Pretty in Pink Makeup Tutorial Urban Decay Naked Palette 3

It's such a myth that pink eye shadows are tricky to wear, paired with the right colours and the right amount of blending it is such a gem to have in your arsenal!

This is my most recent look using pinks as a base

A little mini breakdown of what happened is as follows:
1.Eyeshadow base
2. Apply a matte white shade all over the lid
3. Apply a bronze pigment around the outer eye and the outer half of the crease
4. Apply a mild baby matte pink on the middle part of the eye
5. Run a white eyeshadow pencil along the inner corner of the eyes and blend with your finger
6. Apply the matte white shadow on the brow bone
7. Run a white eyeliner along the waterline
8. Use a brown gel liner along the upper lash line and the outer third of the lower lash line
9. Apply mascara
10. A slick of cute pink gloss

You are done!

If you are looking for a little more detail, and 3 and a half minutes - or so of fun, watch the tutorial here!

 

Simple & Elegant Valentines Day Makeup Tutorial

Smokey eyes and glitter eyeliner are not always the best route to get the love of your life to swoon for you first thing in the morning, but here I present to you the effortless, simple Valentines day look- it's beautiful and neutral and easily dupe-able whether you have the Naked 1 palette or not!
It takes you from day to night without looking over the top for a light lunch, a picnic, the cinema or a late dinner without looking either overdressed or underdressed.
It's low maintenance in terms of upkeep because of the neutral lips!
(Also no one likes sticky lipgloss kisses...)

Soft and Romantic Valentines Day Makeup Tutorial Urban Decay Naked Palette 3

You're thinking that Valentines day is approaching and you want to look cute for the day! Well I have you covered, today I uploaded a super sweet Valentines Day Makeup tutorial that is effortlessly beautiful and chic! Panic over! For this I used my beloved Urban Decay Naked 3 palette, and today it makes its debut to my YouTube, although it's had a special place in my heart for a while now.

  The Naked palettes aren't the cheapest palette available, so check to yesterdays post for a super detailed run down on what the palettes are about, what one is best for you and whether they are worth it.

I couldn't resist this tacky photograph effect! Love heart confetti all over my face, what could be better?

Naked 1 vs. Naked 2 vs. Naked 3 Urban Decay Palette

Whew, this is going to be a long side by side comparison, rammed full of photographs and descriptions- so grab yourself a warm drink and get into your comfies before you continue reading.

The Naked palettes are a 'cult' favourite product that cast and addictive spell on anyone who buys them to convince them that they need the next one, and the next one.

How many shades of neutral are there? Really?

Well, a lot- it would seem, and maybe there are even more yet to be invented, or reinvented by Urban Decay.

A little outline of the palettes:

Naked/ The Original Naked/ Naked 1

This palette is full of rich deep warm browns that are mostly shimmer. The palette works in a gradient from the light colours to the deepest darkest
# of Matte colours: 2
Most original shade: Gunmetal (Blue-Grey on the far right)

What's great about the palette:
A whole spectrum of very high quality, rich buttery eyeshadows.
It fills in every gap in your browns and is perfectly portable
There are endless combinations
It comes with a reasonable quality brush & mini primer potion which most people love (I am not one of those people but that's another story)

This lets the Naked #1 down:
After a while one shimmery brown, becomes another shimmery brown and once placed on the eye it's tricky to distinguish one from the other.The majority of shimmer shades make it less day-to-day wearable for those who do not like wearing shimmer in the day time, there are only so many ways to use the matte colours alone
The case is a velvet that gets unbearably dirty from eyeshadow or general powder fall out
The mirror is fairly dinky and does not make full use of the lid space

The final word:
A lot of people claim that this is a palette best for 'brown eyed girls' I don't agree with this, I am not really one to follow that 'this' is for blue eyes and 'this' is for brown eyes- I really think that colours are transferable universally across all eye colours. The only person who I would say that this palette is less suitable for is mature skin, there are a lot of shimmers which can be less forgiving if your eyelids are not as perky as they once were- also, it tends to be mature women who shy away from wearing shimmer eyeshadow in the day time which limits the looks that the palette can give you so things may get repetitive quickly.

Naked 2

This palette is crammed with cool toned neutrals. The palette is a mix of creams, browns, greys, bronzes, silvers and blacks
# of Matte colours: 3
Most original shade: YDK (Purple sparkle, 3rd from the right)

What's great about the palette:
This palette gives a great deal of variety as it dips into the golds, pinks, silvers and purples as well as having a true universal staple to take anything from a neutral to dramatic look which is an outstanding quality, rich, buttery matte black in Blackout. The packaging is a beautiful steely cool metal, that is hygienic, a nice neat clasp closure and a generously sized mirrors

This lets the Naked #2 down:
The double ended brush that comes with the product is not great, the supposedly fluffy blending brush isn't as dense as it could be. Also, there is what I consider the worst thing that UD could have done through including a repeat colour, there is 'Half Baked' in the Naked 1 and Naked 2 palette. The colour itself is lovely, but I think that to not come up with an original shade is borderline laziness.

The final word:
This is without a doubt the most versatile palette for all tastes, this contains something for every taste, light natural looks, darker daring looks, bridal looks, shimmer looks, matte looks. If you're someone that likes it all, likes experimentation, choice and variety then there is nothing that you won't love about this palette of exquisite colours


Naked 3

This palette is a porcelain girls dream, a whole palette tinted with pink. I know that it's easy to run away screaming when I say pink eye shadows with visions of having bruised eye sockets or eyes that look riddled with infection. But this palette is really nothing like that, and is a pleasant surprise to skeptics, and just as good as anticipated by the rest of us. It managed to achieve this by combining rose colours with just a hue of brown to tone them in the right way. Pink eye shadows can be a challenge to pull of, but these are on a scale of their own, granted I think that this would suit fair skinned girls, but there is something here for absolutely everyone of all ages. If you are a makeup artist or considering getting into bridal makeup then this is an essential addition to your kit, this is a natural-beauty brides fantasy come true, gorgeous romantic colours that enhance and compliment the face.

# of Matte colours: 3
Most original shade: Blackheart (colour on the far right)

What's great about the palette:
The Naked 3 is consistent in the theme that this is without a doubt a rose gold infused palette, and there's not many people who haven't indulged in that trend. This palette normalizes pinks, makes them accessible and less frightening. It's also a wonderful transitional palette into the warmer months. Every single colour is beautiful and wearable, like sweet, indulgent little chunks of chocolate in a gorgeous rose gold case with all the greatness of the Naked 2 palette (large mirror, sturdy case etc) but with some pleating detail on the packaging.

This lets the Naked #3 down:
There are some dupes between the Naked 3 and it's older sisters including:
Naked #1 Darkhorse and Naked #3 Darkside
Naked #2 Foxy and Naked #3 Strange
Naked #2 Tease and Naked#3 Nooner

The final word:
If you are a neutral girl, that has exhausted the browns and bronzes and you're looking for a fresh twist, then the Naked 3 is astounding at filling that little void. The concept of the palette is romantic and the first of it's kind to really run with this theme but some of the colours are dupe able. If you are torn between the Naked 1 and Naked 2 then I'd say go for the Naked 3, to me it is like the best of them both married together with a girly twist.

Verdict:
My most used is the Naked 2, but the most original in my collection is the Naked 3. I only tend to pull out the Naked 1 for the summertime but this is perhaps an odd force of habit that I have imposed upon myself.
If in doubt, follow the packaging to indicate what is inside

New video makeup tutorial: Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette Smoulder Look

Who doesn't love simple great looks at your disposal to whip on time and time again that look just great, are simple and fool proof?

Here is another of those classic looks that use a few colours (dupe-able) to create something striking, it's a simple case of dark colour on the corners of the eyes and the crease, with a paler colour in the center of the eye lid, the real key is blending blending blending, and a little bit of adding the dark colour at a time, it's much harder to 'blend away' dark colours once you've applied too much, so keep a light and gentle hand and take your time at first!

Yesterday my Naked 3 palette showed up, and I got to have a little play around, so my next few tutorials may have a little something on that, I'm also contemplating getting a good quality microphone to begin creating voice overs to some or all of my videos, I'm not too savvy with the editing though, so it may be a step too far for me!?

Get naked Makeup Tutorial

Todays Makeup tutorial is entirely from the Urban Decay Naked palette, yes, that old gem!
I use a fair few colours for this one look that I guess in the end turned out to be pretty dark and smokey, but I still wore it in the day time and felt that it was equally appropriate!
I hope you love this one!

Off to see the Wizard! Urban Decay Glinda & Theodore palette peek!

No...
This is just little ol' me off to lectures, but I sure do wish that I was off to see 'The Wizard'

Which is very fitting, because I caught a peek at Urban Decay's new palettes (2 of them) which are keeping with the theme of the new Disney film 'Oz the great and powerful'
-I knew about the palettes before I knew about the film coming out!
Here's a look at the palettes...

 The Glinda palette-
Contains a plum eyeshadow that is shimmery called Tornado , a shimmery blue and pink duo called Aura, a colour that looks like the can of grape soda with gold flecks called Magic, a satin peachy colour called Illusion, another 2 in shade that is golden shimmer alongside silver shimmer called Oz and another glittery colour that is grey but has a warm shimmer to it called South
PLUS a purple eyeliner in Eggplant and a pinky-beige lip colour in Glinda


Now onto Theodora-

A creamy colour called Broken , a warm matte brown called Beware dark brown titled Bewitch, then a deeper brown with a metallic finish named West, a duo shade with one half containing a black with green and gold flecks, then a glittery gold called Spell, the appropriately titled Jealous is the other duo containing a light and dark green with a creamy pearl finish.
PLUS a black eyeliner, and a bright red lip colour titled Theodora

My favourite is the Glinda palette, but perhaps I'm just biased because I have no idea who Theodora is, Theodora's palette contains a lot of browns though which I feel I have accumulated stacks of but perhaps that is what makes Theodora's a little more wearable if you like to keep your makeup safe. Glinda's contains a lot of what I consider 'never seen before' colours that I don't already own, and I love how good UD's glitter shadows are (thick but not chunky) so I feel like Ginda's is a lot more exciting!

You can pop out all the eye shadows and put in your own UD colours if you wanted to, or you could just leave it as is!
They come with 'look cards' to give you ideas on how to wear the colours and just I love how all the names relate to the traditional Wizard of Oz, I can't wait to get my hands on these just for the packaging!!
These are not out in the UK yet boohoo but they cost $49, so around £31

New Video! Neutral Weekend!

If there's anything more fun than filming a video once, it's refilming and editing another two times!

I'm just joking
it made me want to rip my own hair out and snap the memory card in half
but thankfully I didn't
and the once time that the video was actually functioning I quickly rushed to get it uploaded before something went wrong again

So although early, but better early than never at all:
Nearly Naked Makeup Tutorial!



Very pretty look that is kind of my 'everyday' look, especially on the days where I'm feeling less colourful.
I use the Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette and a fluffy brush, smaller tipped brush, angled eyeshadow brush and a blending brush but of course you can use dupes of all my tools and eyeshadows.
I hope you enjoy it!

P.S Turn your volume up because my voice was on it's way out when I filmed the first part of this video.

Japanese Exchange

In the spirit of learning new languages, I've volunteered to take part in a japanese exchange- so even though my japanese language knowledge is limited solely to 'Konichiwa' - I hope that's spelt right haha!
So bascially I've been put in touch with two japanese students who are here until christmas. It's all about helping them to practice their conversational english so perhaps it's better that I can't speak japanese as it would be easier to resort back to that when they don't understand words.

I took the japanese students back to my university room as they were curious to see what the student rooms look like, the first words when they walked into my room were 'whoah so much hello kitty'

I did laugh, but they told me it's for smaller girls normally, not adults!

Ah well

This is the outfit I put together for the meeting, I wanted to look friendly!
From the bottom up:

Black ankle boots from New Look

Faded jeans from Joe Browns

Plaid shirt from Forever 21

Black top underneth from Primark

Leather studded Jacket from Internationale

Feather earring from Etsy

Makeup combination frmo Naked Palette- Urban Decay
 

Urban Decay Vice Palette- Am I dreaming?!

Today has been so unexpectedly wonderful, I was given the Urban Decay Vice palette as a belated birthday gift, I am simply ecstatic- I thought the slow moving open lid was a pipe dream with a £40 price tag I couldn't justify the spend around Christmas, but now it's stacked up so beautifully with my other palettes looking all neat and perfect. It came wrapped in an Urban Decay ribbon that I didn't even want to remove, but I was too tempted by the glorious colours inside.

This is what the inside looks like, i've done a little close up of every row so that you can get a better idea of the finish of the colours, there's a real mix of shimmer and matte.

I was immediately drawn to Chaos, that gorgeous, bright blue. I toned it down by blending it with Occupy as it was only the daytime. I simply love Noise, I've never seen or swatched a pink so spectacularly vivid.

So far my favourite browbone colours are Anonymous and Laced

As usual the brush is a bit mehh.. it's okay, but trying to get colour out of the pan with the brush makes it spray and sprinkle everywhere because the fibres of the brush are not tightly packed together.

The huge mirror is a great feature, you can apply your whole face of makeup using it.

While I of course love my Naked Palette and it is very much a 'desert island' beauty product something about the Vice is a little bit more jazzy, it has all the neautrals to do a million and one brown and grey looks, but it has the dazzle of the glitters which means that the pallete will see you through the mundane to the exceptional kind of occassions, that's my two cents

Chocolate Pie Eye Makeup Tutorial

This is my first pictoral tutorial using the Naked Palette! Hopefully it'll come across as easy as it really is to do as I go step by step with pictures to illustrate every little part for you!

I couldn't think of a fun name so I just thought of something fun and yummy, initially I thought of Mud Pie but then I realised that no one want's their makeup to be likened to mud!
Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

It's of course browny based because thats the undertone of pretty much all of the colours in the palette!

 I've got a blank eye but have just applied Urban Decay's Primer Potion, first time using the product and genuinely underwhelmed- much prefer MAC Paint pot in shade Painterly for longwear, colour vibrancy, texture, pretty much everything!

 Taking a medium sized shading brush, this brush is by Bare Minerals, apply the colour 'Buck' generously to both eyelids to give a warm base, if you want to make the look appear more 'evening' then build up the brown to be more opaque, but for the daytime you can apply about the same amount as I have here

Then, using a smaller brush with a finer tip, take Smog, or any darker brown with a shimmer to it and 'carve' out the socket of the eye with the colour. By 'carve' I mean to follow the shape of the eyeball and outline it along the crease with Smog, it might look a little sharp but it's nothing a little blending can't sort out!

 

Blend blend blend! I'm using the MAC 224 brush here, and sweeping it backwards and fowards in the crease.

Then, press a clean finger into 'Toasted' and wait until the finger has warmed the product, and press it on the centre of your eyelid for an additional dimension to the look and to make your eyes go 'pop'!

Using 'Darkhorse' and a small 'stubby' type brush (the one I have here is a double ended brush that came with the Bare Minerals 'Rocker Eye' kit) line the lower lash line 2/3 of the way along, for a more 'night time' look take this colour right along the top lashline with the brush aswell

Afterwards, apply 'Virgin' or another pale-pearly-pink eyeshadow to your brow bone to add a highlight to the eye, here I'm using a small brush but you could use your fingers too

 As an inner corner highlight colour, I used 'Sin' right around where my tear duct is, you could use any champagney-shimmery colour and again you don't have to use a brush, just a dab on the end of your little finger would work fine

Using a brown pencil liner, line your waterline, if you want to amp up the drama do this to your top waterline too!

 Using a brow brush and a matte brown colour, this is 'Folie' by MAC start at the inside of your eyebrow and work your way out the fill in your brows

Apply a few coats of black mascara, the one I use here is Bare Minerals, but you could even wear false lashes

Apply a pretty lipstick, my current favourite is 'Pervette' by MAC, it has a shimmer to it and the colour is kind of iridescent, over the top I layer a lipgloss to give my lips a little more 'oomph!' press your lips together so that the lipstick and gloss are evenly distibuted across your lips!

 

Voila! Done and dusted and out the door!