An Everyday Red

Meet my new favorite lip combination; M.A.C half-red lip pencil and Fast Play lipstick. I've been using Fast Play for a while now and always get compliments on it; it's a very pretty cool-toned neutral pink that suits my complexion particularly well - for those of you out there that find peachy and orang-y tones not so flattering and struggle to find a neutral lip color, you may want to give this one a go. Just sayin'. What I love the most about this lipstick is that you can really play around with its opacity and wear it as softly or boldly as you want, by dabbing it on with your fingers or a lip brush. 

If Fast Play has been a favourite of mine during the last couple of months, things just got better once I got my hands on Half-red lip liner in Copenhagen airport last January; it's a match made in heaven. As its name suggests, Half-red is, well, half red. It's a mid toned red with a hint of mauve in it. It's beautiful when used on its own, but paired with Fast Play it transforms into a beautiful, neutral-ish rosy red - the perfect compromise between a daytime neutral lip and a night time heavier, bolder lip. It's my definition of "an everyday red" as it's bolder than a nude, obviously, but not as high maintenance or in-your-face as a proper red. 

This combo goes with pretty much any eye-look, would most likely suit every skin tone and will definitely add a hint of glamour to your everyday routine. What more could we ask for ?


xxx

M'

How to: The Perfect Wing

You know what they say "never ask a girl with winged eyeliner why she's late". It's like applying false eyelashes; unless you wear them on a daily basis, you most likely will curse the damn thing about a billion times, spill some glue everywhere and pinch your real lashes (and lid. Ouch.) with your tweezers before actually getting them on. Although I am slightly exaggerating (or am I?), you'll agree that applying winged eyeliner is just as much of a pain as applying falsies. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of eyeliner on myself and don't tend to wear it that often; but the few times I have, I've learned the hard way that there's no luck to hope for - it's either you try, try and try again until you master it - or, if you find yourself suffering from an massive shaky hand syndrome like myself, you can stick to a method and well, hope for the best. Here's some tips and tricks that help to get two somewhat even wings - 'cause that's the hardest part isn't ? - I hope it helps !

Back to the good 'ol tape 

I'm sure you've seen people place tape (or sticky notes - those are my faves) on the corner of their eyes when doing a smoky-eye, or you may have done it yourself before. Well, I have to say it remains the easiest, most full-proof way to get a sharp, feline-like wing. There's no way you can mess up your liner if you're using tape as it basically draws it for you. The second major advantage of using tape is that it's you best chance at getting even wings; in theory, the wing should be the continuity of your bottom lash line - so if you position the tape right, which you can as you can all align it properly to your bottom lash line, you can and will do it right on both sides. Bam, done! All you have to do is make sure the length of the wing is as similar as possible on both sides (sounds easy but even that I can mess up. Like seriously).

Cotton buds are your best friends

It's okay to mess up. Take a breath, grab a cotton bud, dip it into some eye make-up remover or eye cream and clean it up ! No one will ever know.

When sharp isn't sharp enough

If you're not satisfied when getting the tape off or if your liner bleeds slightly, take some concealer and a precise brush (or whatever brush you feel comfortable with) and again, clean it up. I like to use M.A.C studio fix concealer, full-coverage and it.does.not.budge ! 

And there you have it ! One last thing, if you do decide to use tape or sticky notes, go ahead and apply your base first if you want to, but apply your concealer once you're done with the liner or the tape might disturb it.

Have a good week and may your wings be ever so even !

xxx

M'

An Ode to the Beauty Sponge

I've raved many times about my favorite base products, from primers to foundations and concealers. I haven't however talked about the tools I use to apply either of those products. Let me first say that I've tried many, many, many brushes of all sorts as I'm not the biggest fan of using my fingers to apply either my foundation nor my concealer - if you are, then by all means don't let me distract you, as if it isn't my personal preferred way to work, I'll admit that it remains the easiest, most fuss-free way to apply any base. Nothing can melt a product into your skin better than the warmth of your fingers. Still, I find the technique too time-consuming and would rather grab a brush to swap some foundation on when I'm in a rush, but again you do you ! Today's post isn't going to be about brushes (although there's one coming your way so fear not, I'll ramble about the subject again soon enough!) but about beauty sponges. You may have heard of the very famous Beauty Blender, this ridiculously expensive (around 20$...for a sponge!) little egg-shaped sponge. I have to say I've been skeptical about the whole concept for quite some time and never thought I'd give in to the hype. Then Real Techniques came out with a similar product, their Miracle complexion sponge, with a fairly reasonable price (6$ ! Now we're talking) so I decided to let my prejudice aside and give it a go. Did I like it ? Nope. I loved it. Well, not at first - don't even consider using the damn thing dry, won't do any good. Try it damp, however, and your life will be forever changed (sort of'). 

I use it everyday to apply my concealer of choice (the M.A.C pro longwear or/and the Nars Radiant creamy concealer) and there's no other way I ever want to do it. I've always struggled with my concealer application, as although my skin is overall oily, I've always had I dry under-eye - I know, go figure...For those of you suffering with the same issue, you'll know what it's like to always, always be left with a patchy under-eye, no matter how long you dabbed the product in with your careful ring finger. Frustrating isn't it? Now, using the appropriate eye-cream helps, of course - but so does the beauty sponge. Not only does it feel incredible on those early morning - does wonders on those puffy eyes, it's just so refreshing! - but it distributes the products evenly, giving you an airbrushed-like finish. That's the only way I can describe what it gives really, an airbrushed yet skin-like finish. Why skin-like? Because it's a sponge and you use it damp, it will soak up any excess concealer, same goes for foundation. I don't have the patience to apply my entire base with it, hence why I stick to the concealer application, but I do like to dab it gently all over my face after applying my foundation just to make sure I wasn't too heavy handed and that my base is as blended can be. It's particularly handy around the nose area, where foundation tends to get cake quite easily. I will say that it isn't the most convenient tool to travel with (it's hard to keep it in a sanitized environment at all time) and you have to clean it after each use (or I'd recommend doing so, unless you want to spread your breakouts...? 'Didn't think so.) but it's totally worth the care.

Have you tried a beauty sponge before ? Would you recommend investing in the original Beauty blender ? I probably will give in at some point (I always do) so I shall keep you updated !

Have a lovely week lovelies!

xxx

M'

My favourite contouring products

Contouring and highlighting my face has to be my favourite part of my make-up routine; from concealing to dusting some highlighter on the highest points of my face and curving out my cheekbones. All those steps take your whole make-up look to another level, structuring your face and enhancing your features - because that's what it is all supposed to be about, enhancing what you already have, your favorite particularities. Of course no one's perfect (except that model on the cover maybe?) no face is perfectly symmetrical or perfectly curved and even if that's the beauty of it all, we as human tend to see what we don't have instead of what we do have, don't we? I think balance is key, as for everything. Yes, to some extents make-up can help us be the best version of ourselves, mostly by boosting our confidence - but make-up is supposed to be fun before being anything else. So go ahead and experiment, try yourself at contouring if you haven't already, give yourself a nose job by doing so if you want to, but never forget that it is just make-up and that your best ally is your own face, use it ! Now, I could ramble about contouring and its many techniques for days but today I wanted to introduce you to some of my favourite products.

Many people like to contour with their bronzer; to me, bronzer is mainly a product to -  as the name suggests - bronze up the face, warming it up and adding back some of the color that foundation sometimes takes away. For medium to dark skin tones it's fairly easy to get away with contouring with a bronzer. However I find that for fair to light skin tones, especially cooler complexions, using a bronzer may look a bit too orange. Contouring is about sketching some shadows on your face to accentuate the curve of some of your features. To do so, the product used should mimic as much as possible a natural shadow, which is why it is usually recommended to use a cooler toned cream or powder. If you find yourself struggling at contouring with your bronzer, maybe it's because it is slightly too warm. The two products on the picture above, M.A.C Harmony blusher and Benefit Hoola bronzer are what I consider to be hybrids; they can be used to both bronze and contour, without being too orange nor too ashy. They're the perfect in-between shade that will suit most skin tones out there, even the lighter ones. If you're after an easy introduction to contouring and can't be bothered to use to different products - a bronzer and a contour shade - they I'd recommend trying out one of those two.

I do occasionally like a stronger contour, especially on nights out when the light is dimmer and more forgiving than the daylight. The next few products are definitely meant to be used for contouring, as they're much cooler in tone that the previous ones. To start with two budget-friendly products, I like to use N.Y.X blush in Taupe and Catrice eyeshadow in 350 Starlight expresso. They're both extremely pigmented and mimic a shadow incredibly well. They can however look too ashy and muddy on some people, so one thing you can do (and should do anyway) is to use your bronzer as a transition shade, like you would use a transition shade in the crease of your eye to blend any eyeshadow. That way, not only will the transition be smoother and more natural, but also you can balance out the grey tones if you need to. Next comes Illamasqua cream pigment in Hollow. This is a shade that I think would suit most skin tones, again very pigmented and easy to use because of its cream form; you can even use your fingers, say to contour your nose. The one thing I'll add is that it tends to get messy quickly - a consequence of digging your brush in it is that you'll get bristles in your products, so try to use your (clean!) fingers over brushes if you can. Last but not least, my favourite of them all; the oh-so-famous Sculpting powder from the genius behind the invention of contouring, Kevyn Aucoin. I'm sorry to say it's the most expensive one out of the bunch, but that's for a reason; it is the most universal and flattering contouring powder ever. I've never met anyone who used it and didn't like it. Even I am head over heels for this compact, and knowing how fair I am, it says a lot. It's an investment, but if you're ready to step up your contouring game, this one is an absolute winner.

I may write a post about what and how to contour and will definitely write one about highlighting so stay tuned for those ! What are your contouring powders recommendations ?


xxx

M'