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15
Jan
2014

Eye lid primers that work and don’t break the bank

categories: Blog

I have been buying eye lid primers since Elizabeth Arden first brought theirs out in the 80’s. And I still think Elizabeth Arden is a very good primer and I still have one in my makeup bag.

But recent eye primers have become big news. And for some companies big money.

Recently I had the chance to buy and try a couple of eye primers from ELF. The colour I first tried was champagne. Whilst the colour was great for the eyelid the glitter that accompanied it was not a bit welcome. I ended up with sparkle all over my face. Now if I was going for a night out, this just might be tolerable, but it would be a little inappropriate at the office.

eye primer by elf

The next colour I tried was the sheer. It seemed a little pale and was a little more difficult to work with initially, but there was not glitter aftermath.

Whilst the products worked fine as a basic primer, what I would like to see is the champagne colour without the glitter, because the sheer colour is a little too pale for many skin types.

The price point is excellent. At £1.50 it is well worth trying.

As an aside, I recently saw in the news that the owners of ELF were looking to sell the company off. What that would mean for UK followers of the brand I don’t know, as the current online site is being opperated by extended family of the owners.That is what I have read in the media.anyway, so I will keep an eye out for more news.

You can currently buy ELF cosmetics in the uk here http://eyeslipsface.co.uk and the latest news that I can find about the ELF sell off is here http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/11/us-elf-tpg-idUSBREA0A02L20140111 the article makes interesting reading. Especially the part about Loreal looking to buy ELF and then deciding the buy Urban Decay instead.

Anyhow, the world of cosmetics is very interesting. A lot of big names holding lots of other brands and operating them independently at different price points. It is more than just grease pain these days.

Anyway, if you would like to have your very own makeover with some beautiful pictures to capture the moment, please email me.

Allison xxx

14
Jan
2014

One of the very best concealers

categories: Blog

Lancome long lasting softening concealer came onto the market around the mid nineteen nineties. That was when I saw it reviewed in a magazine and started to buy it.

The great thing about this concealer is that it can be worn sheer as an all over cover or as a spot concealer.

It used to come in three colours( in fact there may have been four shades originally as the Beige Amber shade was numbered 04); Beige Rose, Beige Sable and Amber. The Amber was a great shade for when you have a tan. But I am sad to say that the Amber shade was discontinued and now there are only the two shades as far as I am aware.

A note to the wise: Never ever believe what the ladies on the makeup counters tell you. I was told that the Amber shade was renamed Rose and like a fool I believed them, and bought a shade that was totally pink and the wrong colour for me. And in that same week ,I think, I was also told that Estee Lauder were going to discontinue the fragrance “Estee.” And they didn’t, I just stopped buying it because I was under the impression that it was no longer available.

So always, always do your research before you buy.

09
Jan
2014

Love at First Kiss Lipstick

categories: Blog

This is a collection from Laura Geller that I bought at the tail end of last year. Why? Because they are beautiful coral based lipsticks that will suit anyone. They range from pinky toffee based tones too bright orange tones.

Love at First Kiss

I have only managed to swatch five on my arm, but as you can see they are very forgiving lipsticks. They work out at around the £6 when I include postage and packaging, for a quality products that is more than reasonable. Also it takes the guess work out of choosing lipsticks for my kit.

Swatched lippy

Laura Geller, make some great lipsticks and I was very lucky to have snapped these up. The only problem I do have with some of these collections, is that it is often hard, if not impossible, to find the individual colours on sale on their own. But that is often the case with makeup collections.

I have also managed to get a set in vibrant red tones for a Hollywood look, I will feature those at another time.

Have fun playing with makeup, and if you fancy a makeover, just call or email me.

Allison xxx

08
Jan
2014

Foundation Pyjama Games; Foundations you can take a nap in

categories: Blog

This is really a review of Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24 hour. I wanted to recommend it as an alternative to the very good Estee Lauder Double Wear. I use both of these products and can vouch for their staying power.

But first I want to address the chatter that went on in forums last year about Double Wear. Many people claimed that Estee Lauder changed the formulation of their foundation. In America, rumour had it that the change was prompted by American FDA regulations regarding sunscreen declarations, or some such nonsense. I have not verified that, I am just reporting on what has been said.

Either way, Estee Lauder does seem to have had an overhaul of foundations and now there are new shades in double wear light. I am keen to try the double wear light because the packaging and the product information looks a lot like the old demi matt that they had on sale in the 90’s.

Getting back to Lancome, I would like to recommend Lancome Teint Idole Ultra 24 hour, as an alternative foundation.

This is a great product that comes in a glass bottle with a pump dispenser, and it does have remarkable staying power. I personally have taken a nap in this foundation and it is still on my face.

It is an oil free formulation, similar to the original Double Wear, and feels incredibly light on the face. So if you are looking for a foundation with real staying power, why not try Lancome Teint Idol Ultra 24 H

03
Jan
2014

A Great Little Brow Kit .

categories: Blog

Eye brow kits are something of a recent phenomenon in the makeup and cosmetic industries. Before their existence women relied upon a bit of plucking and an eyebrow pencil. Eyebrow pencils are still very much in, but since eyebrow grooming has become so much more fashionable,( with the introduction of precise waxing and threading,) HD eyebrow kits have become essential.

This one from Gosh has exactly what you need for a nice HD, high definition look.

Eyebrow compact from Gosh

This nice looking eyebrow compact has three powder colours, a wax cream, a brush and a mirror.

It’s usually priced around £8.50, but it’s on offer right now at Superdrug, and you can get it online for £6.49.( just search for brow kit) It has an amazing five out of five stars review at the time of writing, And as I am typing, I am finding it very difficult not to buy another one right now to stock up..

02
Jan
2014

My Top Three Coral Toned Lipsticks

categories: Blog

Recently I ran out of my favourite two lip colours from a Bare Minerals Paletee. (For more on that story see, What happens when your favourite lipstick is discontinued.) So I took it upon myself to go shopping for replacements, as my online shopping experience for colour matching was a big fat failure.

I find that apricot/pinkish coral tones work best on me for a neutral look. These colours are also the most forgiving on many skin tones.

I looked across all ranges, from cheaper drugstore brands to Estee Lauder, which is still one of my favoured brands. The Estee Lauder range of companies http://www.elcompanies.com incorporates many brands such as Clinic, Bobbie Brown and MAC to name but a few. However as my town is limited to Debenhams, Superdrug and Boots, these are the three lipsticks that I found that matched my requirements.

Max Factor 825 Pink Brandy

This really is the most divine colour; a true coral, and the texture of the lipstick is fabulous to work with and reminds me of an old Estee Lauder colour that I used to own

Barbara Daly – Iced Gem

This is really more of a pink coral tone. The colour is ok but the texture is not as superiour as the Revlon and was my least favourite pick of the day.

GOSH -82 Exotic

This is a bright, Apricot lipstick and my second favourite of the day. But if I were going from daytime to evening, this is the colour I would choose to brighten up my look. A good texture, not as moist as the Revlon lipstick, but not too waxy. Add a lipgloss and you will be good to go in this colour

Left to right
Iced Gem, Exotic and Pink Brandy

Top three coral tones

This is not the greatest of swathes but as you can see, if you want a bright colour, then Gosh in Exotic is your winner.

I would like to add a special thanks to the Superdrug in Chesterfield. Knowing that I was struggling to get around, and seeing that I was trying to match new colours for old, a super assistant, whose name I did not catch, helped in the search. She also recommended Brandy in the Beauty Uk brand, but it was not in stock. However, she really was very good indeed. and in a culture where good service is hard to find, she should be singled out for her good deeds.

14
Dec
2013

Mally Mascara – Make-up worth investing in.

categories: Blog

Well the mascara wars are really firing up. Let’s face it there are so many mascara’s out there each one promises to be the next best thing. So I am going to put them through their paces.

I didn’t think I was going to like this mascara. How wrong could I be? As long as you do not over load the brush it works fine. In fact, it works more than fine and I was astounded about the length and volume of the lashes.

The only thing I don’t like about this mascara is the price. QVC are selling this at £17.50 plus postage and packaging. So we are looking at around the twenty pounds mark. QVC do sell duos of Mally mascara, but they seem to be a different formulation. The duos are priced at around the £24.00 mark.

I really don’t think that you should have to pay more than around the ten pounds for a mascara. Unless of course the results are exceptional, and even then, I would find that price hard to swallow.

Women spend a lot on their make-up. Cosmetics is big business. I am still looking for that one brand that can meet all my needs. But that is asking a lot and we do like to mix and match, otherwise it would be a little boring.

Anyway Mally has won a consumer choice award from QVC and it has been highly rated elsewhere.

Here are my results:

Without mascara

Waiting for my mascara and the rest of my make-up

With Mascara but no lash primer. Curled lashes.

Mascara lashes

Volume with Mally

This second view shows that actually Mally Provides more volume than the ELF mascara reviewed previously The Mally mascara is just one coat, where as with the ELF I used two coats and curled them again afterwards.

As I have very fair and sparse lashes the Mally Mascara did a pretty good job. Actually both the ELF and the Mally mascaras did a good job. But the Mally smudgde less and was a lot easier to get off. The ELF mascara really did leave a mess when trying to remove it.

12
Dec
2013

A quick makeover challenge

categories: Blog, Uncategorized

If there was ever a difficult client, then it would be myself. I like to think of myself as a time served Make-up Artist, but I have been ill for sometime, a disc herniation at the L5 S1 area, means that I have been living on pain meds for months, and that takes its toll. The last thing I want to do is to put on makeup, but today I gave myself a challenge. How quickly could I get ready to go out?

It was 3.12pm when I started and 3.39pm when finished.

I started with Liz Earle Superskin Moisturizer and added a touch of a Gatineau anti-wrinkle formula. I then used Garnier roll on to lighten under the eye and on the eyelids. For foundation I used Lancome Tient Idole Ultra 24hr, but underneath I used a No 7 concealer crayon where needed..

Moving onto the eyes, I used the lightest shade I could get from my Laura Geller Balance and Brighten Foundation compact all over the eyelid. I then used Revlon matte eyeshadow in rich sable. I placed some on my outer eyelids and blended the colour over the crease stopping short of under the brow. I used some of the mid tone colours in my Balance and Brighten foundation in the inner corner of the eye crease and blended a little with the rich sable eyeshadow. To highlight just under the brow, I used some of my No 7 concealer crayon. To darken the eyebrow I used YBF brow liner and also filled in using the Laura Geller babycakes brown.

Under the eye I used the Babycakes eyeliner palette to line my eye in a rich chocolate colour. I then grabbed my trusted Boots eyelash curlers and gave my lashes a good curl. I then used my Estee Lauder lash primer and finished with one coat of Collection 2000 Lash Multiplier mascara.

I then took my Balance and Brighten and did some very quick contouring of the face..

Reaching for the first lip pencil that I could find, I took Foxglove from Liz Earle and filled in my lip area. This is the first time I have used this particular pencil in this way and I won’t be doing so again as it is very drying. I had also used some Gayle Hayman lip lift on my lips, so they were far from dry to begin with. I finished off with Liz Earle lipstick in Rosewood.

For blush I used the Collection 2000 Shimmer Shades, using a sweep of all four shades. As I had only just reviewed them, I thought it would work with the lip tone.

Some of the mess I left behind

After the makeover

My maths is not that good, but 33 minutes is a reasonable about of time for a quick makeover. And I would like to point out that the photos were taken on an iphone by myself and there is no Photoshop involved. But I do like to remain a safe distance from the camera, and that applies at all times. ,

11
Dec
2013

ELF Mascara – Makeup made easy.

categories: Blog

Reviewing make-up so that you don’t have to.

Although I am perfectly happy with my Collection 2000 Multiplier mascara. It has taken me a long, long time to find a mascara that I am happy with. Mostly, I think, because the big cosmetic companies over promise, and under deliver. So with this in mind I am on a quest to find other mascaras that I can rely on should my favourite disappear.

ELF mascara tube makeup

Elf or rather E.L.F Eyes Lips and Face is a company that is based upon the principal that quality cosmetics should not cost a fortune. The company was founded by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba in 2004, apparently after seeing wealthy women in Los Angeles buying Drug Store cosmetics.

The make-up has been featured in Glamour , Instyle and Good Housekeeping magazines and the cosmetic company’s 100 piece Endless Eyes Pro Eyeshadow Pallet was featured in Oprah Winfrey’s “O” magazine on Oprah’s Favourites Things list. And then the make-up pallet sold out. All this info comes from Wikipedia. But I have read the same details time and time again on various websites.

With such a pedigree following, I thought it only right I should check it out for myself. In this country ELF is only available through its website and has one store in Wales.

The make-up is made in China. The packaging reads: Made in China Designed in the USA. As I have said before in another article, I have no problem with cosmetics made in China, as long as the quality control is good. Many mainstream brands are made in China. I was very surprised the other day to see that some products from Rimmel are made in China. I was surprised because their advertising campaign would lead you to believe very differently. Rimmel’s slogan “Get the London Look” along with their London, England centric advertising campaign, does not really get you thinking of factories in Southern China.

Ok, another rant over. The ELF mascara was fabulous. The brush was very well designed and separated the lashes nicely. It was easy to apply a second coat and I did not notice much in the way of smudging throughout the day. I was very, very surprised and really pleased that a mascara priced at £3.75 could deliver so much. It was so much better than the Loreal Voluminous 4x that I purchase and reviewed a few days back.

I only discovered the ELF brand by watching various youtube video of makeup tutorials and decided to seek it out. In general the packaging leaves a lot to be desired, but as far as the mascara goes, this is a great every day product.

So here is me without any mascara

Waiting for my mascara and the rest of my make-up

And this is me with ELF mascara after eyelash curlers but no primer.

ELF mascara and nothing else.

Ok, I know it is the other eye, but you get the idea. And it is really difficult to focus iphones close up. And I am trying to take pics of myself without shaking the image.I think you can see that there is a marked improved in the appearance of my lashes, and this without eye-liner so that you can see how it works on lower lash. So I say that this mascara is well worth its price tag.

05
Dec
2013

The amazing work of being a Make-up Artist

categories: Blog

Being a make-up artist is rewarding. Taking a face and applying make up and watching the transformation is truly amazing. But to really bring that message home it is important to see results. And nothing demonstrates that more than a Russian Make-Up artist who has recently courted controversy over some pictures on the internet. I saw them on Twitter. I now share them here.

http://bit.ly/1eZMYJE

before-and-after-makeup-photos-vadim-andreev-3(1)

I advise anyone to go to the website and take a look. The site is the SLR lounge and this article highlights the work of Vadim Andreev. There is a debate raging about how the work of make-up artists and photographers can change the look of a woman so dramatically. But hey, isn’t that what playing with makeup is all about.

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