Makeup brushes: The essentials

If you're looking to start out with some makeup brushes it can be a bit confusing, there are so many different shapes and sizes and brands and colours and hairs and fibres!

Here I'm going to share with you what I would consider to be the 'essentials' this is for the face and the eyes because it is true that your fingers, sponges, and sponge tip applicators that you get with some makeup is sufficient. Investing in some brushes is the next slightly more serious step in your makeup collection.

First of all, I will always recommend synthetic (man made) hairs over natural (animals such as ponys and goats) haired brushes, they are more durable, often cheaper and to be honest, kinder. My initial brush set came from BareMinerals which uses only natural hairs, the brushes are good but knowing what I know now, if given the choice I would purchase all synthetic

The brush breakdown:

1. A foundation brush. If you're a liquid user then a flat foundation brush will work a treat. Mine is from Boots No7 range and I used a money off voucher aswell. If you're more of a powder foundation girl then a kabuki brush is the way foward

2. An 'other' powder brush. It will often be called a face brush, or a bronzer brush. Its just flat and fluffy and is a universal tool to apply bronzer, blusher, highlighter and finishing powder.

3. A flat eye brush, this one is fluffy and broad enough to cover the whole eyelid in a shadow easily, but used on it's tip it can get into the crease aswell. It's a universal brush and you will always have a need for it. This is called the 'Contour shadow' brush by Bare Escentuals

4. Finally, the best til last and my favourite brush of all time, my 'desert island' brush is the MAC 224, although there are plenty of cheaper alternatives. This is the mother of blending brushes. It turns a smokey eye that looks like a black eye into a Beyonce makeup look. Where it's bristles swirl, the world is a better place. I use this brush every single day, and I've not found another I like more. It blends a lot, it blends a little, it tones down colours, brightens eyes, softens edges. Gah! I don't know what it's made of, but it must be filled with fairy dust.

The brushes really do the work for me, I don't consider myself to be especially talented over anyone without brushes at makeup, the brushes to me are kind of like cheating because they are so good, it is very hard to go wrong. They erase all mistakes and blend all flaws and I just swirl the handle in a logical way hoping for the best.

Make Up Wake Up

I decided before I applied my 'heavy-non-everyday' to take a 'before shot'  and an 'after shot' so I could truly see the difference in myself!

I was feeling somewhat rough and worse for wear but just thought 'Thank MAC for Makeup' when it was all done!

Get set to put on your filter sunglasses to filter through bed hair and bare face!

Here is the warpaint breakdown:
Laura Mercier moisturising foundatoin in Ivory
MAC studio sculpt concealer in shade NC20
MAC Blusher in shade Mocha
Bare Escentuals Bronzer in the hollows of the cheeks, along the sides of the nose and under the jaw
MAC Highlighter in shade SnowGlobe (xmas special collection)
MAC eyeshadow shroom all over the lid with folie in the crease, really blended out, white shadow on the browbone
MAC white eyeliner on lower waterline in shade Fascinating
Avon brown eyeliner on the top lash line and lower(just under the white) in shade Cosmic Brown
Bare Escentuals mascara in shade Black
MAC Translucent finishing powder all over the face
MAC eyeshadow in shade Folie in the eyebrows to make them a little more shaped!
MAC lipstick in shade Lovelorn
Slick of vaseline over the top!

Then we're ready for action!

Out the door I go!

Mermaid Makeup - Wearable!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know I have a secret love affair with pastels but especially mint! Spearmint, peppermint, and any kind of bluey-greeny pale mint colour!
Yesterday I went for the mermaid-y look, if you fancy trying out the hair then check yesterdays post! For the makeup, keep reading!

~Insert artsy eye makeup photos~ (too bad I'm not a photo editing whizz and they look like home snaps)

Here's how it went down:
For the eyes-
Painterly Pain pot by MAC
Sea foam eyeshadow all over the eyelid by Madison Street Beauty (MSB)
Tiffany blue eyeshadow on the outer corner of the eye by MSB
Mermaid eyeshadown along the crease, blended backwards and fowards by MSB
Folie eyeshadow on the outer half of the crease and feathered out so that you can still see the Mermaid blue eyeshadow underneth- Folie is by MAC
Shade 001 Time Resist White by L'oreal on the brown bone and inner corner of the eye
Brown gel eyeshadow along the top lashline by MAC
Folie by MAC along the lower lashline, so that it's not so harsh and heavy on the eyes
White eyeliner along the waterline - Fascination by MAC
Black Mascara by BareEscentuals

For the face-
Bare Escentuals face primer
Avon Cream to powder foundation
Bobbi Brown Bronzing Brick underneth the cheekbones
Well Dressed by MAC blusher along the cheek bones
Snowglobe highlighter by MAC along the cheekbones and down the center of the nose
Eyebrow pencil shade Lingering by MAC

For the lips-
Lovelorn by MAC
Shade 001 Time Resist White by L'oreal dabbed ont he centre of the lips
Barbie from Avon clear gel lipgloss with glitter in it!

Then we're all finished! Don't forget, if you like the look of the mermaid hair then read yesterdays post named 'Hello Kitty Curls' for a breakdown of how to do that, it's super easy!

Tuesday Fresh Makeup!

Today I decided to go for a pretty sky blue on my eyes as it was a beautiful sunny day (I was way too hot in my white thick cardigan!)

On the face:
Laura Mercier Moisturising foundation
Blusher from MAC shade Mocha
Bronzer and highlighter Bobbi Brown shimmer brick
Bare Minerals Mineral Veil Finishing Powder

On the eyes:
Shroom MAC all over the lid
Steel Blue from Maybelline Eye Studio in shade Shiny Nude #70 with MAC Fix Plus on outer half of eyelid
Matte Black in the crease blended to 'dampen' the blue and make it less bright
Black Eyeliner along top lashline (really thin amount)
White eyeliner on the waterline
Black Mascara

On the lips:
MAC pencil in shade Dervish
Bare Minerals lipgloss in shade Destiny

Friday Funsies!

Today I went to a surprise meal for one of my closest friends birthdays- it was so much fun to see a plan come together pretty much without hitch (although a little earlier today I said to her 'we can talk about all this tonight!' and she said 'yeah, why whats tonight?' and upon realising what I had just said I responded 'sorry, not tonight - I mean when we meet up next weekend' Luckily she said she didn't suspect!) -phew-
We ate at 'La Tasca' which is Spanish food and I had some meatballs, chicken croquettes and mushrooms - it was good!
I have a fun 'before' and 'after' for you:

Here I am, around 7pm this evening- wearing my new jacket that makes an appearance in my video 'Shopping for charity' a charcoal smokey eye, Body shop lip tint with Bare Minerals lip gloss over the top in shade Destiny- Looking all wide eyed and made up!

And here I am a little over four hours later! In my jammies and ready to settle down into bed, flat hair, no gloss, no earrings and no fancy jackets.

I love wearing a full face, but not as much as I love to be cosy in bed with a squeaky clean face, it's like falling asleep in fresh sheets, it just feels 'better'

New Video! 'No Makeup' Makeup Tutorial

Hoo-rah, I've uploaded a video all about using mineral makeup, it's technology has exploded in other regions and is leaking further afield as the hype is spreading. I've done a blog before on Bare Minerals and how much I love them so it was fun to use their products entirely for a whole video. I think the before and after is refreshing, I dont look glooped up with makeup (don't get me wrong, sometimes I love being glooped up with makeup for nights out) I just look like me only much better, less blotchy and tired version.



I don't want anyone to think that I'm turning my back on the mainstream drugstore type liquid foundation, nuh-uh not a chance, still my favourite form of foundation always this was just a refreshing change to afterwars not feel as though I'm buried under eyeshadow and shimmer and waxy, creamy textures.