MAC Pro Highlighting & Sculpting Masterclass & Upcoming New Products

The latest MAC Pro masterclass was a demonstration of highlighting and contouring, and it was given by Lesley Keane, MAC's senior artist in Ireland.  It was one I was particularly interested in, being only very slightly obsessed by both highlighting and contouring - anything to give me the appearance of high cheekbones and de-chubbify my cheeks ;-)

Bye Bye Becca, Farewell Jemma Kidd

In general I don't do these kinds of posts, but I'm lamenting the closure of two of my favourite brands and wanted to pay homage to those products of theirs that I love :-(

Guest Review: Diorskin Nude Foundation

Natalie Portman for Dior

(Guest Post - from the pen (well, computer) of the lovely @MontyC)

Foundation has come a long way from pan stick; there was probably less science involved in getting the first rocket into space than has gone into the latest foundations on counter today!  I'd been eyeing up one of these all-singing, all-dancing, super-skin foundations for ages and let's face it, with Natalie Portman purring out at me from the pages of Vogue, telling me via telepathy that this was the foundation for me and my face, then it would seem rude to ignore her advice and not to buy Diorskin Nude... right?

Essence - Twilight Breaking Dawn Part II Shimmer Powder in Bella's Secret (Highlighter)

Essence Breaking Dawn Part II
Shimmer Powder - Bella's Secret

Irrespective of whether you fall into the "love" or "loath" camp for the Twilight franchise, this makeup is lovely lovely lovely stuff.

Cosmetics à la Carte Launch at Vedas Beauty Dublin

Some of the Cosmetics à la Carte products.  Honestly, this image does not do the range justice!

Last Thursday, the 22nd November, I had the fortune to be invited along to the Cosmetics à la Carte launch in the brand spanking new and very shiny Vedas Beauty out in Dun Laoghaire.  It was a lovely night, filled with two different champagnes, red and white vino, more canapés than you could shake a stick at (why you'd want to do this, I don't know) and overflowing glasses of sparkly (water, which I was on, as I was driving ;-)).

So why, after the launch, do I now find myself a Cosmetics à la Carte convert?

Chanel Spring Summer 2013

Chanel Spring Summer 2013 Campaign Image

*sighs* Chanel have done it again.

Just when I've finished with my Chanel Holiday/Christmas purchases (mental note: must write some review posts), they send me on the images for the SS13 LE collection, Printemps Précieux de Chanel.  And they're just gorgeous.

Shu Uemura False Eyelash Applicator

Shu Uemura False Eyelash Applicator

These look like a great idea, but they're not for me.  They're not bad, they're just not for me.

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler

Shu Uemura Eyelash Curlers

A continuation of the "Shu week" (overflowing into the second week!) and we're looking at the Shu Uemura lash curlers;  a truly iconic piece of kit.  And there's a reason why they're so lauded (and so good)...

Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse SPF30

Shu Uemura Under base mousse:
(L) beige  (R) pink

I don't get it... I don't get it... I just don't get it...

This SPF-containing mousse-based primer is definitely one of the more "iconic" of Shu Uemura products.

But I don't get it.

Shu Uemura Tsuya Skin Youthful Radiance Generator Essence

Shu Uemura Tsuya Skin
Youthful Radiance Generator Essence

Shu Uemura have just released a new serum called Tsuya Skin Youthful Radiance Generator Essence* ("Tsuya" means "shine" in Japanese).

I'm not a huge fan of Shu's Depsea Hydrability serum (although together with the toner and the moisturiser the three together are nice).

Another serum, this one is aimed at anti-aging concerns and features Japanese Enju flowers and Rhamnose - a derived plant sugar which is supposed to activate the skin's "power switch" (per Shu Uemura) to promote youthfulness and anti-aging.

* what is it with brands coming up with extra-ordinary long-winded names for serums?

 

Shu Uemura Face Architect Illuminating Moisture Fluid Foundation

Yum... but... hang on, or is it...

Shu Uemura Week - the turn of a foundation!  This foundation gets a lot of love from makeup artists and YouTube gurus.  According to Shu Uemura, this is a "liquid foundation, designed to achieve an illuminating glow finish [...] and conceal skin imperfections".

Per the (badly translated!) note that comes with the foundation, the "Glow oil complex enhances the glowing effect to illuminate your skin" and the "Foggy Cover Powder and Adhering Flake Powder gives soft-focus effect".  I like the sound of glowy oils and foggy powders.  The adhering flakes I can do without though... onwards!

I... think I like it.  I'll explain more after the jump.

Shu Uemura Oil Cleanser - Take 2

Shu Uemura Cleansing Oils

Post Two of my Shu Uemura themed week, in which I review some of Shu's iconic products.  The second post is a very different opinion to that which was posted yesterday (by my pal @MontyC) of the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil.  Please see here for her impressions, and read on to see what I think!

Shu Uemura Oil Cleanser - Take 1

Shu Uemura Oil Cleanser

Post One of my Shu Uemura* themed week - I'm reviewing all Shu's iconic products.  Some of which I love, and some of which I think are Beyond Meh.  But those are just my opinions!  The first of my posts is actually from a guest contributor, the lovely @montyc :-) a dear friend of mine, who has a very differing impression of the Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil than I.  Today, her review.  Tomorrow, mine!

* PS I've been asked this more than once!  Pronounce it "shoe-you-em-moore-ah".

Take Four: Multi-task makeup brushes I'm loving

My four favourite multi-tasking makeup brushes:
MAC 286, Japonesque 234, Royal & Langnickel BE10,
Real Techniques Domed Shadow Brush

If I have no other brushes with me, I'll have these.  If I have no room in my overnight case, I'll use these.  I'll usually have these with me in work.  I love these brushes.  One is LE-turned-permanent, one is only available in a set, one is cheap-as-chips, one is usable for absolutely everything...

Inglot Christmas Collection 2012

Inglot Christmas 2012

On Tuesday night last at 7pm I headed to the first ever bloggers event held by Inglot in Ireland, designed to promote their Christmas collection.  Invitation was simply via a Facebook request so no exclusivity nonsense here.  It was well attended by likely well over thirty makeup-and-beauty bloggers, not bad for something organised at short notice and reasonably quietly.

Back In The Day when I started out in makeup, I was well impressed with Inglot, a store that had only recently opened in Ireland at the time, out in Liffey Valley in Dublin.  At the time, they were offering a generous 20% discount to makeup students, which as far as I know they continue to offer to makeup students and working makeup artists in perpetuity (unlike many of the other discount schemes which are membership/subscription based and must be renewed annually).

They have since expanded to other locations (Blanchardstown, Dundrum, Jervis Street, Limerick and Belfast I believe) , and contracted in Liffey Valley (from a standalone store to a, well, standalone stand I guess you could call it).

REN Hydra-calm Cleansing Gel

REN Hydra-Calm
Cleansing Gel

I received some samples of the REN Hydracalm Cleansing Gel from a pharmacy lately (the SA was somewhat distracted by a very young child hanging out of an already precariously balanced display of nail varnishes and likely gave me more than she intended (four of them at 5ml each) - which I only realised when I got home).

Anyhow, plenty of them to give it a good use.

Illamasqua Precision Inks

Illamasqua Precision Ink Liner (Havoc)

Illamasqua have a bunch of liquid liners called Precision liners which are be-yond fabulous.  These have a very fine tip and are extremely opaque and pigmented; the matte and gloss shades are very matte and glossy; the metallics are similarly opaque (a lot of cheaper metallic liners fall back on glitter pigments or are not terribly opaque or are quite watery - these are neither).

Illamasqua Gleam Cream Aurora & Comparisons

Illamasqua Gleam Cream in Aurora

I love illuminators!  When Illamasqua brought Gleam Cream in Aurora out with the latest collection, Generation Q, I decided I had to add it to my highlighter/illuminator wardrobe ;-)  It seemed at least a bit different to all my other illuminators/highlighters (one day I'll do a photo of them all together, it's a bit embarrassing actually how many I have).


And I was right.  It is different to the rest of my (cream-based) highlighters :-)

Make Up For Dolls Blog is One Year Old!

Make Up For Dolls Blog is One Year Old!!!

I made it!

When I started this out, a year ago, I decided that I'd blog "whenever I could".  I thought I'd give it a year, and see how it went.  I had some rough targets in mind, I figured (nominally) I'd try to aim for:

• 100+ Facebook likes
• 250+ Twitter followers
• 2-3 posts a week
• An average of 1,000 blog pageviews per month (ie 120,000 pageviews for the year)

So how did I do?

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils (Black Bean, French Fries, Iced Mocha, Milk)

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in #604/Milk, #617/Iced Mocha, #609/French Fries, #601/Black Bean

I've heard so much about these pencils!  The Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk (in particular) is a very opaque white and I've seen it used a lot on YouTube as an eyeshadow primer.  In general I like NYX products, although they can be difficult to find in Ireland (I get NYX from Flair in Dublin, although they annoyingly don't stock the Jumbo Eye Pencils - these I bought online).

The colours, the pigmentation, the payoff?  Amazing.  The rest?  Read on!

Make Up For Ever HD Foundation

Make Up For Ever HD Foundation

This Week In Foundation ;-) I'm reviewing the Make Up For Ever HD Foundation...

The Make Up For Ever HD Range & their "Untouched" Campaign

The point behind the Make Up For Ever HD range is that it should be "invisible on HD cameras and to the naked eye".  I agree that it is invisible on camera - Make Up For Ever had an "Untouched" campaign that both highlighted their unfavoured stance on Photoshop post-production and equally showcased their HD products.  I recommend you take a look (here) as it is genuinely interesting to see what untouched photographs can look like with good makeup products, applied well.  I'm not terribly convinced that it's invisible "in the flesh", but more on that in a bit.

BH Day & Night 60 Color Eyeshadow Palette

BH 60 Color Day & Night Eyeshadow Palette

Having recently seen a number of You Tube vloggers using these palettes, I thought I'd order one and give it a whirl... I have been occasionally tempted to purchase one of the plethora of bumper-pack-of-shades inexpensive palettes available online (think Coastal Scents etc) but haven't bothered to-date.  Time to change that.

Overall, it's been a very positive experience!

Burgundy Part II: And on to The Makeup!

Interpret burgundy however you wish; oxblood, wine, claret, bordeaux, aubergine, eggplant, cranberry, plum, purple, blood, maroon... I'm in lust.

Part I of this Burgundy trend-based mini-series shows some of the burgundy clothes, shoes, accessories that I'm currently loving... this post is all about the makeup... specifically, me raiding my stash to see what I had that is burgundy-ish.  So on we go :-)

H&M Medium Lashes - shout out!

H&M Eye Lashes in Medium

I love lashes, but I rarely have time to apply them.  My usual makeup routine involves no more than ten minutes spent in front of the mirror, which definitely doesn't leave time for lashes.  But for nights out, for a real doing-yourself-up experience, lashes (for me!) are a must.  They can be as OTT or as tame as you like, but whether you go for strip lashes or individuals, I really think that they can oomph up a look to the nth degree!

MAC Face & Body Collection Brushes - 215 & 163

MAC Face & Body Collection Brushes: 215 & 163

This post is a review of the latest limited edition (LE) brushes brought out by MAC as part of their recent Face & Body Collection (2012).

Let's move on from the LE nature of these brushes (LE makeup I can understand, to a point, although MAC takes the p*** somewhat.  The concept of LE brushes drives me bloody demented)...

As a point, I purchased these brushes myself and my opinions, as always are my own...

MAC Christmas 2012 Collections - Guilty Passions, Glamour Daze & Fabulousness

I was happy to attend MAC's very first pre-Christmas launch event in Brown Thomas on Monday night for the three Holiday/Christmas collections: Guilty Passions, Glamour Daze & Fabulousness.  With MAC dolly birds wandering around with freebie champers and Ladurée macaroons, I was cursing my diet and my car-driving status... what odds.  I know from attending various Harvey Nichols events in the past that champers + me + a credit card is a horrifyingly* lethal combination.  So it was probably a good thing.  Probably.

Onwards to the event itself.  Note: this is a very large and image-heavy post...

* I wasn't horrified, not one little bit, for the record, I was in my element.  The horror was experienced by a.n.other, later, on picking me up to drop me home, replete with shopping bags ;-)

Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet+ Matifying Foundation

Make Up For Ever Mat Velvet+ Foundation

According to Make Up For Ever, their Mat Velvet + foundation conceals skin imperfections, evens out the complexion, matifies, has a non-oily powdery flawless finish, is easy to apply, water-resistant and long-lasting.  Mind you, they also think that it has a fluid texture (it's not what I'd describe as fluid).

Burgundy Part I

Burgundy: the "in", trend colour of this season, there's a bunch of "burgundy-esque" offerings (clothes, accessories, handbags, shoes, makeup, nail polishes, you name it) ranging from oxblood to wine to cranberry to plum.  I personally favour the more dirtied-brownish-red "old blood" ;-) end of the spectrum in my burgundy than the maroon-purple end, but that's just me.

Tomorrow's post will feature burgundy makeup, but today's post is a departure from makeup for a day to drool over some lust-have burgundy offerings in the shops/online at the moment...

Miscellaneous Makeup Tips



Some tips on products, both in general and some more specific product/brand-based tips...

...in no particular order, but roughly added into sections.

These were just stream-of-conciousness tips; I may do another of these posts in the future as more tips occur to me!

My favourite YouTube videos of the last 6 weeks

This one is a bit of a cheat post!  Things have been beyond hectic lately and I haven’t had any time to catch up with my YouTube subscriptions.  I finally sat down last night to take a look at a long long list – nearly six weeks’ full of “new” videos all to be watched.  It was a long, fun night.  At close to midnight I realised I hadn’t written a blog for today, and given my 6am start, was unlikely to begin at that point.

So I thought I’d share with you the YouTube videos I enjoyed the most out of all those I watched instead J.  Maybe you already follow or subscribe to some of these very talented people, or perhaps you might discover something new and fun!  Either way, I hope you enjoy and I’ll try find time to blog later for tomorrow!

Vichy DermaBlend Corrective Foundation Cream-Stick

Vichy Dermablend
Ultra-Corrective Foundation Cream Stick

Dermablend is a US brand which Vichy took over.  This review is for the cream-stick version (it's also available in a more heavy coverage fluid form).  I have it in 12/Opal and it's not a bad match (it's very slightly paler than I need but nothing that bronzer can't fix) for my NC25ish skin.  This isn't a type of foundation that I use very often, but it's readily available in pharmacies and isn't particularly expensive, and recommended for sensitive skins, and supposedly works as both foundation and concealer, so I thought I'd try it out for my kit...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

...lend me your ears.

I wanted to write a slightly different post.  One unrelated to makeup (per se).  A little about me, and a little about some people I know... please do read on, you might discover a link to a Person Of Interest!

Chanel Christmas 2012 Collection

Chanel Christmas 2012

The Chanel Christmas make-up collection Éclats du Soir de Chanel, launches on Friday 9th November.  Chanel's legendary “rouge noir” shade, enriched with gold and bronze, forms the basis of the inspiration for the collection (see here for a recent review of Chanel's Rouge Noir lipstick).

Parlux Hairdryer: My review

Parlux 3200 Compact Hairdryer
In a metallic red, to match my hairbrushes ;-)

Recently a friend of mine asked me what I planned to blog about this week. I mentioned a few ideas, including maybe a review of my Parlux hairdryer.

"Stop there", says she. "I don't use hairdryers myself, but I believe that a good hairdryer is hard to find, if my sisters are anything to go by".

I have had this hairdryer now for about nine months. It took me one use to discover what the fuss is all about. And a subsequent return to a "bog-standard" hairdryer for a single occasion (where I found myself hairdryer-less of a weekend) to confirm my findings. I shall never buy a different hairdryer again!

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation



MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation

 This is a great understated foundation for when you want a little more coverage.  It's one I use on myself and one I use on brides, despite the SPF (more on that later).  According to MAC, it's a hydrating formula and "instantly revitalises the skin while keeping it looking smooth, soft and plush".  It's not a foundation I'll rave about, but one I'll quietly use in the background and know I can count on...

Vamp It! Chanel Rouge Noir (Hydrabase v Allure)

Out with the old and in with the new...

(another Chanel post - I'm not obsessed, I'm not, I'm not)

L -> R: Old / #18 Rouge Noir (Rouge Hydrabase), New / #109 Rouge Noir (Rouge Allure)

Chanel Rouge Noir is one of those cult lippies.  This is such a 90's colour.  Quite dramatic, with darkened plum, blackened cherry, old-blood red shades, this is an absolute vampy femme fatale shade with dark chocolate brown and plum undertones underneath the burgundy red shade.

N-No-Notorious

Chanel Notorious "blush"
(photo from Chanel website - this stuff is seriously difficult to photograph well)

Sorry, no, not the Duran Duran song from the '80s... this is the Chanel powder "blush" called Notorious.  Seriously extremely LE (and therefore, I Had to have it) and only available in Ireland through the Chanel Boutique in Brown Thomas, I've been waiting on this one for a while (it launched, like a lot of the very LE Chanel makeup, a few weeks late).

As most of you who have read this blog from time to time know, I have an obsession for all things contour-y.  And this is no different.

Bobbi Brown BBU Face Palette (Concealers, Correctors & Foundations)

Bobbi Brown BBU Palette in all its amazing open wonder :-)
On the left: concealers & correctors.  On the right: cream foundations

Very rarely does something come along that is both workhorse and amazing.  This palette is it.

The Bobbi Brown BBU Face Palette is probably not a necessity, to be honest about it, for the average punter, but unbelievably amazing for the makeup artist who wants access to the most usual (and usable) shades of foundation and concealer necessary.

Dior One Essential Capture Totale Skin Boosting Super Serum

Dior *deep breath* One Essential Capture Totale Régénérateur Cellulaire Intense Skin Boosting Serum

What is it with the super-long names for these things?

Ok so my skin is going thru some hiccoughs lately.  I'm de-toxing for the last eight weeks or so, and that always makes it act out somewhat.  Almost like it keeps going, doing its thing, motoring on, pottering away... then when I start a new dietary regime, it stops and thinks to itself, whohoo, my time to shine...  So I've been a bit congested of late (and long overdue a decent facial, hmmm, must schedule that in).

Given that we're now hell-for-leather-bent to approaching wintertime here (I'm freezing the last week or so!) I've needed to Get Real with my face creams again.  I'm back (after a temporary summer hiatus of trialling a few different face creams - more reviews will follow eventually) using my beloved CDLM moisturiser, but I have still been trying out a few different serums to see what is good and what is not.

This one?  Meh.

MAC Pro Sculpting Creams II - the Highlight Shades

This is Part II and refers to the highlight cream products from this line.

Please refer to part I: MAC Face & Body Collection and Pro Sculpting Creams for the darker (contour) products.

MAC Face & Body Collection: Pro Sculpting Creams (& dupes!)

MAC's latest collection is called Face & Body (note: it's possible that this link may only work as long as the collection is live) and features new and LE (limited edition) pressed pigments, new and LE Pro Sculpting Creams, new-sized (but same formulation and colour) Face & Body foundations, and two new (and LE) brushes.  The main focus of this post is the Pro Sculpting Creams, as I'm ever so slightly obsessed with highlighters and contour products :-)

I have swatched the pressed pigments in-store and found them too frosted to be of any use whatsoever (in my opinion).

Of the two brushes, I am interested in one only (more on that at a later date).

Battle of the Clinique High Impact Mascaras...

L -> R: Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara
Clinique High Impact Mascara

Recently*, I found myself (the Extreme Horror!) in the situation, having packed far too quickly, of having No Mascara With Me.

As someone who was to scared by those little dagger-like application wands to even use the stuff until my late twenties dawned, I can not leave the house without it now.  So off into the local beauty hall went I (replete with extra large sunglasses to hide my naked lashes) with the intent of purchasing another Clinique High Impact mascara - one I already have (in travel size).

"Have you seen the new one?"  says the sales assistant.

"New one?"  says I.  Bring it on...

Ten minutes of product bumf and an emergency mascara application later, I emerged into the sunshine* with my brand new High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara.  In a larger, shinier and newer looking container than the old, plebeian, High Impact Mascara.

That shop had large windows.

* relatively recently.  Within the last six months or so, say.
**relative sunshine.  This story takes place in Ireland, after all.

MAC Studio Finish Powder Plus Foundation

MAC Studio Finish Powder Plus Foundation

Continuing the "Foundation" series, MAC Studio Finish Powder Plus Foundation does exactly what it says on the tin.  Per MAC, it combines coverage and ease of application as both a foundation and a finishing powder in one.

Chanel Frenzy Dupe

Chanel 559/Frenzy

Chanel's latest nail polishes include 559/Frenzy, described as a "lilac grey" is a lilac-tinged creamy beige-y grey-y putty taupe-y nude-y colour.  Like all Chanel nail polishes, it's expensive.  It's got subtle undertones.  If you're to believe The Blogosphere As Biased Towards Chanel, it's trend-setting*.  It doesn't work on, or for, everyone, but I love it.  It's beautiful.

And frankly, it's irritating.

MAC Styleseeker Powder Blushes

MAC Styleseeker Powder Blushes in Worldly Wealth, Hidden Treasure

The MAC Styleseeker collection features three powder blushes, called Worldly Wealth, Hidden Treasure and Supercontinental ("Bright Cute Coral").  Of the three, only the former two interested me.

Barry M Chameleon Colour Changing Nail Effects

A bit childish perhaps, a bit of a gimmick, but fun nail art when you're in a hurry... Barry M do great nail polishes in great colours, and they usually are one of the first out with the new trends (like magnetic polish, or crackle glaze or what have you) and they're cheap-as-chips and they're good quality and they're readily available...

The shades available

There are three polishes available, all under a fiver, from Boots or the Barry M site; I purchased the only one I was particularly interested in, the Pink one.

330 Pink

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation

This is a perfect "Goldilocks" foundation.  It will work if your skin is not too oily, not too dry, but just right...

Let me caveat this review by saying I quite like this foundation.  When I first bought it, I thought it was a miracle.  After some use, I can see it has merit, but it's not the bee-all-and-end-all I originally thought. For me, this is more of a makeup artist's foundation than a Joe Soap Consumer's foundation.  I'll explain why after the jump.

Dupe alert: Paperself Lashes

After yesterday's mammoth post, today's post, bringing DupeWeekTM to an end ;-) is short and sweet..

Essence Cherry Blossom Girl paper lashes

How utterly gorgeous are these?  Essence's latest collection, called Cherry Blossom Girl, features a bunch of soft reds and corals and these gorgeous eyelashes.

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre: the Search for Dupes

More dupes!  The turn of the Chanel Illusion d'Ombre shadows...

Chanel Illusion d'Ombre shadows (permanent)

I love the Chanel Illusion d'Ombre formulation.  It's a bouncy, mousse-y, soft, not-quite-cream, not-quite-gel hybrid formulation that feels lovely and applies beautifully.  I prefer to use fingers, but flat brushes also work well for applying these (see this post for more information on lay-down eye brushes).

The shades above and here are those in the permanent line - until recently there were six, but there have been two new additions since, making up the eight shown above and after the jump...

(Accidental) Dupe Alert: Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick

Armani Sheer Lipstick #8

I have and love this lipstick.  It's unusual... really sheer, but pigmented.

The one thing I don't love about it is the weird plastic-y smell/taste from it.  But that fades after a few minutes, so I can ignore it.  I have it in #8 which is a blue-based fuscia pink.  Scary-looking in the tube (if you are easily scared of very bright colours!) but a lot more sheer on the lips - it's positively luminous and juicy, and as I've mentioned, quite pigmented for something so sheer.  In general, I tend to favour either extreme;  ultra-flat-ultra-matte reds and pinks, or glossy and sparkly lipglosses in golden-biased nudes and lilacs, but this one is a little different for the odd occasion I feel like being different.

On to the dupe...

e.l.f. Studio Cream Eyeliner

I'd use a smaller image if I could.
Dreadful stuff.

Oh dear god.

A whole pile of a stinking heap of Please Don't Bother.

Having heard great things in the blogosphere about e.l.f, I spent the grand sum of €25 lately on a large stash of Things To Try Out.

Dupe Alert: MAC Fashion Fix!

This week I've decided to try to write a series of posts on both budget makeup and dupes of recently released products.  Today is the turn of a MAC eyeshadow...

MAC Fashion Fix Pro Longwear Eyeshadow

One of MAC's latest collections (Office Hours) has introduced a bunch of new Pro Longwear formula eyeshadows, one of which is called Fashion Fix, and is a cool-toned greyed brown.  It's an interesting enough shade and the only one of the collection I was particularly interested in.  The shades are all to be part of the permanent line and not LE (for a bloody change - I don't think I'm the only person on the planet getting bored of the LE nature of MAC collections).

Yves Saint Laurent Forever Youth Liberator Serum

Yves Saint Laurent
Forever Youth Liberator Serum

... I will be avoiding this one again.

MAC Face & Body Foundation

MAC Face & Body Foundation:
A huge 120ml bottle!

MAC Face & Body is that standard, simple, unfussy, workhorse foundation that I love and have been using and quietly recommending to anyone who will listen for years now.  It's not an exciting foundation that I rave about.  But it's the foundation that I recommend for most brides.  It's the foundation I'll usually use for photography work.  It's the foundation that most makeup artists (that I know) use on a reasonably regular basis.  It's the foundation that I recommend for most skin types.  It's the single most used (and useful) piece of my kit.  It provides consistently good results, every time, unfailingly.

MAC have actually just released a collection actually called "Face & Body" which features this foundation, among other products...  More on that after the jump.

Shiseido Bio-Performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream

Shiseido Bio-Performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream.
Breathe In... add some more words to the name, why doncha.

While purchasing a bunch of Shiseido products in Arnotts lately, I was busily engaging the lovely SA and finding out as much about the brand as I could (I'm sure I bore SA's rigid. I use them and abuse them for product information...).  Said lovely SA was more than kind to give me a handful of samples of the Shiseido Bio-performance Advanced Super Revitalizing Cream for my own personal use, promising me that after use, I would be back to purchase, so I've been using these samples for the last week or so, with different serums (day and night) to see what I thought.

Dublin Fashion Festival 2012

It's upon us again, and this year I'm working with LA Makeup Academy to do the catwalk looks for the models.

It means early starts and late ends; three days of being on my feet from about 7 (that's in the am) to about 11 (that one would be pm).  It will mean, in essence, coming home, scrabbling around to clean lots of brushes quite late at night, to get them all ready for the following day.  It will categorically mean comfy shoes and a cardigan (there will be a lot of outdoor events, and supposed Irish-Indian Summer aside, it just won't be that warm).  But I can't wait!


There is quite a full programme and all events are available here, at this link.

There are essentially two main looks that we've agreed to recreate for the various fashion shows.  The inspiration and breakdowns for these looks are coming right up...

Bare Minerals Review

Bare Minerals Get Started (8-piece) kit

Following on from a request for advice from a friend of mine, while at the same time in the search for a decent foundation for a client's Extremely Oily Skin of late, I thought I'd take myself into a Bare Minerals concession to have a chat with the SAs there and get the skinny.  I left with a face full face of Bare Minerals (they call their makeovers "Make Unders"), a bag complete with this Starter Kit (above) and lots of very generous-sized (and free) samples, and a head full of information!

I have wandered into the realms of mineral makeup before.  I know what it does.  I know it can really do it beautifully.  But as it never really suited my dry-ish skin, I didn't bother much with it.  But on the request of a friend, I thought I'd look further into the Bare Minerals starter kit...

Warning!  Images-heavy post ahead!