My makeup this year consisted of blending Pink bronze and Bloodline pigments from MAC together to create a pink to purple to brown gradient. Here are some piccies from the day!
I started using this product in conjunction with the start of my diet, just as an added boost to my toning routine. I bought it from The Warehouse, where it cost around $8, which I think is quite reasonable for any body care product. I apply it morning and night and sometimes more frequently throughout the day. I quite enjoy the citrus smell, its very fresh and envigorating as a scent for the body, and I do like to put it on just for the smell. I only use a little bit at a time, about the size of a pea on each patch of skin I cover, I wasn't exactly sure what the reccomended amount was. The texture is described as 'gel-like' and this is pretty much true, it feels just like a more viscous water, and it seems to absorb into the skin as you massage it in, leaving no oily residue like some of the more rich moisturisers I've used.
A quad of really nice neutral colours that I can just quickly put all over my lid without fussing with blending etc.
This is so great! Its the most beautiful Golden colour, not really bronzer, but a great all over face colour that suits my skin tone and looks really natural and radiant
From a Local company, Phoenix Cosmetics in Auckland, I just like it because of the cute packagingI'm fairly confident I can survive on these items for 5 days, I'm picking it will be way too hot to wear that much make-up anyway. Most of these products are fairly inexpensive and therefore easily replaceable. I will be a bit sad not to have my MAC palette with me but it's just not worth the risk of it getting lost or damaged
I also made my Dad but me this awesome little Colgate Travel Essentials pack from the supermarket.
and if you have skin that is a bit more problematic, try to find a tinted moiusturiser, I reccomend Aveeno's Positively Radiant Tinted Moisturiser with medium coverage and use a concealer on your blemishes. In the sun it is essential to find a moisturiser or foundation/tinted moisturiser with SPF to protect your skin from the harsh summer sun.
Finally, you want some products to help keep you nice and cool and refreshed. I, for one, will not be going anywhere without
All very exciting products for me! First up;
I bought this when it initially came out, and then lost it foolishly. I mourned its loss so much that I just had to buy it again, at a lower price than I originally got it for may I also add. its a really pretty pale pink with mauve-y purple-y undertones that are really flattering for my skintone.
I bought this to go with my Cyber and Cunning Lipsticks, since it's a red purple it goes well with both of them. I am literally rubbish at lipliner, it just goes everywhere on my face and I dont have any concealer so it always makes the red stand out in my face. Ahh well, gotta get some more practice. HOWEVER, its a good product in product terms, creamy and not too dry with extraordinary staying power. My friend wore it on Halloween and it lasted all night long!
nt samples in Pink Bronze and Bloodline
I used to be pretty good at exercising and eating healthy but I've gotten lazy and I hate cooking since I can never find something to make everyone happy - my dad is a real steak and potato kinda guy and my sister is a vegan - so generally I end up with cheese on toast.
I am pretty excited to get bikini body fit though, or at least back into my size ten jeans. I'm thinking eggs, salads and rice will be the way to go for the next six weeks, giving myself a chance to improve on my cooking skills. I also intend to combine my diet and exercise regime with a firming lotion - I've heard Nivea's Body Contouring Cream is pretty effective - so I can be all slinky and sexy at the beach and feel really good about myself for next year.
This week I'm looking at poached eggs for breakfast with wholegrain toast, cucumber salads with rice wine vinegar dressing, that weird chicken in a can stuff and maybe some sushi? just for a treat.
Look out for more update son my progress!
Cons
The Positively Radient line from Aveeno features their patented Total Soy complex, which claims to even skin tone and reduce dark patches/dark spots as well as reducing fine lines and wrinkles AS WELL as reducing unwanted hair! Whew! Can it solve global warming too? jokes. As far as those claims go, they seem a bit ambitious and I haven't seen a miraculous improvement in my face, but I know to give these things time.
In regards to application, a couple of times I have had trouble getting this to blend and apply evenly, and I think the trick is having absolutely dry skin under this, i.e. no moisturiser, no SPF, no concealer etc. Other than that it goes on equally well with fingers/hands or a brush, and you DO NOT need alot at all, I would say about one and a half pumps .
I really have enjoyed this product so far, it looks good on my skin and feels light weight yet moisturising on my dry skin. On an oily skin, this may not be as well recieved, I think the shimmer particles or "radience" would exaccerbate oil and maybe enlarge the appearance of pores. This will definately be my go-to summer foundation, especially as I go away over New Years, mainly due to its lightweight formula, good coverage and SPF of 30.
I really enjoy the Aveeno brand, they seem to have a lot of products that cater to all skin afflictions and ailments and are generally reasobably priced.
There are no hard and fast rules for makeup, but there are some foolproof methods you can use for a flawless face. Here are some of my best makeup tips!
Put your primer or moisturiser on with your foundation brush, your brush absorbs much less product this way and your foundation will last longer.
Use a cool toned concealer e.g. yellow/green toned to conceal blemishes, as the cool tone cancels out the red and a warm toned concealer e.g. pink/peach/salmon under the eyes to eliminate dark circles.
Build up your colour in layers to achieve the depth of colour you want i.e. apply and blend out then apply some more and blend out again. This will help your makeup last longer since it will wear off in layers and not all at once.
When blending an extended eyeshadow shape or creating a cat eye flick with your eyeliner, use the natural extension line of your eye shape as your guide for where the lines should begin and end. This will give your eyes an uplifted appearance.
To make you look more awake and your eye makeup more vibrant, use a light yellow/tan or white eyeliner on your inner waterline and add a light shimmery colour to the very inner corner of your eye to make your eyes bright. Some reccomended products for this are Benefit's Eye Bright Stick or NYX's Jumbo eye pencil in Milk.
Artists brushes make a great substitute for expensive makeup brushes.
To prevent your eyeshadow from creasing or fading, use a matte eyeshadow, or if you have very oily lids, an eyelid primer, to your lids before you put on you eyeshadow.
If you are working with dark eyeshadows, leave your undereye concealer for last so you can clear away any of the dark shadow that falls down without having to reapply your face makeup
So far so good, my lips feel moisturised, and I do get very dry lips quite frequently and they taste nice and if they do turn out to be duds, at least they smell good. I didn't realise till the bus ride home that I used to have a toy dog who smelt exactly the same as vanilla spice. I'm probably going to buy several more of these for christmas gifts, and because I really like the packaging which is the little metal tin version as opposed to the plastic containers which are the norm for the Body Shop. Maybe I have a use for lip balms after all
Coming up I have more splurge purchases and a tinted moisturiser review
Bonus: I got a free sample of the Vanilla Spice shower gel too, just for being pretty I guess :P
Celeb inspired was the general order of the day. My first 'client' requested a Kim Kardashian, so I swept Woodwinked by MAC over the upper and lower lids, with Smoulder eyeliner in the waterline. I used a set of really cheap lashes which provided some dramatic length. On the cheeks I used a BYS blusher in Peach Twist to give the classic Kardashian "glow from within" look to the skin, and on the lips I used MAC's Kinda Sexy lipstck, which is a great nude/brown colour for darker skin tones, with a nude lipgloss by L'Oreal over the top.
Next was requested a Sienna Miller look, so I used my brand new eyeshadow Vex by MAC (which I love and can't believe I didn't find sooner) with a warm medium brown just to define the crease and MAC Blacktrack Fluidline along the top lashline with only a little little flick. I also used Woodwinked along the lower lashline just to giva a little definition. On the cheeks I used the BYS blush in Candyfloss to give a sublte pink flush with a bit of shimmer and on the lips I used a bright pink lipstick similar to MAC's Lovelorn but with less of a lilac undertone just to give a bit more glamour to the look, while keeping it fresh, young and modern.
Our final 'client' had great skin so I just used MAC's Studio Fix Powder Foundation to give her a really natural light coverage. She wanted a purple look so I borrowed my friends Maybelline Eye Studio Silk Glam Quad in Pink Persuasion to give her a light smokey purple eye with a little definition. On the lips I used a light pink gloss that looked natural yet radiant.
DIY quads. I thought, "This is fantastic! I'll get some neat colours and have a little quad I can carry around with me when I go out! This is so cute, and only a fraction of the price of a M.A.C one!" Colours (clockwise);Saddle Brown, Eggshell, Sepia and Deep Pink
And this was true, each shadow only cost AUD$4 and the palette was AUD$5. And the pans are much bigger than M.A.C pans, great value right?
No. Not really. The shadows are not very pigmented, not very smooth and not very nice. The quality of the packaging also feels cheap. I really do not reccomend this brand for the seroius make up enthusiast, however, maybe for someone young (younger than me anyway) or someone who doesn't want to fluff around with makeup every morning like I do (i.e. someone who likes to be on time) it could be a welcome addition.
The only saving grace for this palette is that it has a great big mirror inside which i use daily to do my makeup, and the yellow shade (Eggshell) makes a nice cheek highlight.
I also picked up a lip gloss in the colour Blueberry Pie, which is actually green with blue and purple glitters. To my delight this smelt and tasted really great. Not exactly an event gloss or one for a fashion show, it's pretty stringy and thick, but an easy one to keep reapplying during the day.
This brand was pretty much what I expected it to be, cheap and cheerful, but a little disappointing.
Thank God for Polyvore, its just like shopping but without spending any money. And without coming home with bags full of exciting stuff. And that exciting feeling of going through everything you just bought and trying it on .
It kinda sucks actually
A swatch for ye...
In Australia, at a DFO in South Wharf (Melbourne) I also came across a huge stand of NYX Cosmetics and nearly wee'd myself. So much shiny! I would have love love loved! to get one of everything, but as it was a treat from my mumma I couldn't go too wild. I did however snag two of the square eyeshadows; Iced Mocha (#11)
Left is Red Bean Pie and Right is Iced Mocha.
I really like these two colours as well. They both have quite alot of multifaceted glitter/shimmer particles to them. Red Bean Pie is a really dark purple with a tiny hint of grey or silver undertones. It is far darker and more pigmented than the only purple M.A.C shadow I have, Nocturnelle. Iced Mocha is a really cool grey brown with a hint of gold, equally as pigmented as the others, and can be worn either dark or as a light wash.
In my experience, these shadows are as good as I imagined they would be. The glitter kinda gets on my nerves, I really perfer Mattes, but most people would consider it quite lovely for everyday wear. I have also found that the shadows are a bit soft, and tend to have a bit of fallout, especially the loose pigment (how extraordainary!), but still really well pigmented. Im impressed! And slightly disappoined since I wont be getting any more for a while. Oh, I also found the shadows tended to crease over time, but I don't wear any kind of primer/base except foundation so i dont mind too much. Overall, well done me for grabbing these while I had the chance.
EDIT: Both of these crumbled from being bashed around in my makeup kit, hence the rather ugly nature of Red Bean Pie
See what I mean? And at a cool NZD$124, whats not to love????? (Read; sarcasm. Thats expensive as!) Early Christmas maybe??
Reeeooooowwww! I really do love cats. I may possibly cave and get one of the quads at Duty Free if I can make up my mind about what I actually want. Im flying to Melbourne next tuesday. I actually want to buy heaps of alcohol since its my first time flying since I turned 18. Grown Up Life.
A Blog I follow Shades of U Makeup (http://www.theshadesofu.com/) has swatches, pictures and face charts for all 3 collections.
EDIT: Just went to M.A.C counter at Smith & Caugheys, Fabulous Felines is out September 6th and Venemous Villains is out October 9th
I only did the front bit of my hair because I'm laaaaaaazyyy. And I have ALOT of hair
Luckily I can take it easy on the day, because I have a fantastic hair appointment at Kokomo on Ponsonby Rd. Slllllick!
Sorry I cant show any pictures of the gown, my arms wouldn't reach that far. Plus, I took the bodice out so I could breathe and now it wont stay up. Whoops. Might have to add some straps... 
