Review: Illamasqua Powder Eye Shadow in Angst/How To Wear Red Eyeshadow

Red eye shadow is one of those products that can be extremely intimidating. Matte colours in particular can be difficult to work with in brights but with a few tricks all kinds of red can be very easy to wear and they really make eye colours "pop". I've always enjoyed using orange and rust coloured eye shadows but I'd never really tried to use bright red. It's always something that's been on my "must find" list so I was ecstatic when I found Angst in the Illamasqua sale for just £5! I know it's a bit 2010/11 trend-wise but I think there's always a place for red.

Angst is a bright, matte, red shadow packaged in Illamasqua's signature plastic container. If I'm absolutely honest it was a little less pigmented than what I was hoping. On clean skin it appeared quite pink. It is however, very soft and has minimal fall out. Wear time can't be faulted either. It was pretty much perfect until I removed it. I found that it was best used over a white base such as the NYX Milk pencil to get a true colour. I personally used the e.l.f Sheer Eye Primer and MUA eyeliner in Snow White respectively for my looks.

 Block Colour

"Peeking" Liner

(please excuse brows in above looks. Oops)

I personally find that when it comes to using red like this, trying to create anything hazy or smoky will result in making you look a bit tired/self medicated (not great.) Obviously combining red with browns/blacks will combat this and there are some great tutorials out there for red smoky eyes but for mattes it's best to go for clean, simple looks. The best and most wearable, in my opinion, are block colours and using it as a liner. Obviously mine aren't perfect and I'm no make up artist but these are both looks that I'd be happy to wear out of the house.

Block Colour:
Think about the shape that you want to create. Pick something that will be flattering for your eye and face shape. I personally have a round face so I always like to wing my liner and shadows upwards to elongate my face. Gently sketch out your shape using the shadow until your happy with it. It's then just a case of filling in your design and adding any liner or mascara you wish! A super simple and fast way to a wearable high-fashion look.

"Peeking" Liner:Even faster is this fun, easy look. Usually I would always use black liquid against my lash line but since I had the Illamasqua Havoc liner to hand I thought I'd try it out! It's simply a case of applying any dark liquid or pencil to your lash line and then, using a small brush, follow the line just above using your shadow. I was unsatisfied with the pigmentation the first time I tried this so I went back and applied a white pencil liner under the red. This improved the colour 100 fold and I'm very happy with the result! This technique can make any bright colour very easy to wear. I often do this using black liquid and neon orange pencil and always get complimented.

Essential Tips to Make it Wearable:
1. Always use some kind of primer. Not only will it improve the pigmentation and staying power but it will prevent the staining that is very common with colours like this
2. Try to remove as much redness from your face as possible. Any blemishes or red pigmentation will clash with the look. This includes particularly blood shot eyes - red shadow doesn't go great with a hangover. Brightening eye drops can help.
3. Simplify the rest of your make up by using nudes or products in the same colour range. Red eyes and nude lips look great.

Obviously you don't have to use red like this, it's just a suggestion!

So what do you think to these looks? I hope you liked my tips and I'd love to see any red looks that you've created.

Lauren

Review: Illamasqua Liquid Metal Palette in Art of Darkness

I picked this little beauty up for just £10 when I went on my recent rampage through the amazing Illamasqua Sale (it's still on, go go go!) and it's probably the item that I was most excited for. It's a palette of four multi-use metallic cream pigments housed in sleek black plastic with a nice sized mirror. I don't usually include so many photos of a single product but I really want to show this off completely:

Top Left Clockwise: Stoic, Solstice, Superior, Resolute

I absolutely love Illamasqua's packaging. I love the signature shape and clean black plastic. It does get dirty easily because the plastic is just so smooth. I've already left a myriad of fingers prints and smudges all over mine but it's so easy to clean that it's not really an issue. The creams themselves are beautiful colours and I love the effort that Illamasqua have gone into with the pretty names. Stoic was the stand out for me and I was almost tempted to buy it on it's so I could have plenty in my stash. In the end I'm glad I didn't as Stoic is actually the least pigmented and the hardest to work with of all the colours.

I was so amazed and excited when I swatched these! Ahh, look at them! Beautiful, luminous metal. Solstice is definitely the most pigmented and being gold I feel that it's something that I'm going to get a lot of use out of. Resolute and Superior were about the same (very smooth and pigmented) and sadly, as I said, Stoic was a little more patchy and awkward. Still nice and well pigmented though. One of the things that I'd noticed when I was looking for other reviews of these products is that no one had really tried to push the limits of these products. When I was playing with them the first thing I wanted to do is start mixing and painting and see what they could do! Which led me here:

The pigments are very easy to blend and mix which means that despite there only being four colours in the palette, the colour possibilities are a lot higher! Superior and Resolute created a rich violet, Solstice and Resolute created a coppery/orange and Solstice and Superior created a pretty olive tone. Obviously these are just three options and there are a lot more (I'll let you know if I find anything else really special) but how exciting! There's such a wonderful capacity for experimentation and creativity with Illamasqua products which the company actively encourages. I am a happy bunny.

But of course, regardless of how good they look on my arm, it's how they stand up on my lids that matters. And this is where it all falls apart.

This is the first look I tried using Solstice and Resolute. I always try out any eye products without primer to begin with just to get a feel for the lasting power and quality. I'm very sad to say that this lasted even less than a single hour. The second I started blinking the pigments settled into my crease and started disappearing from the rest of my lid. The photo you see above is immediately after applying and you can already see the look dissolving. Not to be beaten though, I decided to try again.

I know this look using Superior and Stoic isn't amazing, it was simply thrown together to check lasting power. I applied e.l.f eyelid primer and used a little powder to ensure a completely matte base. And for a moment I thought it might work! It didn't immediately settle into my crease and it was still very easy to apply. However an hour later it was just the same. The look is fading away quickly and just looks an absolute mess. I look like I've been clubbing for twelve hours straight and suffer from extremely oily lids. As someone with dry skin I very rarely experience creasing like this. I knew that there would be some creasing due to the texture but this is ridiculous! I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'll ask Illamasqua for advice and see if there's anything that will salvage my beautiful pigments. I'd be heartbroken if they sat in the back of my drawer for the next two years. Sigh.

What do you think to this palette? Have you got any secrets to stop creasing? I'd love to know!

Lauren

December Eye Make-Up Challenge: Day 3 "Bright and Colourful"

I hope you're still enjoying this series!

With bright and colourful there was a few ways I could go. I decided to go back to basics with primary colours, taking my inspiration from circuses and children's classrooms.

I'm not ecstatic about the outcome of this! I really needed a nice fluffy blending brush to take away the harshness of the lines. I also really wanted a white liner for my waterlines to make my eyes look really big and have the colours "pop" even more, but I'm trying to work with what I have! This is also the most mascara I have ever worn and it took me a little while to get used to it as I swear it feels heavier than usual? Maybe I'm just paranoid. 

The shadows themselves are really beautiful. The blue has an iridescence to it that I couldn't capture in the picture!

The above are my Sleek Palette in Glory and Sunset. The red's in the glory palette weren't usable for this because one was too pink and the other was a matte and I was worried about blending it with shimmers.

Day 1/Day 2

What do you think of this look?

Lauren

FOTD: Warm Eyeshadow Ft. Sleek Sunset Palette

Happy 1st of December! And Happy Saturday! If you're lucky you won't be working today, but sadly, I am. One of the things I like to do on Saturday's when I'm working is to be a little bit more adventurous with my make-up. It somehow makes being there less painful and it instantly cheers me up and gives me a boost of energy and confidence! Here's a fairly simple look I created with the Sleek Sunset Palette. I've had this palette for quite some time and I love all of the shades in it.

Here's how I use the palette to create this eye look (stock image from Sleek website):

This is such a great Autumn/Winter palette and the reds are really wearable. I teamed this with a nude lip because I was wearing it for work, but I definitely feel that you could get away with a red lip for evenings. The eyeliner is Rimmel Exaggerate Liquid Eyeliner in Black and the Mascara is The Body Shop's Super Volume Mascara in Black.

Hair is my trusty Enrapture Totem Styler on 1-3-3.

What do you think of this look? How would you use the Sunset palette?

Lauren

Review: MUA Single Shadows in Shade 28 and Shade 30

As most of you know I picked up a few MUA goodies in a recent haul. I've since reviewed the lipsticks (fantastic, in case you were wondering) and now I wanted to give my two eye shadows a thorough examination.

First up! The packaging isn't anything to rave about, although I do appreciate the clear lid. I hate when I can't quickly see which colour I'm grabbing. There's no apparent scent and to be honest I wouldn't expect one from eyeshadows.
These colours are beautiful. Extremely soft and buttery. There is a fair bit of fall out when picking these up on a brush and you do have to rub them in a little to get a smooth application.

You can see here that the particles can be a little bit patchy, more so in Shade 30 (Gold) and a few have settled on places other than the swatch! However, it's when these shadows are applied with a damp brush that they really come to life for me.

It's literally like painting on liquid metal. It's so so so beautiful !I couldn't get over it. These would look amazing used as chunky eyeliner.

Sadly I couldn't get as good a picture of the gold shade, but you can see how beautifully it catches the light.

I have to say, I love this brand. The cosmetics are of amazing quality, particularly when you consider that most of the range is just £1 and there are often deals such as 3 for 2. MUA have recently released a line of make up brushes which I would be very interested in knowing more about! Let me know if you're tried them. I really can't wait to pick up some more of these shadows and I know that they are soon to become a firm favourite in my make up case.

What do you think of these shades? Which ones should I get next?

Lauren

The Body Shop Haul no.2

I won't show you them all together because I have a collection post up next so I want you to get the full impact! Alright, so a few days ago my boyfriend tells me that he's picked a mature female coworker for his secret santa and he has no idea what to get but he knows that she likes The Body Shop! Cue my expertise (i.e. shopping with his card.) I had a few vouchers so here's what I bought:

This is the Vanilla Bliss Christmas Gift Set. This is great value at £15 and contains everything you need for an indulgent experience! Included is: Vanilla Bliss Soap Bar, Vanilla Bliss Body Butter, Vanilla Bliss Shower Cream and Vanilla Bliss Body Polish. This was the gift that I picked for the lovely Theresa!  The packaging is so beautiful on this, champagne and gold metallic tin with a snowflake pattern plus that gorgeous cream bow! I would love to receive this and Jake was pleasantly surprised with the quality of what I picked.

A word on the Christmas collection at The Body Shop this year, it is somewhat hit and miss. The cranberry joy scent, which is what I was most excited about trying, was really inconsistent. Everything smelt a little bit different and to be honest, cheap, which is terrible considering the price and the quality that I'm used to from the brand. The vanilla was lovely and soft, and the butter literally smelt like Walls Vanilla ice cream! I don't know if that's a good thing for you or not but I felt like this was the safest option for a gift for someone I know next to nothing about! The stand out for me was the ginger sparkle collection. Oh my gosh! What an amazing rich spicy scent. But, despite the fact that I adored it, the friend I was shopping with couldn't stand it! She likes musky and floral scents so if you have similar taste, the ginger might not be for you. Everything in the ginger collection had a really uniform scent and just felt amazing. It was like Christmas for me.

Which is why I had to pick up...

This collection is so cute! Ginger Sparkle Body Polish, £10.

I haven't tried this yet but I am so excited. It smells divine. I love spicy/nutty/fruity smells and this is just perfect for me. I can't wait! I've been told that this is a light enough exfoliant to use every day, which is great news for my dry winter skin which could use a bit of buffing.

Earth Lovers Watermelon and Eucalyptus Shower Gel, £5.

I'm tempted to keep this for Spring because it is such a lovely fresh smell. I actually hate all kinds of melon... the taste and the texture is just awful for me. But bizarrely I love the smell of watermelon and it really reminds me of being on holiday and just being totally relaxed and cool. This product brings back all those wonderful memories and I love it. It's also 100% biodegradable. Love your planet!

Satsuma Body Mist, £8

I've been using this since the second I sprayed some on in the shop. Apparently I love smelling like citrus fruit. Who new? This is a great light alternative to perfume and I even spritz a little in my hair. It was so difficult to choose a mist as they were all lovely, but this won me over in the end. Particularly as I have a satsuma body butter mini that I'm using with it. Instant Winter-blues removal. Ahh.

Vineyard Peach Shower Gel, £4

This collection was only released a few months ago and it's already a firm favourite with lots of shoppers. I adore this scent and I can't wait to use it! I also bought the Body Butter from the same range...

Vineyard Peach Body Butter, £13

Mmm. I will be definitely be using these together! This butter is the same great quality but it's a little lighter than my Shea Body Butter so it will be better suited to the warmer months.

Aloe Gentle Exfoliator, £9

I already have lots of bits from this range and I wanted to pick up a new exfoliator. Up until now I had been using Soap and Glory's Face Soap occasionally but it just felt really harsh and left my eyes stinging. I've used this product twice now and it feels AMAZING. I love it so much, it was exactly what I was looking for. The "grit" inside is super fine and just gently buffs away dead skin without irritation or stinging. Fantastic addiction to my collection.

Aloe Soothing Moisture Lotion SPF15, £11

I already religiously apple the aloe night cream but I needed something light for day to put under my foundation. I love that this has SPF in it because so many facial products don't and it's easy to forget sun protection when you live in England. (I've read some really horrible studies about sun damage recently so this was super important for me.) This makes it easy for lazy old me to stay safe! This applies like a dream and soaks in super fast. It's actually out of stock on the internet right now so check out your local store if this is something you're interested in.

Warming Mineral Mask, £10

I've been looking for a mask for a while so that I could give myself a regular deep cleansing facial. This is just the ticket! I used this during my Sunday night pamper session and wow what a dream! This really does warm up beautifully and stays warm too unlike some other warming products. I felt radiant and cleansed afterwards and it was so relaxing. Great buy.

Eye Colour in Star Silver, £5 (down from £8)

I struggled to do justice for this gorgeous shade. It's a richly pigmented bright silver and just perfect for the festive season. I can't wait to use this with my teal shimmer cubes!

All in all worth £91. And I spent £43. What a saving!

So that's everything. What did you think? Have you got any of these products? What's your opinion on the Christmas collections? Let me know!

Lauren

p.s. I know the background in these looks rough, it's not filthy I swear! I live in a really old building with the original Victorian window fixtures, so all the paint is a mess and I have metal window frames. Sorry!