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Posts Tagged ‘makeup’

24
Jan
2014

Jordana Mascaras. Quality mascaras that are worth talking about.

categories: Blog

Is the name Jordana unfamiliar to you? Well that may he because it is a family owned business in America who sell through drug stores.

As I am on a quest to find the very best mascaras and cut through the marketing blurb, I thought I should check them out and so had some flown over to the UK. Yes they are unavailable through the likes of Boots or Superdrug, so I went looking on Amazon and had some sent to me.

These are good quality mascaras. Two were made in the States and one was made in Italy.

My favourite was The Best Extreme Length mascara which comes in pink and black packaging, followed closely by the Best Lash Extreme Volumizing,this comes in lilac and black packaging. The Best Volume Extreme, which comes in a lime green packaging, did not really impress me at all. But I had to try them out, as a few Youtubers were saying that Jordana brand was very good and great dupe for the Mally mascara that I like, but comes in at the twenty five pound mark once you include postage and packaging from QVC

These three mascaras cost not me somewhere between ten and fifteen pounds in total including shipping. So that for me is a pretty good deal. And the two that I choose were definitely worth the wait.

If you what to read my Mally mascara review you can read it here

And check out the About page.

21
Jan
2014

Push liner brushes – how did we cope without them.

categories: Blog, Uncategorized

A push liner brush is a brush that has a square brush head and very stiff bristles. Just like the one below with the cream coloured handle. It is the perfect choice of all your makeup brushes to put on a liner colour.

The idea of these brushes is to push dark colour into the very base of the lash, creating what looks like a very thick lash line. It is also a perfect way to create a straight line at the base of your lashes without having to draw a thick harsh line.

I use mine with a Bobbie Brown liner colour. That would be the very darkest colour from this palette here.

Or I use it with a Laura Geller chocolate colour baked shade, as this give a more subtle look and is perfect for smoking out with a smudge brush like the one picture here.

I am a huge fan of push liner brushes and have purchased around three or four identical ones so that I create either a strong lash line or smoke it out with a smudge brush like this this fabulous No 7 brush Smokey Eyeliner brush from Boots.

20
Jan
2014

Benefit They’re Real Mascara.

categories: Blog

Benefit They’re Real Mascara is in a word, good. it is one of the few mascaras that actually lives up to it’s hype.

I actually think I prefer this product without a lash primer because then you get too much volume and length, but if you have shorter lashes then a primer may make all the difference to you and this again would be your product of choice.

I don’t really have any negatives about this mascara. I actually think everyone should try it out. And this comes from a woman who has made it her mission to try mascaras at every price point to see where the good ones are.

They’re Real Mascara retails around the £22 pound price point. It will negate the need for lash primer for many and so this is a good value product in my opinion.

I really like it, and I am a tough critic, but when you find something that lives up to the hype it is a joy to shout about it. So go and buy one today!

If you would like the opportunity of a makeover with some beautiful picture to capture the moment, just call or email me, the details are on this website. there is no charge unless you are absolutely delighted.

Allison xxxx

17
Jan
2014

Dupe for Benefit Brow Kit – Go Elf.

categories: Blog

The Elf cosmetics brow kit is almost identical to the Benefit Brow Kit.The Elf Brow Kit is under £4 where as the Benefit kit is currently £23.50 on the Benefit web site.

Both products contain coloured was and a brow colour and do a fantastic job of colouring in the brow.

There have been terrible stories in the news about a trade in fake cosmetic popular brands. Benefit is one of those brands. There are fake “There’re Real” mascaras made by unscrupulous people usually in China that may cause terrible damage to your skin and eyes. So when you come across a real authentic dupe by a reliable company then it’s worth buying up.

I know that the Benefit “There’re Real Mascara ” ( review coming soon) is made in France. When brands are made in Europe,North America or Japan you can expect to pay a premium. You can also expect a hefty chunk of your money to go on the marketing budget.

Elf cosmetics was designed to be a low priced brand of quality cosmetics,Their products are sold in Europe and across America in place like Target and drug stores.They do not have a wide high street presence in the UK. There is one shop in Wales and an Elf website. Their products are manufactured in China alongside many other well known brands.

Products made in China are OK if made by a trusted brand who comply with strict quality control to meet European and American standards. I would never ever knowing buy and unbranded cosmetic product made in China or the Far East.I lived in Hong Kong for four years and am so I have a particular insight into what and what I would not consume when it is made in the Far East.

At present Elf is a good brand with good products ( so far I have not had an issue with anything I have bought from them.) And I am really pleased to have found this wonderful brow set.

For a stunning makeover, by an experienced artist contact Allison by email or by phone.The makeover comes with a set of stunning picture for you to capture your best moment.

Allison xxx

15
Jan
2014

What every woman should know about makeup

categories: Blog

Every pound, euro of dollar that you spend on cosmetics probably ends up in the pockets of either one or two companies. Think that it crazy! Is your foundation by Bobbi Brown and your blush by Lancome? Is your mascara by Estee Lauder but your eyes shadow by Urban Decay? Is you lipstick by Clinique, but your bronzer by YvesSantLaurent ?

Well think again!

Here are the Estee Lauder brands :

MAC

Bobbi Brown

Prescriptives

La Mer

Jo Malone

Tom Ford

Smashbox

Clinique

Origins

Orjon

Here are the L’Oreal brands:

Lancome

Giogrio Armani

YvesSantLaurent

Biotherm

Shu Uemura

Helena Rubinstein

Urban Decay

Maybelline

Garnier

The Body Shop

Only one or two of them were a surprise to me. But I guess if a new brand starts making in roads into your market, what better way to get rid of the competition than to buy it up, and add it to your portfolio. As I concentrate on make-up I skipped over the fragrance and luxury handbags stuff. But you get the point.

So next time Maybeline bring out their next awesome mascara ( and lets face it, they have a few) why not wonder if it is so great, then why does Lancome need another version of Hypnose mascara to compete with it. And when Urban Decay launch another Naked pallet, will you wonder if it would just be cheaper to pick out a few brown shades from the L’oreal range.

Marketing is a wonderful thing, but knowledge is power.It is true some of these brands differ dramatically in what they offer the consumer. But next time you are seduced by the next big thing, think about where it is originating from, and whether it really is for you.

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

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

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. ,

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