Essence Stay All Day Eye Shadow

It's no secret how much I love Essance as a brand, but recently I picked up this little beauty for about $5.95.

It reminds me a bit of the Maybelline Tattoo Colours (I know that's not their full names, but its what I'm calling them) but its a thicker cream based product and goes on smoothly and easily, blends reasonably well. I always find with the Maybelline colours I have to pat them on to achieve good colour, but with this one I can swipe it on, I use my finger because its easier.

See, creamy formula.This colour is called Steel the Show, and sadly the only one that my local Target seems to have.

This is not a great swatch but it is a really lovely metalic grey, gun metal kind of colour.

It does exactly what it says, lasts all day, I have no issues with any creasing or colour disapearing and I didn't use a primer of any kind!

 I've been teaming this with a black gel liner and a (also Essence) highlighter in the inner corners.  (which I will be reviewing soon)

All in all for $6 you can't go wrong!

Makeup Course Week 10

This week was 'makeup for photography' which sounds quite vague to me, I know the principles of makeup for photography, I can read books you see, but what exactly was I going to do? well, I decided to do something reatively normal, an everyday look, but the eyeliner wasn't playing ball, for the love of makeup, it just didn't sit right, the more I tried the more I couldn't get it right, but at the same time, couldn't work out what was wrong, my model, Sarah said she had no idea what I was talking about...but I knew....so I took my frustrations out with colour....

Sarah's before:

Then Sarah after much annoyance at things not going right and then the green liner being chunky and yuck... tisk, why is the teal gross? Its the best colour!!!

Annnd my fave pic of the night:

And another which is good but very pasty... crappy lighting....

All in all I have heaps of fun, as I always do, I think though I should stick to some 'safe' looks for a while... :)

Thanks Sarah!!!

Face on Australia Sheer Gloss Lip Crayons

Face on Australia Sheer Gloss Lip Crayons

 

What they say:

Lip colour has never been so fun and sweet with Face of Australia's NEW Sheer Gloss Lip Crayons.  These wind-up lip tints are smooth, moisturizing and smell like vanilla!

Treat your lips to mouth-watering moisture and a hint of shine. In 3 super delectable shades these lip crayons are also infused with a vanilla scent.

Features & Benefits

• Sheer gloss colour that is moisturising & non sticky
• Glides on smoothly
• Light-as-a-feather lip tints
• Convenient wind up applicator

Basically, its a chunky crayon style lippie.  I hear they are a brilliant knock off of a Clinique Chubby Stick, I wouldn't know, I've never so much as tried one...

They come in a pack of 3, a nude colour 'Sundae', a pretty pink 'Cupcake' and a redish pink 'Macaron' .

 These are HYPER moisturising, like amazingly so, almost too much, when I wear lip balm to bed, I wake up feeling kinda greasy feel around my lips, these do this after a few minutes. 

They do have a cute vanilla scent, but sadly this comes with a weird 'taste' like lippie sometimes does.  The colours are brilliant and very functional for everyday.  They crayon side of things makes they super easy to apply and the wind up capability is great because I can NEVER find a sharpener when I need one.

 

All in all, I actually really like them, my lips feel like they are being nourished while I'm wearing them and the colours are fab for any situation AND the price? Fab.

 

RRP $14.95 and available from Face of Australia stockists (if you can find any left, they're pretty popular.)

Brush Hauling

 Anyone who knows me will tell you I'm a makeup brush whore.  I love them, I lust after them, and I cannot get enough!!! Partly because hat to have to clean them often but dirty brushes are gross and partly because I'm constantly searching for that one Holy Grail brush to complete my life collection.  I buy all kinds of brushes, a bit like my philosophy on makeup, I believe that if you limit yourself to only higher end brushes, you miss out on some fine ones.  Anyway, having seen a bit about them, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase these babies:

Aren't they soooo pretty, I've used the powder one so far and I love it, I will eventually get around to using them all, I have at least washed them all already.  Yes I wash brand new brushes, who knows where they're been?

So far I can tell you they're super soft and I LOVE the nifty stand thing...SO clever.

Frugal Fridays on Makeup Utopia

My next series of articles for Makeup Utopia is one names 'Frugal Friday' my basic aim is to show that a small price tag, does not necessarily mean its shit.  We pay a premium for many 'drug store' brands here, brands like Revlon are pennies in the US compared with the prices here, but we do not question the quality the same way we might something that costs us on par here. 
I often get very surprised looks in class and conversations with people when they go on an lengths about this $40 product of that $25 product and I say 'Yeah, but Essence (for example) have a version of it, that I think is just as good but for $5'  Seriously, I get open mouth stares and comments like 'So you don't care what brand of makeup you buy?'. Its not that I don't care, I believe if a product does its job and lives up to its claim and is $10 why shouldn't I?  If its crap and $40 I won't use it either.  For me, its more about how I use it that what it cost, who's name is on it, or the packaging.
So, join me in the challenge, we're set up a forum with fab space for discussion, feel free to comment below or join us over there.
I did have a FOTD using only (except foundation) products under $10, but the photos were taken on my phone and for some reason, no matter how I try or what I do or what I see when I open them, they will not stay the right way up....infuriating.

Findation.com My New Found Friend

I hate trying to match foundations, as someone who claims they will one day be a qualified makeup artist, I should probably get over it.  I am, slowly, I didn't really know the range we were using in class so it took a lot of trying to work out the shades across the different options.  That said, I don't know every brand, and even within brands there are different shading options and naming systems and also different undertones. 

Enter: Findation.com

Findation.com is a foundation matching website, you simply select 2 foundations you know match your skin tone and it then offers a selection of matching foundations from a wide range and a % match.

I did a few little tests and I have to agree with most of what it suggests.  I'm also very impressed with the selections of brands included I use mostly Illamasqua so I thought perhaps it wouldn't be listed, but is there with the best of them.

I can see many uses for this website, personally I will be able to use it when trying to find a drug store brand to match the colours we use in class.  For other people who do not have access to department stores, it opens up the possibility of shade matching for the purpose of on line shopping.

Although it will never replace the act of testing a foundation, it will make life easier, I can predict myself using it a fair amount.  Even if I'm just trying to trick it!

Makeup Course Week 9

So this week we were pretty much give free reign....Do whatever you want...or you can do your bridal assessment.
I missed the bridal week, so I knew I was going to have to do it sooner or later, so I decided to do it tonight, but HOW could I pass up the opportunity to go a little crazy too? SO I did both...duh!
Caitlin was my model tonight, what a good sport to let me make up her face twice.  As a bride, then a zombie... obviously!  Also, for some unknown reason, my camera decided to suck, the only time I REALLY needed it to come through for me, and it failed, sooo these pictures were taken on my phone, it's not great but its better than none...

Before:

After- Bridal:

The best photo I got of this, for some unearthly reason, won't rotate, which is odd because I took in in portrait and I want to use it that way, any way it's not to be.

This is what I drew at home, so I had a bit of a plan in my head as to what I wanted to do:

Annnnd this is what I did to poor Caitlin's face...

I had HEAPS of fun, it was a real laugh, not going to lie, but the best bit is that people saw the 'normal' look and took it for granted, then I did this, in a class where the craziest thing was rainbow eyes....I made quite an impression!
Thanks Caitlin!!!

Makeup Course week 8

This week was mature makeup.  In accordance with the unwritten parenting contract of 1984, my mum has to support me in my random ventures, and this week was no exception. 
She wasn't feeling great, in fact I woke her from a nap to come to class...hold up all you mother-side-takers I did offer to find a replacement model.  She said nope, she would come a long.

Now, I must mention, my mum NEVER wears makeup, if she does, lets say once ever 2 years, its a bit of mascara and some lip stick, that's it.  When she told my teacher this, the teacher (who's name is Angela btw, for future reference) looked at me and said 'so where did you get all your makeup know how, if it wasn't your mum?' 'um, self taught, I taught myself, what I didn't know I read, what I don't understand in words, I turned to You Tube for' this amazed her.  Just for shits and giggles, I told her I had an older sister too, and she taught me nothing. 
Actually not true, at the age of about 9, when my sister was 16, I learnt that if you put foundation on your whole face including your lips and you don't ad anything to redefine (no blush, no lip stuffs, nada) you bare an uncanny resemblance to a corpse.  I mean, she didn't mean to teach me as such, but, that's what I learnt.

Another thing worth mentioning.  I hate mature makeup, its not as fun, exciting or glitzy as my younger models, but here's what I did.

Mum, before the makeup:

And now, without further ado....Mum, post makeup:

You probably didn't notice in that 1st shot that my mum has blue eyes, bright blue eyes.  I did not get such luck, I got my dad's brown eyes, anyway, I really wanted to make these the feature and I think I managed it well.  Also she'd never worn false lashes before, so I trimmed down a few individual lashes and stuck them on.  She was quite happy, she told me 'If I could get used to wearing it, I would, it looks quite good'

Thanks mum!

Makeup Course Week 7

Phew, half way!, actually over it, its a 13 week course...and I'm loving every minute of it.  So this week was supposed to be an assessment week, but turned out not to be.  So instead we recapped some eye techniques.  I decided to do a neutral classic, but to practise those eyeliner 'flicks' sadly for Sarah, my model, I had been ill earlier in the week and so I was shakier than I thought I'd be and those lines just got thicker, I think I salvaged it though, and I added some individual lashes for funsies.  This time, I DID get a before picture....what do you think?

Again, Sarah was an aces model, and she had fun, and told me she wants to learn how to do her own.

SADLY we didn't do wine this week.... BUT it still had heaps of fun...

Thanks Sarah!!!

Makeup course week 6

Spose to be bridal, so we did 'glam' bridal, with eye liner 'flicks' and big red lips....
I had the wrong model for this, she was not entertained, neither was I, the makeup was fine, the technique was OK but the model looked weird....least said, soonest mended...

Thanks Stacey!!!

Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipcolours

I have 3 of these babies, one I got from my makeup swap and another 2 I purchased in a buy one get one free sale at Priceline.

So as you can see, I have a pink, a red and a pale frosty peach type colour, also known as Cherry Candy (red) Fuchsia Fever (pink) and Rose Glimmer (palest of the 3).
The pale peach colour didn't show up on my skin, you can just make out the slight glimmer next to the pink.

Maybelline say we'll love it because:

Fall in love with color, all over again:
-Crisper color from pure pigments
-Creamier feel from nourishing honey nectar
-Lipcolor so rich, so stunning… it’s sensational

What I think, the colours are pretty good, lovely and bold, but also glide on effortlessly, they feel great.  I really like them. 

The only thing, OK 2 things I'm, not so pumped about; the staying power; its not great, but then we have to compromise, do you want a moisturising lippie or do you want a colours that lasts?  Most of the reason colours last is that they dry on your lips, so really, its about compromise.
Also, these smell like play-dough, I don't know why, maybe its the pigments, I have no idea.  I hate play-dough, it gets stuck in the carpet and drives me insane, so for me the smell sends me in a tizz of mummyesuqe fear of scraping that shit off the floor.  If however you don't care, then it can be wonderfully reminiscent of your days at kinder.  I guess.

Anyway, these are available anywhere that usually stocks Maybelline.

Alternatively you can buy Play-dough for about $2 a tub and smear that on your face, just stay away from my place.

Makeup Course Week 5

I wasn't there! I was living it up in Thailand with my mum and my dear baby boy, who turned 3 while there, proving he is no baby!
So, instead, lets do a 'just got off the plane, im exhausted but its daylight and I want to explore' FOTD!

I had to cover the lack of sleep thing, whilst bearing in mind it was hot and sunny and humid and basically the worst conditions for makeup...
So I did this...

Mixed a little of my foundation with my face specific sunscreen, used some water proof gel liner anf finsihed it all off with a little lip balm and lashings of water proof mascara.

Not that it mattered because then I did this...

An yes, it did require a duckesque shot....thanks for asking.

Thanks Thailand!

Products used:

Makeup Course Week 4

Le Smokey eye....
Whats not to love, we got to do a smokey eye, I had a smokin model by the name of Sarah, I forgot to do a before, but we had SO much fun.  I've always been terrified for lashes BUT apparently I'm a natural, the word 'perfect' was thrown around... huzzah! Annnnd then we decided that perfect lashes shouldn't go to waste, soooo we went and had some wines! Makeup followed by wine, what's not to love!!!!

WOWZA! Sarah doesn't wear makeup, she says she doesn't know how to put it on do she doesn't try,  but look how well she pulls it off.  She also says she hates her eyes, they're too round.  She also said a very politically incorrect statement about how round they were, but its not for here....but look, those eyes don't look round to me!!! This particular picture make it to Facebook because I was pretty damn proud, about half way through the 2nd wine I looked over and for a fleeting second had that 'I wish I could do makeup that well' feeling....BUT I CAN, because I did! heck yes.

Thanks, Sarah!