Autumnal Eyes

The part of my makeup routine that I enjoy most is doing my eyes. Especially since Autumn came into play, I have been loving a little more dramatic eye makeup look. When I first got into makeup, eye makeup was always the scary part for me and looking back now I do slightly worry what I looked like when I left the house! Although I would like to think that I have upped my skills since then! Anyway over the last while I have been reaching for a variety of eyeshadows from singles to palettes all in my usual brown, warm toned shades so I thought I would share my top picks for the season.

The Palettes 

Urban Decay Naked Smoky Palette – This was an obvious one. I raved about this last week here if you missed it. This is such a perfect Autumnal eye palette with more dark and smoky shades fit for a more dramatic look. Who would have thought I would be rocking a smoky eye but this palette makes it easier and more wearable to create something a little smoky even if its just for everyday wear. The palette also has a mix of both cool toned and warm toned shades so its super versatile and the looks are endless.

Zoeva Cocoa Blend Palette – Another highly raved about palette from moi, check my full review here. This is Autumn in an eyeshadow palette. I believe this palette can be a little tricky to get a hold of sometimes but I so recommend this to anyone. The quality of the shadows are fantastic with a good mix of shimmers and mattes and the shades are super beautiful too. Ooo and did I mention its a complete bargain too!

The Creams 

Maybelline Colour Tattoos (On and On Bronze/ Metallic Pomegranate) – One of my favourite drugstore eyeshadow formulas has to be these cream shadows from Maybelline. The formula is a dream to work with, they are super easy to apply with a smooth creamy formula that applies so evenly. The colour options are also gorgeous, in particular the bronze and plum-y red shade which are ever so fit for the Autumn months!

Max Factor Excess Shimmer (Bronze) – Another fabulous drugstore cream formulation comes from Max Factor. These differ slightly from the Maybelline shadows as the Excess Shimmers have a more mousse cream like formula. I find these eyeshadows completely underrated as they are truly a unique product to the drugstore that could be worth so much more. The mousse-y formula is so lovely and the shades are gorgeous especially Bronze which is a perfect warm toasty brown with incredible pigmentation that is basically Autumn in a jar.

The Powders 

H&M Eyeshadow (Robusta) – I spoke about the highly raved H&M beauty line here and mentioned my love for this eyeshadow.  The colour Robusta is a shimmery gold-y bronze shade that would look gorgeous as the festive season creeps in. The quality of these are great too and super impressive for such a budget line.

Burberry Wet & Dry Silk Shadow (Midnight Brown) – Are these not the most beautiful looking eyeshadows you have ever seen!? I sadly only have one shade (not for long I imagine!) although it’s such a gorgeous colour. I have the shade Midnight Brown which is a lovely soft shimmery brown which can be worn sheerly or built to be more intense. The formula is great too and blends really nicely on the lid.

What is your go-to eye looks for Autumn?

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Spring Eyes: Pretty Pinks and Purples

Over the last couple of months I have been going for a similar eyeshadow look using pretty pastel shades of pinks and lilacs. As Spring has sprung, I have given my makeup look a little freshen up ditching bolder eye looks in favour of something a little more pretty. After seeing a couple of notable bloggers and YouTubers use certain products I picked up a couple of newbies which helped nail this fresh spring eye look down. In terms of my overall Spring makeup, you can check out my full Spring edit here. Now back to the eyes, here is some of the products I have been switching between recently.

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette – Probably the palette that started it all. After Lily Pebbles did a tutorial using this beauty, it urged me to start using it again. Soon after, I have became hooked once again. The light rose and plum hues have Spring written all over them. You can create so many beautiful looks too in the one palette with my preference of going for a little shimmer on the lids and a light matte shade in the crease for a super effortless but ever so pretty look. Of course this palette is superb quality and in case you missed out, you can check my full review here.

L’Oreal Colour Riche 601 Cameleon Eyeshadow – Another blogger enabled purchase, this time from Essie Button who used this very pretty shade in one of her videos. This is actually my first eyeshadow from L’Oreal even though they do seem pretty popular and look very nice. This shade is just incredible. It’s one of those colours that changes in the light and looks different on others. It is a lilac-y sheen with a slight tone of blue through it. Its a very pretty shade perfect for spring and it is super unique. It looks fresh for Spring and matched with a bright lip, its a dream.

By Terry Ombre Blackstar Misty Rock – Of course I was going to mention this gem of a product. Its quite the hype we know and for good reason. I won’t go on too much as I did review it last week here. It really is a beautiful shade for Spring. Again like the L’Oreal eyeshadow it has that effect to it in which it looks different in the light. Its a plummy-mauve shade with a silver shimmer running through it. It looks amazing simply on its own, quick and easy and looks pretty damn good!

Maybelline Colour Tattoo Pink Gold – One of my favourite eyeshadow formulas, the inexpensive but amazing Maybelline Colour Tattoos. Again I won’t bat on about them too much as I did talk about them before here. The light pink shimmery shade is again perfect for spring. These are super pigmented and glide on like a dream. Again this shadow looks fab by itself as a pretty wash of colour over the lids.

Are you a fan of Pink and Purple eyeshadows? What are you wearing on your eyes this Spring?

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Makeup Tips for Glasses Wearers

Glasses used to be seen as being “uncool” and “geeky” however times have moved on and now glasses are seen as a trendy fashion accessory. I’ve had pretty bad eyesight for around 10 years now *gasps* and so glasses are more a “necessity” rather than a “fashion accessory” to me however I would feel strange looking without them but whatever the reason behind them there are a few cautions to look out for when it comes to applying makeup. Eye makeup always makes me feel that little more confident and when it comes to applying makeup for glasses wearers, one thing; its all in the eyes!

1. Mascara – Depending on your vision eyes can appear either smaller or bigger with glasses. Being short-sighted (close up vision) my eyes appear smaller so its important to me to make my eyes appear wider. Mascara is a great way in opening up your eyes and using eyelash curlers can also be a further help.

2. Eyeliner – Eyeliner is very important. The tip is to match the thickness of your eyeliner to the thickness of your frames. As I have pretty large frames I tend to go for a more thicker line of eyeliner. Also adding a white or nude eyeliner to the inner corner of your eye can help them look wider. Also if you tend to adopt a cat-eye winged eyeliner look ensure that the flick can be seen from your glasses and isn’t hidden behind the frame for those with smaller frames.

3. Eyeshadow – Wearing glasses means that the focal point is straight to the eyes so its important to keep things neutral. Try to avoid bright shades of eyeshadow and stick to more neutral shades so if you don’t already then think about asking for Urban Decay Naked palettes for your birthday, they are a treat! Also avoid applying eyeshadow higher than your frames reach.

4. Eyebrows – Eyebrows are important when it comes to wearing glasses as they are more noticeable so ensure they are kept tidy and are shaped to the style of your frames.

5. Concealer – If you are prone to dark circles or bags under the eyes be sure to conceal this area to get an even colour (i.e  Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer) and also use an under eye brighter such as the YSL Touche Eclat or even a highlighter to bring a little life to your eyes.

6. Cheeks and Lips – And last but not least, by leaving the eyes neutral don’t be afraid to add a pop of colour to your cheeks and lips. And also ensure to add a little highlight to your cheekbones 🙂

I hope these tips were helpful. Everyone has different preferences and its up to you how you apply your makeup.

How do you adapt your makeup when wearing glasses?

 

 

 

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette: Review/Swatches

You may have seen a few weeks ago I picked up the Urban Decay Naked palette, in which you can see my review here. It was safe to say after a few days of using the naked palette it was love at first sight and of course that meant I needed to get my hands on the other two in the naked collection. While both Naked 2 and Naked 3 looked amazing I was needing a little pink in my life and thought the warm rose tones would be nice for autumn. So.. House of Fraser had a fabulous offer on where you buy any beauty product and you get £10 off one of their favourite products and included in that list was all three naked palettes so I really couldn’t resist in picking up this bundle of a joy at a discounted rate of £27 *pops confetti* after also picking up a lipstick from Mac.

I only got my hands on this beauty yesterday so I haven’t properly used it yet so this is more of my first impressions. The packaging has improved since the original Naked palette a lot, the mirror now takes up the entire side of the palette rather than a small mirror in the center and is in a more sturdy plastic container which makes it easier to keep it clean than the softer original palette. The palette is made of rose pink tones which are perfect for everyday wear and night wear. Like the other palettes there is a variety of types of shadows with mattes, metallics and shimmery shades. If you do not own any of the naked palettes then you are missing out they are the perfect neutral shades, all well pigmented and easy to blend to create so many different looks.

As you can see some of the shades are incredibly light so it is quite hard to see them in this picture, sorry for that. The shades are so beautiful with a variety of light shades including a lovely highlighting tone ‘Strange’ as well as some lovely light pinks and also some darker tones which are quite brown-hued in colour to then the darkest shade ‘Blackheart’ which has red undertones. As I say I haven’t properly used this palette yet so I can’t really say what my favourite shades are but from looking at it I am loving the look of buzz, trick, liar and blackheart which all of course are shimmery shadows. Looking forward to using this 🙂

 

Urban Decay Naked Palette: Review/Swatches

Okay don’t judge me cause I am a bit late here on the whole Naked Palette ‘thing’ since I just bought this recently but I wanted to share my thoughts on the totally buzzed about eyeshadow palette in case any of you out there are in the same situation I was in: to buy or not to buy. I had wanted the naked palettes for such a long time and never really got round to buying one and then Feelunique.com had an amazing sale on with 10% off and then a further 10% off for a limited time only so I got my hands on this beauty at £29.97 (with free delivery!) rather than its usual £37 price tag which I thought was quite the bargain 🙂

You probably have all seen the pictures of this pride and joy in all its glory from its soft packaging and cute handy mirror and its double sided eye shadow brush which I really like (oh and its free eye primer samples!). Having the choice of 3 palettes was quite difficult for me cause they all look so pretty (I will own them all sometime anyway!) but I had been really into bronze-y shades recently and the original naked palette is based off of bronze and brown hues which is right up my street. Before I bought this I was mostly using the Maybelline colour tattoo eyeshadows which I love, in particular the On and On Bronze shade so I couldn’t help but compare them to this palette. While I totally love this palette for its amazing shades, being easy to blend and its great quality I did question whether it was worth the money if I can get just as good on the high street. However despite being quite apprehensive at first I have grown to love this palette and for 12 great shades that you can easily work with, its definitely worth it!

There is a nice variety of shades that can be easily blended to create many nice neutral looks that can take you from day to night and the shades are highly pigmented. The palette includes matte shades, glitter and shimmer shades – which I am particularly a big fan. As I say this palette is very versatile so you can create so many different looks that suit you and choose from different types of bases and shades for your skin tone. My favourite shades are probably Half baked, Toasted and Sidecar.. I wonder why 🙂

 

Maybelline Color Tattoo Eyeshadow: Review/Swatches

If you seen my recent Haul post you would have seen my new Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows that I purchased on a 3 for 2 deal. If you haven’t heard of these eyeshadows then you must have been living under a rock for ages since these have came to rave reviews and are one of the most of the popular drugustore eyeshadows. The shadows come in cute little glass containers and are gel-cream based which I particularly love. You can either use your finger or a brush when it comes to applying this product however I prefer using a brush just because I find it easier and with my long nails its easy for the product to gather in my nail rather than my finger but you may not have that problem. I purchased 3 different shades: Pink Gold, On and On Bronze and Timeless Black.

These eye-shadows have definitely lived up to their great reviews, each colour is highly pigmented and texture of these shadows is fab. They are incredibly easy to apply and blend and most importantly they have the long lasting factor. As you can tell from the swatches above the shades are quite shimmery particularly the Pink and the bronze so if you aren’t a fan of a little shimmer and shine these shades might not be for you but I love a little bit of shimmer so these shadows are perfect for me. I particularly love the On and On Bronze shade, I just think it has this warm and exquisite look about it, the same with Pink Gold, its always a great shade and this one is particular is great for wearing on a daily basis while the bronze and black are more suited to a night out look. The black is incredibly.. black so thats something to be aware of but if you are looking to create an intense smoky eye look this shadow is perfect and it can be easily blended with other shadows for a lighter alternative.

These shadows were £4.99 each (3 for 2 in boots) and I think thats a great deal considering the quality of these shadows. They are definitely one of the best shadows on the highstreet and are a great dupe for some of the more premium branded cream based eyeshadows.

 

5/5 for me 🙂