Thursday, 24 July 2014

Concealers!

Concealer: My Best Friend

I can't even. That's how much I love concealer. It transforms my face from a red, patchy, angry lookin face to a more acceptable....angry lookin face. It's wonderful! Those select few unfortunate bastards who have seen me without makeup can silently nod and agree as they read this. Rule 1 of mekkup. 'concealer is your friend'

Ive gone through at least 20 different brands and types of concealers and i'e slowly dwindled down to owning only about 3 or 4. The ones i'm telling you about today are as follows.
 
  • Wet 'n Wild: Cover All Palette€4.49

  • Seventeen: Phwooaarr Paint€6.99

  • MAC Select Cover Up ; €19.00


I know what you're thinking. 19 bucks for concealer, how bout nooooo! Well, you'd be right. Don't buy it. It's an overpriced tiny bottle of poop. Useless! MAC let me down with this bad boy...which is why we've decided to see other people. 

However....dun dun duuuuuun... 
The Seventeen Phwooaar Paint is lush. So buy that intstead :) It's a heavy duty coverage so even if you're in the middle of your blessed menstrual cycle and are playing connect the dots with the breakout on your face, this little tub of sexy paint can cover aaaall that up. trust me, i'm a doctor.

If you're really on a budget, ( like me....24/7...365 a year. lol. ) the Wet n Wild is a cheaper alternative! Works just as well, little bit cheaper, not as good coverage but if you've only got small blemishes to cover on a daily basis this little gem is perfect! 
Plus, it's got 3 other different sections in it as well as the cover up! One is for highlighting (the white part), one of the best highlighters i've used to be honest! It's got the Pink part for those dark or blue circles you get under your eyes that make you look like you got decked the night before. Not a good luck...trust me on that too. The Green part os fab for covering up those red patches on your face that you just can't explain sometimes. ...is it spots? is it small pox? what's happening..why am I red. I honestly can't tell you, but that lovely green section in the concealer pot will cover that mess up!

Tips
  • Dab a small bit of powder over your concealer before you apply your foundation. It helps keep it in place all day and helps avoid being brushed off when applying foundation.
  • Don't splash out on expensive concealer if you really don't need it.
  • If you're buying concealer for contouring, buy a cheap brand and apply powder over it. I use Collection 2000 Cover Up Sticks for contouring. Cheap as chips, and they have really light to really dark coverage available. €2.49 in Boots. Happy Days!
  • Use a concealer brush for applying concealer, I swear by one! Using your fingers to apply concealer is a waste as your fingers will absorb most of the concealer anyway. I use the Eco Tools Airbrush Concealer Brush. Retails in Boots for around €7 I think.
"No exaggerations, I could not love a human baby as much as I love    this brush."

-Chazz Michael Michaels.
    







Take Care, & Comb Your Hair. 
X







Friday, 4 July 2014

Lippy! ; Cheaper Alternatives

Wassuuuuup.



Haven't been posting much lately (soz) have been dying with the flu and various other snot related illnesses. Some.....Laugh.

Soooooo, gonna talk about a serious passion of mine, lipstick. Bleak as it may be, i frickin' love the stuff. Except orange...i really hate orange lipstick. Probably cos it clashes with my hair LOL :) 

Personally, MAC lipsticks are my absolute favourite, not because they're ridiculously over-priced and...well...they're MAC. I love em because of the fantastic different shades they have, and the colour/pigment in each lipstick is really strong, a main difference between really cheap lipsticks and the dearer brands. That being said, I wouldn't go past the lippies you get in the chemist like Rimmell, Maxfactor, Seventeen etc. 

Therefore I felt it necessary to post a little piece about cheaper versus dearer brands of lippy , mainly popular shades of lipstick amongst my fellow youngwans.




First Up; Pink Lippy

Having experimented with mental lipstick colours enough in my time, i've found what colours suit me. Bright pink prooobably aint one of them but I wear it anyway; life's too short, yolo, swag...etc.

The 3 lippies I own in the fabulous, bright and borderline tacky pink lipstick are as follows! 

- MAC - #Girl About Town
- Rimmell Lasting Finish by Kate Moss #020
- Revlon Kissable Balm Stain #Lovesick Passionnee


    *This particular one has gone out of stock, so the closest one i can find to this shade is the       Rimmell Lasting Finish Colour Rush: in shades 'Boom Chic a Boom' or 'Rumour Has It'.


Whoever is employed to name the shades of lipstick seriously needs to re-evaluate their life choices. I mean really? Boom...chic a boom. Lord....

anyway.

MAC - €19

Hands down, one of the nicest lip shades to ever come out of the MAC store. One little dab on your lips for durin the day and you have a lovely subtle pink shade to your otherwise pale and crusty sun-damaged lips. But pile it on for the night-time and you'll be oooonly goooorgeous!
 
Excuse the state of my skin in the picture, i had been wiping     off and re-applying lipstick all morning, looking well was the     least of my priorites. sorry xx


Rimmell - €6.99

WHY didn't life inform me of this lipstick for almost a third of the price of the MAC alternative? Cos life's a bitch that's why. This cheaper lipstick: exact. same. I can't notice a difference between the two when they're on. If I was to be picky between the two,the Rimmell version is slightly more moisturising than the MAC. Which is fab! However it isn't as rich as the colour of the MAC one. Just pile it on and you'll be fine ;)




Revlon ( Rimmell alternative €6.99 )

This one is my favourite to carry around with you during the day. It's a balm, so it hasn't got that heaviness that you find with lipstick, like you feel you're wearing too much lipstick. Depending on how much you put on, a small amount will give u a nice pink tone to the lips. What I found amazing is that when you keep applying, the colour becomes stronger, and it's really moisturizing! I wouldnt reccomend it as a balm-stain for going out because just no. Bring your lippy out, it lasts longer!
In the picture, I have piled it on to show how strong the colour is!


See the difference between the three pictures? Me either. That's cos at the end of the day, lipstick is lipstick. If you get similar shades, you're gonna get similar results. 



Another example of similar shades is between MAC and Rimmell again. This time, with a bolder shade. The MAC - Rebel shade is very popular, however Rimmell have a similar alternative with their Dark Knight Waterl-oops shade. (another stupid lipstick name...ugh.)

The picture on the left is the MAC version, to the right is the Rimmell. Personally, I prefer the MAC one, it's not as intense and stays on longer. However, the Rimmell is perfect to bring out and about with your to top up!



Other Popular Alternatives



Light Pink
On the right is the MAC shade Lip Blossom. Perfect for  both day &n night. On the left, the popular cheap brand Essence, the shade is called All About Cupcake. This  alternative costs around €15 euro less than the MAC and proides pretty much the same results. The picture on the right is the Essence version. (Poser at the best of times.)



Red
Everyone loves a red. On the right, the MAC shade Apres Chic. It's not a strong red however it was the first MAC lipstick I ever bought adn I wasn't very adventurous back then. The shade on the left is the Essence alternative: shade 03 Dare to Wear. I was really impressed with the strong colour of the Essence, and it stayed on just as long as the expensive MAC alternative. Highly recommend! Picture on the right is the Essence colour.

CONCLUSION

- Lipsticks are fun.
Don't think you need to splash out to own a decent lippy.
Cheaper alternatives are JUST as good, and sometimes better.

- MAC stores are the devils playground. Do not enter them without supervision as you WILL      spend money and be poor for the rest of your life. Your lips will lookin bitchin' though. ;)



Friday, 20 June 2014

Lippy Review!

Gone mad into bright lippies these days, so I thought id do a comparison between cheap vs expensive brands.. 

Will be posting soon! stay tuned :)


Smokey-Eye w/Naked2 Eyeshadow Palette


Disclaimer
I am taking no blame, whatsoever for any girls complaining that ''the baiz are pure plaguin' me cozza me smokey eye make-up''.




You're gonna be dacent lookin after usin these few simple tips. Not my fault.

After a few years of smashing eye-shadow off the ground in a temper and spending at least 80 bucks on various smokey-eye kits and kaboodles, i've figured out a fool-proof way of doing a quick smouldering, smokey-eye effect that will suit all skin tones, hair colours, eye sizes, foot sizes, errrrrthing. 

It works!!
( I sound like im selling you a product...but im not. I wish I was! I need the dollahs. )






So, here a couple of things you need! Oh and by the way, the Naked2 Eye-shadow palette is not necessary for this, personally I just love the colours and I got it as a present so: happy days!

-3 shades of neutral eyeshadow; black, brown, gold,  cream etc.
-2/3 eyeshadow brushes
-Mascara
Highlighter (if you fancy)
-Eye-shadow primer
- i cannot stress how vital this stuff is, especially if you       plan on goin on the tear with 'da galz' and intend on sweating off your make-up dancin around the place like a jack-ass: love that ;)

at least you know that at the end of the night when you look like a homeless man that's been put into a mixed-colour wash on a 50 degree spin cycle...you know your eye-make up will still be in tact.

I, my friends, have got yo back.


Right, so after applying your primer on both eyelids, apply the black eyeshadow around the edges of the eyes and bring it half way into your eye-lid.


The black is labelled Blackout in the Naked Palette.






Next, Apply a medium/dark brown colour on the rest of the lid as such. Blend it slightly with the black in the centre of the eye lid.


The colour I used is a dark, shimmery brown, which is labelled Snakebite in the Palette.




Finally, using a light brown/gold colour, blend, blend, blend! 

I used the Snakebite colour in the palette to lend the colours together and also put a little bit of this colour under my eyes aswell cos that's cute too I guess :)






This is what it should kinda look like when you're finished applying mascara and blending the lovely colours together!

Personally, these few simple steps work a charm for me, I never seem to go wrong which always used to be a problem for me!

However ladies, here is your solution! Give this a try, if it doesn't work, I give every wingle one of you the chance to punch me directly in the mouth.


Feel free to let me know of you tried it and how you got on!
Mucho Love & Cuddles,

Shauna x

Thursday, 19 June 2014

Fool-Proof Smokey Eye

Tutorial on how to do simple yet smashin' smokey-eye eye makeup using the Naked 2 eyeshadow palette.


FOR THE RECORD

-im not calling anyone a fool..
-yes, after reading this blog your eyes will be smokey so have a fire extinguisher handy


Blog will be posted tomorrow June 20th

Later Laaaads! 
xo

Product Review - Collection: Work the Colour EYEBROW KIT

I thought for my first blog post i'd write about something very close to my heart which naturally, is eyebrows. Probably because I have none. Which to be honest isn't great craic.



Being ginger is all fun and games until you put on 17 layers of make-up and realise you look like a bit of a tit with invisible eyebrows: see exhibit A. Drastic, eh? Ya. Tough aul life. 





So I thought to myself...eyebrows are nice, right? wrong.
Some people just get it so..very...very wrong. See exhibits B, C, D....e..f..g... 





WHOOOMP......there it is.


I finally found a product that, whilst giving me normal looking eyebrows, manages to not make me look like an utter muppet at the same time.Looked for it, found it, bought it, happy days, life is great :)




The Collection Brow kit (approx. €4.99)  is reeeally handy if like me you're slightly on the naked side when it comes to eyebrows. The Kit contains 3 different shades for blonde, brown and black coloured eyebrows. It also comes with the nifty little brush for people with midget hands to apply your lovely brows, which does take some getting used to. But still fab nonetheless!

It also comes with clear brow mascara to apply over your brows to keep the tint in place.

AND...it's compact. About the size of one's palm which is handy for not bulking up your make-up bag/box/sack...whatever you care to store your make-up in. Winning!




So, there you have it! Applying to brow powder is easy enough once you get used to it! here's a couple of steps I provided which I myself have found work for me so far! Applying a small amount around the beginning of your brow helps to define the shape of the brows as well as giving you a guideline of where your applying the powder.
( Excuse my atrocious brows as they are in dire need of tweezing, which quite frankly was NOT happening today as I had some television to watch. #SorryNotSorry ). I used the medium shade to do this part with.


Then, using the darkest shade, i drew a thin line across the rest of the brow, again, to give a guideline of what shape you're doing on the brows. It





Finally, using the medium shade of powder again, I filled in the rest of the brow to my desired shape and viola. Actual Eyebrows.




And there ye have it lads. The gingers guide to creating the illusion you have eyebrows instead of albino worms resting above your eyes. Couple of do's & dont's to keep in mind.


DO: everything I told ye to do throughout this little rant. Provided ye do this, ye will have truly lovely eyebrows to be envied by the all the beours.




DON'T: apply the powder in square patterns around your eyebrows as such. 





Personally, I find this to look silly not only on me, but....everyone? ever? ya. stop.

Never was a fan of the Scouse-brows myself.







Finished Product





Hope you enjoyed this and found it somewhat useful. Til next time ;)

'xo