Lips:

~ Urban Decay Lip Primer Potion
~ GOSH Darling Lipstick

Do you own any Kryolan goodies?

Green, not the best colour choice for me… typically one of my favourites – boo hoo!

I’m still showing the I-Divine Original palette some love…

Face:

Revlon Colorstay in Ivory
Silk Naturals Blush in Climax (Orgasm Dupe)

Eyes:

Sleek I-Divine Original Palette (Green and Gold shades)
Shu Uemura Painting Liner in M Brown
Ruby & Millie Metallic I-Writer in Green
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Green Grass
Kanebo Kate Enamel Glow Waterproof Mascara in Black

Lips:
Avon Glazewear Lipstick in Pink Kiss (shade now discontinued)

I don’t usually wear pinks.. but these shadows from The She Space’s Taurus Astrology Collection were just too cute not to.

Face:
Cory Cosmetics Mica Free foundation in Bare Beige
Earthen Glow Minerals Blush in Berries & Cream
MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural & Shimmer in Light/Medium
The Body Shop Vitamin E Face Mist

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion
The She Space Mineral Eyeshadow in Little Explosions
The She Space Mineral Eyeshadow in Traditional Taurus
Ruby & Millie I-Writer in Black
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Black Ink

Lips:
GOSH Pearl Shine Lipstick in Starlet (discontinued)

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

Just another boring neutral FOTD…

Eyes:

Body Shop Shimmer Cube in Warm (Thanks Tali!)
Sleek Ink Pot in Black (Dominatrix)
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara
GOSH Velvet Touch eyeliner (Black)

Face:

Gale Hayman Youth Light Foundation (Porcelain) – A Direct Cosmetics cheapy I’ve surprised myself by liking!
Earthen Glow Minerals Matte Blush (Emotions)
MAC MSF in Perfect Topping

Lips:

GOSH Darling Lipstick

My hooded eyelids make things really tricky for a novice like me… I can hardly ever achieve a decent eyeliner flick, and getting my shadows to appear above the crease without looking plain odd I find really tricky.  Help!

I love GOSH polishes, I find them consistently good quality, with lovely pigmented shades that are easy to apply – never needing more than 2 coats to achieve opacity.

This one is no exception… look!

Hello beautiful!

Carmine is a lovely shade which is pretty hard to describe (and photograph).  It’s a beautiful rich, sophisticated magenta with flashes of scarlet and gold.  Applies like a dream… this is 2 coats:

This photo sadly does not do it justice at all.  It looks scarlet here and doesn’t show off the beautiful hot magenta.  I think you can just about make out the magenta more towards the tips and the gold flashes more at the base of the nail (particularly on the little finger), but it’s far, far more apparent in real life.

I’m flippin’ loving GOSH this summer – and it’s back on a 3for2 in Superdrug at the moment!

Welcome to my world of boring but wearable neutrals.  I love colour, but I’m not sure it loves me – I’m still experimenting though so hopefully my FOTDs will get a little more adventurous over time!

Face:
Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer
Grimas Concealer – Shade G0
Bourjois Lilas D’or Blush – (I was a bit too light handed)
Lavshuca Blush/Highlighter Duo – PK1
SK-II Airbrush Foundation Shade OP1 – (my first test with it! ‘citing!)

Eyes:
Revlon Brow Fill in Powder
Urban Decay Primer Potion
Sleek i-Divine Eyeshadow Palette – Storm
Stargazer Cake Eyeliner – Brown (Upper) – still loving it!
Some random Boots No7 Brown Kohl (Lower)
Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara

Lips:
Art Deco Waterproof Lip Liner #17 – used as base and liner
Elizabeth Arden High Shine Lip Gloss – #10 Pink Champagne

So after loving a Joe Blasco concealer I’d recently hit pan on and lemming the Ben Nye concealer wheel palette for about 100 years but not having the willpower to save up for it, I hit a dead end in my search for an industrial strength concealer.

I don’t really bother with many high street concealers nowadays, although I still carry my trusty stick of Rimmel Hide The Blemish in my glove box.  Having said that, seeing as I literally can’t remember the last time I used it, I probably shouldn’t get within 10 feet of it without wearing full on hazmat gear.

Where was I?  Oh yes, Grimas…

Grimas are a Dutch company who as well as being founded the year I was born are also sharing enough to let us know that they employ 3 mentally disabled members of staff.  I kid you not, check here – it really does say that.  Equal opportunities rock!

Anyway, back to the products…

I picked up a camouflage concealer in shade G0 and a creme make up base/foundation in G1.

Camouflage Concealer:

Creme Base/Foundation:

The texture of the concealer is quite hard, but very pigmented (as you would expect from a stage makeup brand) – a little goes a very long way!

When I swatched the concealer I thought it was going to be wayyy too pale for me, but it actually blended in really nicely and although I wasn’t expecting it, I found that it neutralized redness better than anything I’ve ever tried before – including various specialized green and yellow concealers.

The foundation is a little dark for me to be honest so I may end up going back for shade G0… I need some honest opinions from my husband and some good light to see if I’ve tangoed myself so I’m reserving judgement at the moment.  The texture of the foundation is a lot thinner and oilier than the concealer making it easier to blend.  However, it’s still highly pigmented and a light touch is the order of the day!

The foundation applied nicely with my stippling brush which I was pleased about as I’m loathe to use sponges which always seem to make cream foundations streak terribly on me.

On to the swatches…

G1 Foundation on the left/G0 Concealer on the right – note* my face is a shade or two darker than my hand!

Considering they’re supposed to be 1 shade different from each other – that shade difference is a yawning chasm and I’m blatantly somewhere in the middle of it.

As I said, I’m not completely convinced that despite this, it doesn’t still work for my skin tone.  However I’ll let you be judge, jury and executioner with another of those hideous before/after shots.

The concealer (like most thick concealers) will settle in fine lines, so I’d avoid the undereye area with this stuff.  I was also impressed by the fact that it didn’t seem to need setting with powder.  Before I’d had a chance to set it – the doorbell rang with my Asda food shop so I was distracted for over half an hour and when I remembered that I hadn’t powdered and looked in the mirror expecting to see huge amounts of shine and slip – it still looked as matte as it had when I first put it on.  Not massively high maintenance then!

I purchased Grimas from Facepaint UK as they were the only company I could find that charged a reasonable £2 p&p within the UK.  I’m also pleased to report that delivery was super quick (1 working day from ordering).

Overall, I’m really pleased with my experiences with Grimas – especially at how good the concealer neutralizes any redness.  My only disappointment is with the shades on offer – I’d love there to be something inbetween G0 and G1.

[starreview tpl=14]