May 2013 Favourites

Hey everyone,
So May was a pretty exciting month for me. I started the month by finishing my first year at university and moving back in at home. I then jetted off to Florida with my family for an awesome week in the sun. When I returned I began my new job in my hometown and have also enjoyed my first summer of being 19 (legal drinking age in Canada). Being 19 has lots of benefits, but the biggest perk is being allowed to get into bars to see my friends band, Amity Beach.
Anyway, now the summer is finally here it's my time to save up for my next school year and enjoy some time with my best friends and family. Here are my May 2013 beauty favourites!

The Naked Basics palette from Urban Decay is a recent purchase from April. I had wanted it for a long time, and when I finally bought it I realized I should have owned it much sooner. I have used it almost every day I apply makeup and when I was traveling down to Florida it was compact and has all the neutral essentials.

The Rimmel Scandaleyes waterproof kohl kajal in "005 Nude" is a fantastic product. It stays in your waterline, brightens the eye area and has helped me look far less tired in the morning after a very late night.

I bought this Benefit "Hello Flawless" foundation last September. It was a silly buy, the shade was far too dark for my skintone by about one of two shades, so it made it practically unwearable throughout the winter months. After getting a little bit tanned I tried it out again and I am so happy I did, I love it. It has a lightweight formula that sticks around all day, but it does have less coverage. I think it's the perfect summer foundation and I may even buy a paler one for the winter.

The Smashbox Sheer Focus tinted moisturizer is one I received at the Smashbox school while training as a cosmetician last year. At first I was disappointed I had received it, I was in love with makeup and I thought the higher coverage the better. However, this is so fantastic. I use it all the time, especially in the summer. It has an SPF of 15 and I use it on any day I don't want to wear foundation. I will certainly repurchase this product, and if I don't I'm tempted to try the Smashbox BB cream instead.

The Rimmel Stay Matte powder is one of the first makeup products I ever bought. I forgot about it for ages, and when I began being interested in makeup, reading blogs and watching YouTube channels, I discovered I wasn't the only one who loved it. I immediately ran out to pick up a new one. I love this powder, it mattifies the skin so well and lasts forever. I don't think a high-end powder will ever compare.

This month I also purchased Maybelline's the Rocket Volum Express mascara. I bought the regular formula in the colour Blackest Black. I find this mascara to be very wet, and it took a while to get used to it. Now I use it very often, however I will be repurchasing it in the waterproof formula because running around in the sunshine leaves this mascara all down my cheeks. Despite this, I will certainly be repurchasing and I think it's a great drugstore buy.

Next up is MAC's "Hue" lipstick. I bought this in the winter but I found that it made my lips too pale and quite frankly made me look a bit unwell. Now that my skin has darkened slightly, I've been loving this colour under a nice nude lipgloss and pairing it with a more dramatic neutral eye.

I bought this while in Florida because in Orlando there is an awesome discounted beauty store which sells lots of awesome things, discontinued products, things from old MAC collections etc, etc. I have had a sample of this in the past and absolutely loved it. I decided to buy the full size and so far I have no regrets. I use it as a night cream and if I find any dry patches on my face. It works wonderfully!

I also bought this in Orlando. It's the Origins Spot Remover anti0blemish treatment gel. I began using it while on vacation and I really like it so far. It definitely makes the pimples come out.. so it makes it look a bit worse before it gets better but I think its great and I love that it's all natural. It's also a lot less irritable on the skin than just using tea tree oil which I have done before.

The mint EOS lipbalm has been a longtime favourite, I used to use it before bed but now I use it before applying makeup. It's refreshing and conditioning and I really love it.

Here's a picture to show just how much I have loved it...

Finally the Benfit bronzer in Hoola. This is an excellent bronzer for people who have fair to medium skintones. It's well pigmented and a little goes a long way. Because of the matte finish it can be used for contouring or an all over sunkissed glow.

Colours of the Rainbow

Hello everyone,
So the "Colours of the Rainbow" is a tag that's going around beauty channels on YouTube. Since I don't have a YouTube channel (..yet), I've decided that I'm going to blog this one! The idea behind this tag is to find beauty products that are the different colours of the rainbow and why you like them. Pink and multi-coloured have been added to this tag, so I hope you enjoy!

RED: The red item I have chosen is Maybelline's lipstick from the Vivids collection called "On Fire Red". It's a classic red lipstick and I love it!

ORANGE: For orange I have chosen my favourite ever (and sadly discontinued) perfume called Ralph Rocks by Ralph Lauren. It's a very summery scent and it's been a favourite of mine for years. This must be my 5th bottle... and because it's been discontinued I hope it's not my last!

YELLOW: For yellow I chose my Benefit "Cabana Glama" palette. It has 3 shimmery nude eyeshadows, a miniature PosieTint lip and cheek stain, a mini foundation in medium, and a mini Hoola bronzer. It's a great palette for traveling if the foundation works for you- it's a bit too dark for me.

GREEN: For green I've chosen my favourite makeup wipes. The Simple cleansing facial wipes are very gentle but remove everything! They don't break me out, don't leave a residue on my skin and don't feel harsh when I remove my makeup.

BLUE: For blue I chose "Butler Please" from Essie's holiday 2012 collection. Despite it being in a winter collection I think it's a great summer colour and I love it!

INDIGO: Indigo was a hard colour to find. This is the only thing I could find in my collection that was close to indigo. This is the Smashbox eyeliner in the shade "Sapphire". It makes a nice change from black or brown eyeliner and the formulation is very soft and blendable- this also means it can be quite smudgy and I wouldn't recommend it for someone with oily eyelids.

VIOLET: I chose this palette from Dior for violet because both the packaging of this palette and the purple shade in the palette are beautiful! The quality of the eyeshadows are gorgeous and the sponge applicators aren't bad either!

PINK: For pink I chose a recent purchase which I bought while in Florida. This is a Givenchy lipstick in the shade 201 Rose Taffetas. It's a completely matte shade and I think it's a perfect spring/summer shade.

MULTI-COLOURED: Multi-coloured was hard to find. This is about the only thing I could find that was beauty related. This is a big makeup bag from Modella, but I'm not sure where I bought it. It's very large and sturdy, I take this with me when I travel almost every time, and it hasn't let me down yet!

So that's the Colours of the Rainbow tag, I hope you enjoyed reading my version! :)

Simple Smokey Eye

To begin I used a silver eyeshadow as a base colour.

I applied it all over the lid with a wide eyeshadow brush.

Next, I used a darker black-grey colour on a fluffy crease brush.

I applied this in the crease of my eye and in the outer corner.

On a smaller brush I took a sparkly black eyeshadow.

I applied this colour to the lashline, the excess colour I applied to my lower lashline.

On a small fluffy brush I took this sparkly white colour.

I used this to highlight below my brow and in the inner corner of my eye.

Next I took a matte black colour (it looks brown here) on a very small, dense brush.

I used this to create a "V" shape in my outer corner. I blended this with a big eyeshadow brush.

This is the palette I created the look with. It's the Smashbox "Be Discovered" palette.

It comes with a huge selection of colours, they are all very pigmented and easy to blend.

(Sorry for the upside-down picture) I then applied lashes with Duo glue. These lashes are no-name and I picked them up from Toronto IMATS last year.

I used a liquid liner to create a thick winged-out look, this helps blend the glue-line of the lashes in.

I used a mascara to blend the false lashes with my own.

After lots of blending, the finished look is smokey without being too dramatic.

...Just to show how ridiculously long those lashes were.

This is the final look!

To complete this look I used a nude lipgloss by Hourglass called "Child"

Marilyn Monroe Makeup Tutorial

Hi everyone, 

So this is the first makeup tutorial I have EVER done. I was considering what to do, I didn't want something too Halloween-y, or something that has been done millions of times. So when I had to choose between both, I chose something that has been done millions of times. And that of course is the very iconic and forever classy image we have of Marilyn Monroe. Now of course I don't share similar features to Marilyn, she was an incredibly beautiful lady. So I interpreted what I could from colour photos and I hope you enjoy it! 

Before the makeover began, skin prepared by Clinique's Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel Lotion

Using Benefit's "That Gal" highlighting primer, I applied it to all the areas in need of highlighting, forehead, nose, cheekbones and browbones.

Next I applied Bourjous Healthy Mix Serum Foundation in the shade 52. This is a flattering picture of me with half my face blended in! I applied most product to the center of my face, this allows for less product to be blended in to the hair line and covers most redness.

Taking Essence "match 2 cover!" cream concealer I used the lighter shades for a cream highlighting product and applied where you can see above. When blended it gives the illusion your face is naturally brighter in all the right areas, without any shine!

I then used Bourjous Mineral Matte mousse foundation in shade 83 to contour my cheeks before a bronzing powder. This helps to create a base for the powder (Hoola by Benefit) and creates a more natural contour. I powdered over the foundation to get more colour and then followed with highlighting.

Using Benefit's "Watts Up" cream highlighter I highlighted areas such as the top of my cheekbones, cupids bow, brow bone and forehead. I also added a slight bit to the bridge of my nose to elongate it. I used my bronzer to then contour my nose by applying it on either side of my nose to narrow the appearance of my nose. I powdered the skin with Rimmel's Stay Matte pressed powder in shade 001, Transparent.

I then used Stila's "kitten" all over highlighter to accentuate the areas previously highlighted by the cream highlighter. For my brows (or one brow in this picture) I tried to copy Marilyn's look, a high arch, elongated tail and full brows. I used a Marcelle brow pencil in the shade Blondine.

I then used Essences clear brow gel to set my brows and used the Smashbox "Eye Beam" crayon under my brow bone, above the arch of my brow and also all around my lips to prepare for the red lipstick later on. For my eyeshadow I used the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette. I used W.O.S on my lid for a neutral base.

I then (also from the U.D Naked Basics Palette) used Naked 2 in my crease for definition and to make my eye appear to have larger lids and space between my lashes and brows. I also used Venus from the palette from the inner corner of my eye to the middle of my eyelid and below my browbone.

I then applied Maybelline's Red Revival lipstick onto my lips with a lipbrush. Finally I added the Marilyn Monroe beauty spot with an eyeliner and finally the look was complete!