Illamasqua brushes part 2

Overall I’m very impressed with Illamasqua brushes and am pleased that they will be expanding the range. I definitely can see them competing with MAC brush wise.

I own 7 of the brushes and here are my thoughts on the last three I have.

Powder brush, like the blusher brush 1 this is really soft but also surprising dense. It applies powder seamlessly and it works well with highlighter powders. This got mizzworthy’s seal of approval and I have to agree, and would even go to say that this is the best powder brush I have had.

Eye shadow brush, I’m not so please with the brush, compared to my MAC 239 this is softer but this equates to it not being able to pack on the colour as well, so unless you want to apply a sheer layer I wouldn’t recommend this one.

Eyebrow brush, this is an angled brush. I have heard that some prefer this as a liner brush but I find the head too big for that. It quite stiff but not rough and is perfect for using with brow powder.

Givenchy Les Poetiques

I don’t usually buy Givenchy but I was intrigued by the fall collection after seeing a picture of the Prismissime Eyes in Poetique Blues. Having bought a few Givenchy eyeshadows in the past I wasn’t expecting much in pigmentation and I cannot say that Poetique Blues is any different. However I am not disappointed. It combines sheer shimmery shades with varying hues of cool toned blues,violets,and silvers. Best used as lid shades and highlighters.
Naturally I wasn’t able to just buy one thing so also picked up the Poudre Libre in Poetique Orchid which is a loose powder quartet of apricot, beige, soft yellow and white (the white contains fine glitter). I will have to try this out more as I think it may not have been the best buy for my highly sensitive skin but for now the shades work well for a soft glow, although I will say I find it hard to use the shades separately so just use them all mixed together.
Finally I got the Parad’Eyes Liner in Poetique Lavender; this is a really beautiful dark shimmery almost metallic cobalt blue with a slight touch of violet. It terms of application its easy to create a fine line but I don’t think the brush deposits the colour seamlessly and I do prefer my Chantecaille liquid eye liner. That said, I would buy this again for the colour alone (swatch in lower right corner).

Rouge Bunny Rouge Eyeshadow review and swatches

Alabaster starling, is a Metallic cool white with a slight silver tone, at first I thought this would be too OTT for everyday wear but have found I’m using it a lot as an inner eye highlight or placed in the middle of the lid

Bejewelled Skylark- had I seen this in person I would not have bought it as in the pan it looks very warm with a red undertone, the shade I would normally avoid on my cool toned PPP complexion, but applied it’s a rich deep chocolate-brown, with a iridescent copper tone running through it, I love this as a crease shade or as a liner

Delicate Hummingbird, is a iridescent cool toned medium plum.

Gracious Arasari is a nude beige with a slight pink tone, unlike my other 4 shadows I noticed that when I swatched it with my finger it did not feel as smooth, however I haven’t noticed any difference when applying it to my eye area. I really like this as a lid colour for a no fuss look.

Solstice Halcyon is a glowy neutral toned medium brown/taupe with a hint of mauve, great on the lid or in the crease.

I really like all of these shades and really rate what I have tried so far from RBR. The eyeshadows are smooth on, pigmented and last well.

RBR is available from Zuneta.com. If you have any queries about their stuff you can always contact Zuenta and they respond really quickly and are very helpful .
Need more encouragement to fall for RBR ? There are some great reviews and pictures of RBR on http://londonmakeupgirl.blogspot.com/ and http://mizzworthy.blogspot.com/

Swatches L-R: Gracious Arasari, Bejewelled Skylark, Delicate Hummingbird, Alabaster starling and Solstice Halcyon.

Illamasqua, winners and a bad loser

Well I guess I must have bad timing, I placed an order from Illamasqua for the eye cake liner and sealing gel for £16 but ended up with just the cake liner for £14. I checked the site and unfortunately it does look like they have taken the combo off so you have to buy them separately.
I have always had a problem with powder eyeshadow when used as a liner,transferring at the end of the day onto my lid so it looks like I have a strange line slightly above my crease. Well I'm happy to report that the cake liner in Mislead stays put. When used dry it's a rather timid black so it's best to use with water to get a more intense look.
Next up I got another cream blush in Dixie. This looks quite bright in the pan but it's easily sheered out on the skin to your required colour intensity. Its a peachy pink coral and really looks great on the lips as well. The cream blushes have a lot of slip to them but really stay put. Swatch below.

I had to get nail polish in Baptise after all the raves and it doesn't disappoint. A deep sparkly true purple.
Lastly I decide to try an eye brow cake. I have golden blond hair and rather sparse light eyebrows. Peek looked a bit dark on the site so I opted for Instinct. Upon receiving it my initial thought was "eeeeeeeeeeeww" surely this warm toned yellow wouldn't work, well it didn't, it applies exactly like it looks in the pan. I can attest to its staying powder as it didn't budge all day but the colour is so bad. I really cannot recommend this shade; perhaps if you have red hair or are a really pale blond, but I still have my doubts, so I think this may end up in the bin.

MAC Style Snob

I tend to gets a few things here and there from MAC rather than the majority of a collection. I checked out the new collections for this month and only came away with the eyeshadow in Style snob. I already have Grand entrance and Smoke & Diamonds from their previous release and like the formula, which is pigmented and applies well. Style snob is a medium taupey pinky brown with shimmer. It’s a very wearable shade for those both cool and warm. I wasn’t impressed with anything else in the collections but if you like your neutrals and all forms of taupe this is a good one to check out.

Fighting the Frizz!

I have always had hair prone to frizziness which has now been compounded by my one year old boy who delights in pulling my hair. This has left me with very unmanageable broken bits looking like I’m trying to start a new trend for a very strange sparse little fringe, not good! To compound this, my hair seems to get humongous at the hint of any humidity and the straitening that I had done in the morning is completely undone.
After buying a lot of different products to try and regain some sort of control I have a couple of raves.
First off Redken - Smooth Down Detangling Cream. This comes in a large tube and you only need to use a tiny amount, apply to the lengths and ends of towel dried hair and style as normal. This smooths my hair down and makes it look less big and seems to fight off the humidity effects.
Second we have Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Rapid Repair Spray, I warn you this costs £26.50 for a 100ml spray but it was used on me at the hairdressers and I was so impressed I had to buy it. This is a lightweight spray that you use on dry hair. For me it makes my hair look more shiny, brighter and calms down any frizzies and makes split ends/broken bits look less visible.

So after trying a lot of similar products from a wide range of brands these two are the ones that work the best for me. They do what I want without making my hair look greasy and give me no product build up.

Illamasqua brushes part 1

As any makeup addict will know you tend to accumulate lots of brushes over the years. I am very picky with brushes and do tend to buy from mid to high end as I have not found a brand from the drugstore I like. As I was on an Illamasqua kick I decided to try one of their brushes. Initially hesitant as they were synthetic, after using my first one I quickly acquired more.

I am very impressed with the way they deposit the product, the softness (never scratchy) and that they haven’t shed at all on me so far.

First up I have the Lip brush. This lip brush is really good, firm but not so that its uncomfortable, much better than my NARS one, I predominately bought this to use with my lip quad but have been using it with my intense glosses as well.

Next I have Blusher Brush 1, this so far is my stand out brush. Its quite densely packed so applies less pigmented products (like MAC beauty powders) easily. It’s also the softest blusher brush I have had and a great size, I much prefer it to my MAC #116, #187 and Bobbi Brown blusher brush. I also find its great for applying liquid foundation, buffing it in really well, giving me a better effect than the #187.

I also have the Eye Liner Brush, this is quite firm and has quite a long tip. I can create a medium or more bold line with not much effort but I have not mastered a fine line with this brush yet, so for me this is not a must have.

Lastly there is the Blending Brush 1, size wise this is like a between of MAC 222 and 224, great as a blender, applying crease colour or even applying an all over wash and applying powder to the under eye area to set concealer.

So overall I am very pleased and hope that Illamasqua will expand their brush range. I have some more of their brushes which I’ll write about shortly.