Omorovicza correcting pencil

The correcting pencil (£18) is meant to give a "fresh and healthy looking complexion all day long" and help reduce "imperfections, redness and dark circles".

The pencil is very creamy and pigmented and comes with its own sharpener. It applies really smoothly and blends in really well. Though the colour is meant to be a universal shade, I had my doubts initially given how peach it is, however it really does neutralises bluish/purple tones under the eyes and I also found it works well on redness on my face and surprising seems to blend in with my very pale skin.
I use this on any redness around my nose area but predominately under my eyes and on my lower waterline. It lessons the discolouration under the eyes and then I apply my normal concealer (that is more of a skin match) over the top. On the waterline it  looks very natural and brightens up the areas and gets rid of redness and I actually prefer this to my more skin colour waterline pencils.
Pictures below, the first with nothing on, the second with the pencil applied and the third with it blended in.


Swatched L-R: Une skin glow pencil G02,Illamasqua Vow, omorovicza correcting pencil


Ingredients:


**Just a reminder that the 10% discount for the Complexion Perfector BB SPF 20 (my review is here) is valid until the 4th of July 2012, please enter this code at checkout
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The website is http://www.omorovicza.com

(None of my links are ever affiliated and I make no financial gain if you decide to make a purchase)


I bought this from omorovicza.com

MAC Lady Grey

MAC Lady Grey (£33), is a palette of soft cool toned shadows. True to its name all shades contain a varying degree of grey.

The palette contains:
All Races: very pale dusty mauve pink with a hint of grey, this is similar to Illamasqua Spectre.
Tendersome: a greyed purple, its meant to have a frost finish but I'd say its very subtle. This is very sheer and I think would have fared much better had pigmentation been up a notch.
Lady Grey: is a sheer dull green grey with a satin finish
Hazy Day: a medium grey with a veluxe pearl finish.
I bought this palette for Hazy Day and All Races, had I bought it for the other two shades I would have been disappointed as I find them dull (you can probably see this from my swatches below).
Swatches L-R:Lady Grey, All Races,Tendersome, Hazy Day

The eyeshadows feel quite smooth and blend nicely, the Veluxe Pearl finish of Hazy days is my favourite as its that bit smoother with a more creamy feel and less drying than your typical MAC shade.
I was very hesitant to post this look as its doesn't look good, I don't use all the shades together like this normally but I wanted to show you them all. Try to ignore the fact that I seem to have missed putting my mascara on the inner lashes, not sure what happened there!
As you can see it doesn't really do much for me using all the shades together. I do however really like All Races and Hazy Days so its not a complete loss.

I bought this from a MAC freestanding store.

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

As a fan of the old formula of the liquid light foundation, I had high hopes for the new Skin Base foundation. The shade range is impressive, and the company have put a lot of work in helping the customer pick out their ideal shade with colour comparisons against other brands. I went with shade #2 (£25), its a spot on match for my pale, cool toned skin.
The foundation is inspired by the cult Asian market Beauty Balm creams, although I’ve not yet tried a BB cream, from what I can tell I would class this as a foundation as on me its does not contain a lot of the common attributes of a BB cream such as priming the skin, providing SPF and giving skin care benefits such as brightening and moisturising.

The texture is a medium consistency and feels smooth, it blends quite well and does not settle into pores. It gives medium coverage with a small amount of product. I’d say the finish is neither matte nor luminous, just natural.

Swatches below:Illamasqua on Left, MAC NC15 on right:

They are a few reasons this is not working for me, firstly its not moisturising enough on my dry skin and it really does accentuate dry areas. Secondly its not long lasting, by mid day its really faded and thirdly I do have skin issues every time I use this (I have to mention that my skin is hugely acne prone).
Ingredients:
Even though I have a very poor foundation success rate with most brands, I do feel this product just didn’t perform.

I bought this from www.illamasqua.com

Illamasqua Angled Eye Liner Brush

I have quite a lot of the Illamasqua brushes so was eager to buy their new Angled Eye Liner Brush (£15). Its quite a bit smaller than their brow brush, although the brush textures are very similar. The brush is very firm but does not feel harsh against the skin. Compared to the MAC 266 (which I used as my main angled liner brush) there is a lot less give in the Illamasqua one, and it keeps its shape, whereas the MAC one frays out a bit. The angle of the MAC one is steeper. In terms of performance I find that the illamasqua one gives a more precise line, but I can get closer to the lash line with the MAC one.
Pictures of the three to compare (angled one on top).
Its a nice addition to my ever increasing brush collection, I really like Illamasqua brushes, my stand outs are still their powder brush and blush brush 1 though.

Illamasqua and Rouge Bunny Rouge EOTD

Just to prove I don’t always do a natural look, here’s a brighter one
Very simple and not over blended so as to ensure the blue stands out. Illamasqua Spectre as an all over base, Fiasco on outer lid, Truth in the crease, a very light dusting of RBR loose glitter pigments in Sleeping Under a Mandarin Tree on inner half and Spun From Sunny Seawater on the outer half and RBR Devotion Ink in Anthracite Essence to line.
Swatches: RBR Sleeping Under a Mandarin Tree, Spun From Sunny Seawater

Swatches:Illamasqua Spectre, Truth, Fiasco

RMK

RMK is a Japanese brand that offer makeup and skincare. I knew you could get it in Selfridges but only recently realised that lookfantasic.com were stocking it online. Its not a brand that initially attracted me, my first thoughts were that it was more a younger, fun brand, but I like to try new things and the Mystique palettes released for fall 2009 were what reeled me in.

I was torn on which shadow palette to get and finally settled on 01 Coral (yes, the name should have been a clue as to the palette's suitability to my cool toned skin) although I really wanted 03 Grey (this was used in the autumn promo image) but that was out of stock. I had read the shades were sheer so was not surprised that the 3 lighter shades in the palette were indeed very sheer, the darker two though were more pigmented. The colours are a mix of shimmer, peaches and coppers, texture wise these are very soft, perhaps a bit too much as they can go a bit crumbly, the darker colours (copper and warm brown) are not the best colours on me and do look off, there are very few warm shades that work on me and these I am sad to say do not!
I got cheek palette 01 pink beige, I was expecting it to be sheer so got out my trusty Illamasqua blusher brush, which could get pigment out of anything, and then looked back and admired my rather flushed dolly cheeks! So the next time I used my MAC #187 and got a nice cool toned pink shimmery glow, much better!
Swatch of all shades swirled together:
The shades are a white highlighter, very pale peach, shimmery orange followed by a shimmery pink and then a more vibrant very cool toned shimmery pink. Due to the size of each pan I don’t think you will be able to use these colours separately as cheek shades.
Swatches of individual shades:
Each of the five shades in both palettes seem to have a slightly different finish, I’ve no idea how this translates to the other shades in the normal blush and shadow range. I will say that the second lightest shade in each palette is very difficult to get any colour from and I feel almost redundant.
Both of these cost £25 each. The compacts are shiny silver plastic and have a good sized mirror but be warned they are very small (around 7cm x3.02cm). I like compact makeup so this suits me.
Lookfantasic.com ships internationally for those of you outside the UK. I did get two more things from the RMK range but the light this weekend has been terrible so I will post those separately.
Although I have a few issues with these I would like to try some more and their spring collection looks very fresh and vibrant, hopefully lookfantastic will stock a bit more of the range as its quite limited at the moment.

Paul & Joe: First Impressions Part 2

Moving on to part 2 of my first foray into Paul & Joe, I got face powder in shade Re-Belle #15 (£15).One side is a rose pink,the other a peach.whilst both sides have some shimmer it’s a lot more noticeable in the peach shade and shows up as silver sparkle.
Once on the skin though I didn’t find it that obvious and I think it gives the colour a real vibrant glow.I'm very pale and although it gives me a nice flushed look I think some may find this particular shade too sheer. The texture although smooth is not the most silky I have tried but I did find this very long wearing. I like the combo of having two shades in the same compact, but good luck trying to use just the rose shade on its own, I just swirl both together.

I got Pearl Powder in shade Silhouette #03 (I got this on sale for £9 on Zuneta but they cost £15 normally), this has a very finely milled and silky texture. The colour, a complex very shimmery brown, sometimes looks almost taupe other times it shows golden tones.
Although there is initial fall out, once on it stays on and lasts all day. My only gripe is the pigmentation, used dry I cannot get the colour as swatched, what I get its nevertheless pretty even though its very subdued and a lot less sparkly. If you want to get close to the colour you see in the pot I think you really need to use a cream base so it has something to grab onto. Just a note that I don’t think the pot it comes in is as user friendly as the Rouge Bunny Rouge or Illamasqua loose powders.

My last item is the Under Eye Concealer - Creme #01 (£15). The weather has been rather bitter and my skin has been getting really dry, as a result of this I noticed that my normal full coverage eye concealer was looking a bit crepey. My first mistake was instead of getting a more moisture intense eyecream I decided to buy another concealer, my second mistake was to buy something that I had no idea what the colour selection would be like and had read no reviews on.....
This is not to say its a bad concealer, its texture is quite good, its got a silicone feel to it but this enables it to go on smooth and it doesn’t settle into lines. Unfortunately it does not give me enough coverage, I'd say its light-to medium at best and as you can see from below its rather dark ! Unless I have grossly misunderstood Paul & Joe's colour system and 01 is not the lightest shade, I am actually surprised how dark this is. On the left I've splotched it on, on the right I have tried to blend it in.

The concealer and face colour I bought from Beautybay.com, this was my first time ordering from their site and I have no complaints, it was packaged really well and came really quickly. So, apart from the concealer, which is my own fault as I should have researched it first, I am pleased with all my Paul & Joe I have bought thus far.

Finds of 2009 and a thanks to you all

I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads,follows,comments on my blog. I was initially hesitant to start one up but it has been a pleasure reading your comments and finding like minded people !

I thought I'd do a quick list of my beauty brand finds of 2009.
1.Rouge Bunny Rouge: I have immensed a rather large collection of RBR in a very short space of time. My stand outs are the eyeshadows and lipsticks ( I cannot pick out individual shades as I like too many). The eyeshadows are amazingly pigmented,creamy in texture and blend beautifully. The lipsticks are really comfortable on and have an amazing array of shades for those who like the more natural lip.

2. Le Metier De Beaute:Its only recently I found out we could get this in the UK ( both in store and online at Liberty.co.uk) . The more I use it the more I know this is going to be one of my major brands. It seems to be a very modern brand and manages to mix natural with the more bold. You can expect to see a lot more posts/reviews from me on this brand soon.

3.Illamasqua:Initially they seemed to have a quiet start and then they just seemed to explode and were the topic of conversation. They have achieved a great relationship with bloggers and youtubers, which created a sense of loyalty to the brand and I still think that this is a brand that people are quite passionate about in their views whether positive or negative.My favourites items have to be the brushes, light liquid foundation and eye shadows in shades, Spectre, Slink, Truth and Fiasco.

4.Hourglass:By comparison Hourglass have a rather small range, but they do have some real gems, my favourites are the eyeshadow duo in Prism and lipstick in Eternal (best deep cherry red I have ever seen).

I hope you all have a great Christmas xx

Illamasqua Brushes Part 3

I now own all 11 Illamasqua brushes so you could say I am a bit of a fan!
Blending brush 2 is great used for applying the powder to set your undereye concealer and for blending shadow on the lids. The head of this is rather large so bear in mind that if you have a small eye area this may not be the best.
Blusher blush 2 is one of those slanted ones that I have never been able to use properly until I realised I had been using them with the tip the wrong way round! This picks up the product extremely well and can get a lot of pigment out of sheer products (such as MAC beauty powders).
The foundation brush seems to apply things less streaky that other foundation brushes I have used and it feels very comfortable on the face.
I have also included a picture of the Highlighter brush as I think I forgot to post about this. Its great for powder and cream products.
Overall they are the best synthetic brushes I have ever tried and I am looking forward to Illamasqua expanding the range. They are mostly densely packed to allow them to apply things really pigmented but they are also really soft. I have also had no shedding.
I know their makeup is not to everyones taste but I do think its worth you having a look at the brushes, having used them a lot more now the only one I am not overly keen on is the shadow one as I think the MAC 239 applies better but my standouts are probably the blusher brush 1 and powder brush.

Illamasqua Loose Powder, Eyeshadow in Wicked, and Vow Pencil.

I haven't bought from Illamasqua for a while after my initial flurry. I did an order for some more of their brushes ( which I'll do a separate post for) and the loose powder,eyeshadow in Wicked and medium eye pencil in Vow.
I got the loose powder in shade LP120, to match my foundation shade. I bought this powder primarily to use under the eyes to set my concealer as corn starch is a no no for my acne prone skin. Unfortunately the powder is significantly darker than my skin tone and seems quite warm. I don't feel like this is a match for the foundation shade so I think you may need to order a shade lighter in this. It did seem finely milled and was not cakey or really powdery on. Its simply too dark for me so I have given it to my Mum who is probably two shades darker than me. I've included a swatch of my foundation on the far right, loose powder is third swatch along (the difference is a lot more noticeable when applied to the face but I thought I'd show you anyhow).
The eyeshadow shade Wicked, whilst a pretty cool toned matte slightly lilac pink goes on rather more intense, so I really have to put this on lightly.
I had originally bought Hex medium pencil to use as a eye brightener but found it too dark and obvious looking. Vow on the other hand is a neutral cream and makes a great eye brightener (used on the waterline). It has a creamy texture, so no fear of tugging and it lasts really well ( swatch is far left).
So somewhat disappointing, not sure I fancy ordering the lighter shade in the powder as seems a bit costly to buy two in such quick succession but I may do in the future.

By Terry Touche Veloutee

This is my first By Terry product; I don’t tend to hear much about the brand so tend to forget it exists. The Touche Veloutee caught my eye whilst browsing the SpaceNK online store. For my undereye area I use a more hard-core concealer (Illamasqua) on the inner part and then a more lightweight/ highlighting one on the outer area. YSL isn’t enough when I have had a bad night (my 17 month old STILL feeds during the night) my RBR was perfect however just a shade too dark, so the Touche Veloutee looked like it may fit the bill. First up this is quite a sizable tube (pic below comparing it to YSL).
This is a click style pen with a brush applicator. I was amazed that with just one click the product came though (you usually have to pump these click style ones for ages). I got the colour Porcelain, once blended it is the perfect colour for me. I am quite pale (probably MAC NW10) so I think this shade maybe too light for the majority. I’d say this was a cool toned shade. They only offer 3 shades so not sure what you are meant to do if you have dark skin?
The blurb is “When fatigue strikes, a few strokes of this beautifully textured concealer, infused with nourishing botanicals, plumping microspheres and soft focus pigments, rejuvenates a sleepy appearance” does it deliver? I would say yes, it offers concealment and also highlights and does make the area look smooth, compared to my RBR I will say its not as moisturising and not quite as long lasting. It costs £25.45. Unless RBR comes out with a lighter shade I will re-buy this By Terry one again.

Illamasqua and Chanel EOTD

Simple look of Illamasqua Hunger as a base with Synth and Matter and the deep green from the Chanel Celadon-Lame eyeliner. I can't seem to get the green to show up on photos that well but in real life it does look noticeably green.

Rouge Bunny Rouge, Hourglass

I ordered a few things from Zuneta.com after seeing the lovely Anna from italianbeautyblog's post about her RBR haul and I thought it was wrong for me to not have one of their blushers :) I decided to order two other things from Hourglass as well as I really like the eyeshadows and lipstick I have from them.
I got RBR blush in Starina (£25) as I mostly have pink blushers. This shade is a true coral with a pretty sheen to it. Its described as "Palest Coral" but on my pale skin I actually find this rather pigmented. It has no strange undertones, and the texture is really smooth and it goes on really well and lasts, my favourite powder blushers were Armani but I think this exceeds them and I am already planning on my next shades to order.
From Hourglass I got the extreme sheen gloss in Ignite (£21), which is a sheer warm peachy beige on me and has some gold shimmer. If you hate sticky glosses then you really must try these. The texture is quite wet but it feels really comfortable on and is completely not sticky or tacky. This shade is quite sheer so for those with more pigmented lips you may want to select another shade.
Finally I got Hidden corrective concealer in shade pearl (£23). I got this to thrown in my bag so I would have something to use at work if I needed to cover a spot or any redness during the day. Texture wise this has a lot less slip than I thought and gives medium coverage that lasts really well as it applies quite dry, I find this really good for covering up my spots and old acne scars as it really stays put and does not look cakey on. This shade is a bit dark for me, I am an Illamasqua L120 and a bit lighter than a MAC NW15 so if you are the next shade or two up this would probably suit you better. I did try this on the eye area as well and it does go on without looking too dry.

Zuneta also sent me a Butter London nail varnish free in shade Diamond Geezer (super sparkly platinum silver) , which I was really surprised and pleased to receive, how nice is that ! I'd always been meaning to try this brand, now having tried it I can say that it did need two coats to get the required coverage but it wears well, I think one of the biggest selling points are that they do not contain Formaldehyde, Toluene, or DBP. I will pick up another shade at some point, as it also has less stinky fumes than other nail polishes.
This was a really nice little order and has cheered my up after my recent BB disappointment, although it has made me wants lots of more things now !

Bobbi Brown Holiday disappointment

The Bobbi Brown website were offering a nice gift box for the holidays if you spent over a certain amount, what I received was not so nice.

It was so poorly packaged the box was smashed in and the packaging on the products were all smooshed as well.
They did sent me a replacement gift box after a while but cannot send replacement product packaging, fair enough but I could not use these for gifts so if you are ordering from their online site bear in mind that they aren't necessarily going to pack things well ( even though a lot of people will be ordering things from their site as gifts this time of year, as I pointed out).
I'll review the Chrome stuff separately but the GOLDSTONE LONG-WEAR EYE PALETTE £34, I think is really poor and to be honest I am glad I did not give this as a gift ! The two colours are mostly layers of glitter, one a gold glitter the other more greyed glitter and the liner shade is much softer texture than the other BB gel liners I have tried so it applies less smooth. The biggest problem with this is how the cream shadows apply to the skin. I have tried them on their own and with different bases but each time they don't adhere properly so you get left with little bald batches, I'm sure a lot of people probably like this but I really cannot recommend this to you at all. Swatches below applied reasonable heavy, they seem to have come out a lot nicer on my arm than they did my eyes.

I seem to keep having bad experience with Bobbi Brown and its really put me off the brand in a big way.I think I'd much rather spend my money at places like Illamasqua and Zuneta who offer really good service.

Illamasqua cream shadow in Hunger

Out of Illamasqua’s cream shadow you’ll see this one gets mentioned a lot. It’s a highlighter shades with a beautiful slightly pinked gold shimmer. Its very fine so never ventures into the frosty territory or disco shimmer like a lot of highlighters can. I don’t have much luck with cream shadows staying put from any brand and do use this over a bit of TF shadow insurance to ensure it lasts all day with no creasing. It’s a very versatile shade, I can use it as a base to either get more subtle shades to show up (as they grab onto the cream base) or to give an eye look a shimmered effect, it can also be used as a cheek highlighter and is nice dabbed on the centre of the lips.

Illamasqua Dystopia review part 2

The other items I got from the Dystopia collection were the two pigments and Velocity nail varnish. Android is a smokey charcoal full of multi coloured glitter. To get the most out of this its best used wet or over a cream base. Used dry, whilst it goes on as per my swatch as soon as you make any move to blend it you are left with far less colour intensity and the glitter seems to mostly disappear.

Static is a very sheer opal with pink glitter, applied dry I pretty much only get the glitter, so I just apply a bit over the middle of the lid over other shadows to give a bit of sparkle.

Velocity is a dusty grape, I've not seen a colour like this before so its a great addition.

Illamasqua foundation and concealer review

Until now I don’t think I have ever bought a foundation I have been completely happy with, actually I think I have never re-bought the same foundation. As such I am pleased to say that Illamasqua light liquid foundation delivers on every level for me. I have dry skin that can still get shiny, this foundation is just moisturising enough, without being heavy or overly creamy. Its texture is quite runny so you do need to make sure to shake it before dispensing. Application wise it does not highlight my dry area and gives a sheer to medium coverage if required. It sets quite quickly but you can add more on without it going patchy. It matches my pale cool toned skin (shade #120), no overly yellow or strange orange tones here, a true pale cool toned shade, this is the best colour match I have ever had. Lastly it does not break me out, which is no mean feat for my intolerant skin.
Swatch below, you can see how good a colour match it is (I've not blended it in)

I have the under eye concealer in shade #115. This is a very creamy product that offers medium to full coverage. Due to the texture you do need to set this with powder so that it doesn’t migrate into those pesky lines. This shade is a bit too light for my undereye area but looking on the site I noticed that shade#130 had disappeared. I emailed Illamasqua who confirmed it had been discontinued but the lovely Jo sent me their normal concealer in shade #130 instead (for free) as she thought this would work on the under eye area. Once again great customer service, I think Illamasqua encourages brand loyalty, not just because of their products but the whole ethos of the company and the way they deal with their customers is hands down the best.
So, does it work as an eye concealer? Whilst not as emollient as the eye concealer it applies with enough slip so as to not look dry and the maximum coverage is just want I need for my super dark circles. I apply this on the inner part of my under eye and then RBR luminous wand on the outer part or YSL radiant touch if I look less tired (i.e my little boy hasn’t fed during the night), set with powder and I’ve got the most natural, yet best coverage I have found thus far.
The under eye concealer is on the left (#115), the normal concealer (#130) on the right

Apologies for the state of the concealers, I do on the whole try to post picture before I decimate products :)

Rouge Bunny Rouge: Sea of Tranquility, Watch out Eve and Luminous Skin Wand

I got another liquid highlighter, this time in shade, 'Sea of Tranquility'. It’s a sheer pink opalescence and unlike sea of showers it only imparts a whisper of colour. Really pretty as a highlighter that looks very natural on.

I picked up colour burst lipstick in ‘Watch out eve’, this is described as a cool toned rosewood with silver shimmer and I’d agree although I would say it’s neutral rather than cool toned.

I also got the Luminous Skin Wand- Fine Spun Light, in the lighter shade Orionis. Whilst I don’t use a really pale undereye concealer (I don’t want to highlight my dark circles) this is a tad too dark for me. Texture wise it’s quite lightweight but not runny, it sets quickly and does not seem to emphasis fine lines. Coverage wise this is more of a concealer rather than highlighter ( so not like YSL radiant touch, Dior skinflash) so offers medium coverage. I however have very dark circles so use something more heavy duty ( Illamasqua concealer or Benefit erase pastes) in the inner bit of the under eye area and this on the rest.
RBR have just released two new products, a tinted moisturiser in three shades that is “Loaded with botanicals and skin protective ingredients, nourishes, hydrates and protects your skin” sounds good but I’d have to check the ingredients first with my sensitive, highly acne prone skin.
They also have a new mascara, called Modelling Mascara, which is meant to not clump and gives the "illusion of naturally curled lashes without the use of an eyelash curler" this does sound tempting although I am really pleased with my Armani eyes to kill so this maybe something I get at a later date.
RBR is stocked by Zuneta.com