Lip brushes, lickedy split

A few of my lip brushes.  Very exciting eh!

A post on lip brushes (purely for completeness) in the continuing "brush" series... this one is going to be relatively short and sweet!

Unlike foundations, highlighters, blushers, eyeshadows, contours, illuminators, concealers, eyeliners, there really is just one type of lipstick.  Aside from the myriad of finishes (matte, semi-matte, satin, glossy, lustre, crystal...) or the coverage (sheer, light, medium, full), that is.  Basically, you're talking about applying a cream product...

Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Foundation. O.M.G.

Giorgio Armani Maestro Foundation:
the Last Kid on the Block

Let me pre-empt this post by sighing.  This stuff is... wow.  You have never ever felt anything like this on your skin.  It's the first makeup product in a long time that genuinely stunned me.

This is the thinnest, most luxurious-feeling, softest, smoothest, silkiest formulation you have ever ever experienced.  It doesn't feel like a foundation.  It feels like a really thin serum.  It's an entirely new, completely different, never-done before formulation.  Giorgio Armani labs have been working on this for eight years I believe.

And.  It.  Is.  Stunning.

Waterline Eye Pencils - the Nudes

Some of the nudes I use in the waterline

Really really really quick post.  So quick, in fact, that it may not have a jump break :-)

Light colour eyeliner on your waterline helps open smaller eyes right up, helps your eyes to look more awake and more fresh and can help cancel out any redness.  It helps camouflage hangovers, illness, lack of sleep, crying-after-effects, or just plain red or pink hyperpigmentation in this area.

The waterline of your eye is the innermost rim of your eyelid, immediately above your lashline.  As it's right beside your eye, it's usually quite a wet area, so product very often won't last the day here.  If this is the case, you can just re-apply, or you can (like all makeup) set it with a powder product (eg eyeshadow) to make it last a bit longer.

The Fitzpatrick Scale and your Skin Type

The Fitzpatrick Skintype Scale

I've spoken about my skin type in previous posts.

Skin type is classified according to its tolerance of sunlight, according to The Fitzpatrick Scale.

This scale was developed back in 1975 by a then Harvard Medical School dermatologist, Thomas Fitzpatrick.

This scale is used in the beauty world by aesthetians and beauticians to determine how someone will react to facial treatments.

The Eye Brush Series - 5: Detailer brushes

The last in this series of my posts on eye makeup brushes is on "detailer" brushes.

This, in effect, is a "catch-all" for all the remaining brushes that don't fall into the other categories discussed so far (lay-down brushes, socket brushes, blending brushes, pencil brushes), and generally tend to be smaller brushes for small or tiny areas or detail work.

The Eye Brush Series - 4: Pencil (bullet) brushes

What is a pencil brush?  Why use one?  The shape of the brush is an indicator of its moniker; pencil brushes (or bullet brushes, as they are also known) are usually either quite pointed or quite domed; either way they are generally very densely packed, can be made of natural fibre bristles or synthetic (but mostly, natural fibre are better as you'll find out later).

Good pencil brushes are dense but soft enough to apply product without moving the skin underneath too much (like all brushes, then, really!)  Bad pencil brushes are made of scratchy fibres that are sore, and as this is usually quite a dense brush, using a bad pencil brush can really be quite sore!

The Eye Brush Series - 3: Blender brushes

Now that we're finished digressing about socket brushes, we'll move on to arguably the second most important brush in your eye brush arsenal;  the blender (or blending) brush.

Some of my blender/blending brushes.
Top-down: Sigma Blending E25 (awful), MAC 217, Lauren Luke Tapered Blending brush, MAC 286 (LE),
Inglot 6SS, MAC 224, Illamasqua Blending Brush #1

The Eye Brush Series - 2: Socket brushes

The first part of this series discussed lay-down brushes and how to use them.  Today's post is about socket brushes.  Most would argue (and I would agree) that blending brushes are probably the next most "important" or "useful" eye makeup brush but I'm going to digress a little first and discuss the socket brush.

The reason for this digression is because a good friend of mine (who is a makeup fanatic, who has a great collection of both products and tools, and who has a far-more-than-better-than-average understanding of how to apply makeup) asked me not so long ago why she wasn't able to get product properly into the crease area.

The reason, simply, was because she was using too large a brush for this area (she was using a large blending brush).  That's not to say you can't use a smaller blending brush for the crease area as a socket brush (and you'll find some brushes perfect for "socketing" are called "small blending brushes").  Similarly, some socket brushes make great blending brushes.  But a socket brush is a thing unto itself, and like a lay-down brush, or like a blending brush, there are many different types...

The Eye Brush Series - 1: Lay down brushes

So yesterday the sun was shining and I decided to write a series of posts about eye makeup brushes.  There's no link there!  I was sitting out on the balcony for a time and it seemed like a nice way to pass the time...

Eye brushes intimidated me by far the most when I started in on my Adventures In Makeup;  there are so many types!  Angled, blender, blunt, bullet, chisel, contour, crease, detailer, dense, dual fibre, flat, fluff and fluffy, lay down, liner, natural fibre, oval, pencil, pointed, slanted, smudger, socket, square, stippler, straight, synthetic, tapered ... not to mention the combinations thereof.

It really can be quite intimidating.  But there's really only few types of brushes you need, I've roughly divided these up into five categories and each day I'll talk you through each one... hopefully by the end of the week eye makeup brushes will be well and truly demystified!

To Prime or not To Prime, that is the question...

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

And to suffer your eye makeup creasing into a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them...

Hmmm.  Shakespeare is turning in his grave I'm sure.

Some of the eye primers I've trialled... see thoughts below 

Fan Brushes I'm a fan of

L -> R: Crown IB120 Kabuki Fan, Louise Young LY20 Super Fan Brush,
Crown C143 Deluxe Soft Fan, MAC 184 (LE), Laura Mercier Fan Powder

OK, this is a great big lie.  I'm not a particularly huge fan of fan brushes.  But here are the main* ones in my own personal arsenal...

*I haven't included my mascara fan brushes or my nail art fan brushes... just the face ones.

NYX Glitterati Glitter Cream Palette

NYX Glitterati Glitter Cream Palette

This one is for the disco dancers, the dreamers, the teen-ers (and those of us who are magpies and try to justify purchasing all the makeup in the world for "my kit")...

Sleek iDivine Acid Palette features a surprising twist!

Sleek iDivine Ac-iiiiiiiiiiiiid palette!  Get a load of those colours!

At this stage my love of The House of Sleek (Makeup!) should come as no surprise (look here and here and here and here and I guess here, oh, here too why not).  There's a bunch of Sleek stuff I also have that have never reviewed, among them pretty much all of the blushers, bronzers, highlighters, contours, some mascaras and lipsticks, a bunch of other eyeshadow palettes (Good Girl, Bad Girl to follow) and this one, the Sleek Acid palette.

This is a FUN palette.  That said, I've maybe used it... three times?  But it really is good fun...

Ben Nye Creme Cheek Rouge

Ben Nye Creme Cheek Rouge

Where to start?  I've been using these for years and they are just amazing.  Very rarely do I stumble on something this good that I use this much, that I rave about this much, that I recommend this much.

Molton Brown - finally some shower gel I like!

The OH is a big Molton Brown shower gel fan.  At any one time it's safe to say he has at least a half dozen of these on the go.  Personally, there's a note to Molton Brown that I've never ever liked; some ingredient, some smell, that just never did it for me.  And given the OH's liking of the stuff, I've tried 'em all.

It's perhaps ironic then, that in a recent trip to Molton Brown with him to stock up, I found not just one, but two Molton Brown shower gels that I can get behind, but that he absolutely hates.  What can I say.  At least he won't be using them up :-)