What's In My Make-up Bag?

I've seen a few people do this now, and I thought sharing the content of ones make-up bag on a Sunday morning seems like a lovely idea! A lot of what's in my huge Bill Brown bag is skin care, but that's for another day. So here are my essentials, and some not-so-essentials along with some hints and tips...

Contents:

- Vaseline: Everyone should have some emergency lip balm!

-Rose design compact mirror

-Kryolan translucent powder, decanted into a cheap little pot, easy enough to buy online. 

**TIP** Set your foundation with a small amount of translucent powder, this will make it last a lot longer!

-The Body Shop, Tea tree Blotting tissues: A necessity for oily skin!

-Smashbox Photo finish primer & Benefit Porefessional Primer

**TIP** Use a primer as a base before foundation, this will create a smooth base for your foundation and give it more staying power.

-Tweezers

-Topshop Cream blush Duo

-NARS Edie Eyeshadow (part of an Andy Warhol Gift set)

-Bobbi Brown Gel Liner in Caviar Ink

-The Body Shop Perfume Oil in Madagascan Vanilla - It's a perfect summer scent!

-Bobbi Brown Corrector in Peach 

**TIP** Peachy tones will counteract the dark circles around the eyes for yellow and darker toned skins & pinks will do the same for paler, pinky toned skins

-MAC Face and Body Foundation: Waterproof, light coverage

-MUA white liner

-The Body Shop Brow & Lash gel

-Smashbox Full exposure mascara - I LOVE this! 

**HINT** Pick a free sample up with any purchase from the Smashbox website, alternatively you can buy the 'try it kit' for £19 Follow this link: www.smashbox.co.uk

-Bobbi Brown Rich Caviar Eye palette: My favorite shade is 'Wheat' (top right), perfect for contouring the eyes.

-Topshop LIPS lipstick, in Charmed - I picked this up in the Jan sales (they still sell it) and it's now an essential piece in my make-up bag!

-Smashbox Lip enhancing gloss: This also comes in their 'try it kit' - Follow the above link.

-The Body Shop Brow & Liner Palette: Comes with a wee applicator.

So there it is! That's my personal make-up bag, most of the items above don't change but I'm always finding new additions! 

Anna xx

Alice & The After-Tea Party

This is just a little post about my most recent college project! I developed a 'Dark Alice' concept - hence the 'After' tea party, but I didn't want her to be your typical, short skirt, boobs out and everything in black 'Bad Alice' so instead I took inspiration from Tim Burton, the film maker who directed the most recent Alice in Wonderland and also Tim Walker, the photographer who does all the crazy props and photo shoots!
I absolutely LOVED doing research and prepping for this shoot, I watched both the Alice in Wonderland films, dragged my boyfriend round second hand shops looking for copious amounts of tea cups, teapots and all sorts of bits and bobs, then rooted through our attic (which by the way, is brimming with junk!) finally I raided Abakan and settled down to make the costume and accessories.

A lot of work went into this project so I really hope you like it!!

 Let me know what you think :)

Anna x

Get super soft hands!

Now, I got this hand cream as a freebie (a good sized one at that) from the April issue of Marie Claire, which you can still get your hands on!

 As with many of the freebies you get from magazines, they have a tendency to look lovely which makes it all the more underwhelming when the product doesn't live up to the packaging...but not this one... Neal's Yard Remedies 'Bee Lovely Hand Cream', to start with it has a lovely scent which is orange essential oil and honey, sounds weird, but I promise you it's not!

A little of this product goes a long way, and leaves your skin feeling velvety smooth, I rarely find a hand cream I like but I'll definitely be sticking to this one for a while. I'm not sure how good it would be on VERY dry or chapped skin but I'd 99.9% recommend it for normal to dry skin, and as a little bonus it's made using organic honey, so if your into your organic ingredients, this is perfect for you!

If you don't manage to pick up a copy of Marie Claire Mag, you can buy it from Neal's Yard Remedies for £10 for a 50ml bottle: http://www.nealsyardremedies.com/bee-lovely-hand-cream

It really does live up to it's name.

Anna x

(If you've already tried it let me know what you think!)

Illamasqua: ''No More Blind Mice''..

If you haven't heard of them, Illamasqua are a big but still developing makeup brand, they have an ethos for free creativity, expression and individuality. Their ever growing range of tools and products, showcase a MUCH larger colour palette than many other brands. I really mean it when I say they are a creative make-up artists dream, and my go-to brand for anything slightly unusual. 

So naturally I was very happy when I saw this: 

They said: 

''Illamasqua has and always will stand against animal testing. So as an independent British beauty brand we are proud to support the new EU ban against animal testing in the cosmetics industry. Coming in to action this month, we know the ban is close to many of our fans hearts.

At Illamasqua we carefully research each of our suppliers, and continually look for new and more ethical ways to produce the colour-intense make-up you love. Unlike many brands, our range of professional brushes are 100% cruelty-free. Made entirely of advanced synthetic hairs, they deliver a flawless finish you can really believe in.'' *

It's always really nice to know that a big brand such as Illamasqua is just as concerned for the welfare of others (even teeny tiny animals) as they are about their own profit and growth! 

Well done Illamasqua! 

*You can read more about Illamasqua's stance against animal testing here:  http://www.illamasqua.com/explore/about-us/against-animal-testing/

Anna x

Smashbox Tapered Shadow Brush

If you haven't had the good fortune of trying Smashbox's brushes then you should. I can't vouch for all of them, but I bought their tapered [eye]shadow brush #7 a few weeks ago, and oh my is it good. I'm assuming the quality goes accross the board, but that's never guaranteed so this blog review is soley about the eye shadow brush (the wee brushes that come in their palettes are also good as far as mini's go!)...

The bristles on this brush are dense and it's natural fibres are super soft, so it's perfect for packing colour onto the lid (or anywhere else for that matter!), and it blends amazingly well, I wish I had more than one of them! It's £19.50 from www.smashbox.co.uk, but you can buy them from Smashbox counters at selected Boots stores. And as an added bonus for buying it online, postage is usually free and you get to choose a mini sample with your purchase.
The only thing that lets the brush down is that it has a tendency to moult ever so slightly when washing it (and I don't even submerge my brushes), but it's not enough to put me off!
It's now a staple eye shadow brush in my brush set, I'm looking forward to trying the rest of their range (apart from the angled liner brush, it's still Illamasqua's ALB all the way for me!).

I noticed last Christmas they did a brush set, which I'm gutted I missed out on! So if you're very patient, it would be worth waiting for!

Tip: Avoid using natural fibre brushes with cream products, as they'll soak up the oils, which will ruin the brush.

Anna x

As always your comments are very welcome!

'The Dark Side of Alice'

Here's a mini preview of what I'm aiming for on my next project/assessment... 'The Dark Side of Alice'....

My dress for the shoot is coming along nicely, needs a few extra bits, but it's almost there! Make-up and hair decided on and practiced (apart from the eyebrows - do I go no brows or OTT brows? Oh the decisions!).
Only the head piece and props to get sorted now, going totally over board on teacups and teapots, so I best get raiding those charity shops....

Almost There..

Rough idea of the make-up look I'm trying to achieve

 I'll do a full post on my design and the final images at then end of next week..

Half way through the eye make-up (Not sure why I didnt take a proper one at the end aswel!)

 Anna x

Bobbi Brown BBU Face Palette

Please excuse the lack of posts this week, I've been caught up with a big assessment for SFX next week, and it's been keeping me rather busy!

After a long debate with myself as to weather or not I should invest in the Bobbi Brown BBU palette, I went ahead and bought one. It cost me around £143.00 with my 25% student discount and would normally be £185. I decided to go ahead with it mainly because it comes with 20 shades of their stick foundation, 11 shades of corrector and 14 shades of their creamy concealer.
I thought it would be a very handy thing to have in my kit, as a go to, due to it having so many shades of foundation in one handy place! The foundations are yellow based which is great for redness etc but not so great if you have someone with a pinky toned skin, needless to say I still get good use out of them and I'm forever using the correctors and concealers (as you can see from the pic) which are great for all skin tones as they have peachy tones for dark skins and pinks for lighter ones, and they give fab coverage!
The foundations give a very full coverage which is brilliant for covering blemishes and it's always good to keep a slightly heavier duty foundation in your kit, and they can be blended in to give more of a medium coverage if full coverage isn't the desired finish!

The other thing with this palette is I was expecting it to be on the small side but not quite as compact as it turned out to be! That being said it's still been very usefull and excellent quality; but I don't think the spare mixing well is necessary as you end up wasting valuable foundation buy using it! So instead I use a very small palette knife to decant what I need onto a palette/back of my hand, so that nothings wasted (and it's also very higenic). I got my palette knife in the HD brush set from Crown Brush and I have to say it's been very handy, especially with this palette! You can see what it looks like in my blog post on the HD brush set: http://inthemakeupbox.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/crown-brush-hd-set.html

If you're looking at getting it for personal use...don't! You won't use half the shades in there (if that!) making it a huge waste of money, you can buy the foundations individually for £28 and the correctors and concealers for £18, which can be matched up to your specific skin tone at your nearest Bobbi Brown counter! Couldn't be simpler!

  

But from a professional point of view, over all I would say the BBU palette (although being small) was worth the money, It's compact which means it's lightwight and doesn't take up much space in my kit - which is always good news! I'd recommend it to anyone who dosn't have heaps of different foundations already, needs to save on space and is pro, quality over quantity; and especially if you have pro or student discount!

  

Kryolan Lippy

Being rather partial to a bright lip, I was very happy to find an incredibly bright pink lippy from Kryolan (shade LC334), sent to me in a little package from Karla Powell for coming 3rd in her online lip competition. I normally stick to oranges if I'm going bright and peachy tones if not as they complement my skin tone, but that being said I just can't help myself sometimes, and this colour certainly is beaut.
Needless to say, this particular lipstick will live in my make-up kit as it's far too good and completely the wrong shade to waste on myself...

Looks really red in this pic, but as you can see below, it's not!

If you like wearing lippy but the feel and maintenance of actually wearing it puts you off, then Kryolan lipstick is ideal for you. (Sounds like an advert, so sorry). It has a really smooth, creamy texture, and barely feels as though I have anything on at all. It has quite a nice sheen to it (as you can see in the pic) but if that's not your thing just blot it carefully with a piece of tissue paper, this will give you a more matte effect, it won't loose any of it's vibrancy and still doesn't feel dry! It'll also last a lot longer if you blot it.

These pics don't seem to do the colour justice but you can see how nice the texture is!

If this one's a bit too bright, try some of Kryolan's more subtle shades in this light lipstick, they're perfect for this spring/summer, the first layer is sheer to medium opacity - perfect for spring; you could also try dabbing a small amount onto your lips with your ring finger for a subtle tint!

If you've bought anything after reading a review I'd love to know what you think! Let my know by posting a comment, Thanks, Anna xx

Illamasquas Dream Highlighter

I'd been hearing a lot of hype about 'Gleam in Aurora' from Illamasqua, things like it being the best highlighter you could possibly use, blends perfectly, looks flawless to the eye and on camera!
So, having had my make-up done at Illamasqua I redeemed the money I'd spent on the make-over on this supposedly fabulous 'Gleam'... and trust me, it really does deliver!
Oh, my, word, it's amazing. Unlike a lot of other highlighters I've used which need to be blended with a liquid foundation to get a flawless finish and the full effect, as it's a cream product it can simply be dabbed on top of your cream foundation happily, without causing patchyness, giving you a beautifull glow. All you need is the product and your ring finger, and gently dab onto the areas of your face where the sun naturally highlights: The tops or your cheekbones and brow bone, you can also take it onto the tops of your temples. Avoid the forehead and chin area as it can make you look a bit too shiny or even a bit sweaty (but that goes for all highlighters!). It's an irridescent champagne colour which makes it perfect for all skin tones, as it won't cause any ashyness on darker skin tones!

I would happily reccomend this product to anyone, professional or otherwise. I've used it on shoots and on myself, if I'm feeling the need for an added glow..

It's £18 and you can buy it from www.illamasqua.com

Anna x

Kryolan Competition update..

So the competition was moved to Pinterest, due to Facebook not agreeing with some of the nudity, with it being body art, there was bound to be some!

I'm posting the link to the new voting page here again, I really appreciate it if you've voted for it all ready, but all the facebook likes have been discounted! Boo!

So heres the new link: http://pinterest.com/pin/511651207635890291/

I would love it if you could follow it and like my design :) (again). Just click on the link, hover over the image  and the like button will pop up in the top left corner. If you don't have a Pinterest account it logs you in with Facebook!

Thank you, thank you, thank you x

Please Vote For My Design! :)

Hello my lovely readers!

This is just a quick post, basically to ask for your support with a little competition I've entered on the Kryolan facebook page!

How it works: They post the make up pictures sent in by make up artists who've used the Kryolan products for a look. The pictures are entered into specific categories, 'mine's Body Art'. Basically the picture with the most likes wins!

I would be forever grateful to you all, if you'd take a couple of minutes out of your day to follow the link below and like my image (only if you actually like it though!). It;s the black one with big pink flowers and huge eyelashes! There's a few pictures at the bottom of this post :).

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=525354487507809&set=a.525354450841146.1073741825.130832636959998&type=1&theater

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Xxx

Smashbox eyeshadow palletes

Having bought the Smashbox 'try it kit' and thought every one of the products really good quality, I decided to splash out a little on a couple of their eye palettes. I'd seen one of their tutorials and thought the shadows worked really well, so waited patiently for my next makeup binge, when I'd allow myself to buy them (basically when the next pay cheque came in), and wound up getting two; the 'blue eyes' and 'brown eyes' palettes.
To start with I'd just like to point out the obvious that they make it really easy for you here, they've selected six shades that complement specific eye colours and put them into a singe box, plus a handy double ended brush. All you have to do is remember what colour your eyes are! Not exactly tricky is it?!

Saying that, I have hazel eyes and I bought the blue and brown eyes palettes. I do have a reason though:- they're not for me, they're for my kit! But I will be getting the 'hazel eyes' palette as soon as I get paid again!

Brown Eyes Palette

Blue Eyes Palette - Coppers will really make blue eyes pop!

Having pointed out the obvious, I'd like to say....these eye shadows are amazing! The first time I tried them I was rushing to get out of the house and opted for a quick subtle peachy eye with a bit of definition in the crease, these shadows just blended SO easily and went on so smoothely and the colour pay off was really good too.

Each palette comes with a mixture of matte and shimmer shadows, perfect for creating smokey eyes, use a shimmer on the lid, matte in the crease and BLEND = perfection.

Matte Black Case

I'd recommend these to anyone looking for an eyeshadow palette which takes all the difficulty out of choosing the right shades for you, and is easy to apply when your on the go and short of time! As I know a lot of you ladies are! For really easy blending I like to apply the shadow with the Smashbox Tapered Shadow Brush, it has really soft but dense fibers, so perfect for creating intense colour and flawless blending. Although the double ended brush it comes with does the job perfectly well, and the smaller one is brilliant for doing along the lash line!

Each palette is £32.50 and worth every penny. I got mine from www.smashbox.co.uk

Anna x