Going Nude: MAC Paint Pots v Pro Longwear Paint Pots

MAC Paint Pots & Pro Longwear Paint Pots - the nudes / neutrals

Oh how I love MAC Paint Pots.  I think my favourite of all was a (sadly now discontinued) plummy-auberginey-purpley one called Artifact (I never managed to get my mitts on it).  My next love is Constructivist, one of the best (shimmery/almost duochrome) warm shades with great depth, fantastic at creating a beautiful smokey eye all on its own.  But I do love nude/neutral shades of Paint Pots for a really super-crazy-fast eye makeup; great on their own with a slick of eyeliner or as a base under powder eyeshadow to give it a bit more pop.

Chanel's Christmas No5 Bath & Body Range - preview

Marilyn & Chanel N^o5 in 1952

It really doesn't hurt to have your product endorsed, off-the-cuff, by non other than Marilyn Monroe herself.  Ms. Monroe, who will posthumously front the latest Chanel ad campaign (due to air in early December),  famously announced in an interview that she wore nothing else to bed but Chanel N^o5 perfume.  A classy, genuinely elegant fragrance, although not one I can personally get away with, it's got a timeless appeal - Chanel N^o5 first launched on May the 5th - the fifth day of the fifth month in 1921, and it's most certainly a warming Winter scent.

For the holiday season this year, one of Chanel's Christmas ranges features a slew of new N^o5 products to match the existing perfume line.  Ladies and germs, take note - if you want to add a bit of charm and sparkle to a Christmas present, you could do worse than gift someone you know who loves N^o5 with one of these matching products below...

300th post - a little about me & a HUGE giveaway!

300 posts - whohoo!

Today is my 300th post...  Pause for dramatic effect.

I'm actually quite excited and chuffed about this.  So I'm going to break with my strict "sure what does anyone want to know about me" rule and give a little insight into the Person behind the Posts.

MAC Retro Matte Flat Out Fabulous - review

MAC Retro Matte Campaign Visual

Another pink, this time in a matte, and part of the Retro Matte collection released back in September.

 

I love matte lipsticks - well, if I'm honest I love very slightly creamy just-off-matte lipsticks for their more-wearability-than absolute mattes.  While I absolutely totally and utterly adore the finish of the latter, I've yet to find one (a lippie or a brand) that's not murder on your lips.  This one is the latter - a completely flat matte.

GlamGlow BrightMud Eye Treatment - review

Glamglow (errrr) BrightMud (tee emm) Eye Treatment box - full of holographic goodness and a pain in the backside to photograph

Promising a "Tap on, wait three minutes, wipe-off" regime, I can't see how I couldn't find the time to try this one out, but for all that, it has been near the bottom of my "to be trialled" pile for a few weeks now...

philosophy turbo booster c powder - review

Mehhhhhhhhhhh.

Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser - review

Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser for Normal/Combination skin
Slightly artsier shot than I usually do.  I'm trying something!

So I had tried the cult favourite Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish before (see here) and really, was totally non-plussed.  In fact, it just didn't work for me.  I have been meaning to try out the Skin Repair Moisturiser for some time now too, as I've heard equally good things about it.

Hmmmm.

Inglot Waterproof Makeup Remover - review

This post is a shout-out to a product I really, genuinely, wasn't expecting much from... not even sure why...

My Favourite Base Eyeshadow - and it's only £1!

Of course this is a subjective post.  I have a lot of base shades that I use on myself, in class, on brides and others.  In general, I don't favour a dead white base, unless my client is extremely pale.  I have found that really pale warmer tones are nicer (by warmer I mean those with a little bit of gold, or amber, or peach) as a base.

Oh no no no no no... Clarins Beauty Gifts for (shhhhhhh, cough, mumble) Christmas

The C word, that dreaded C word, which I traditionally hate hearing about until at least after Halloween, just refuses to go away.  Blogs have been awash with all the various makeup- and beauty- related "Advent" calendars and now, fresh in from the Clarins PR, comes this little piece of info about Christmas gift sets... so I might as well give in and start releasing my "C-word" posts from here on in :-)

In this particular case, I hesitated to post anything until after Halloween.  But this one is not just about the C word.  There's a new and entirely delicious (LE) Clarins palette in here too that needs mentioning...

Skin Food Rice Mask Wash Off - review

Skin Food Rice Mask Wash Off Food Therapy

This is the most softest, most comfortablest, most loveliest face mask I think I've ever used.  And after yet another weekend of travelling and over-indulgence, it was lovely to use late last night to relax my skin.

Chanel Spring/Summer 2014 Ready-to-Wear show Makeup

Makeup for Chanel S/S 2014 Ready to Wear show

A Friday treat - a quick sneak peek into the backstage beauty images used in the 2014 Spring-Summer Chanel Ready-to-Wear show (entitled "Art") which took place on October 01st in the Grand Palais in Paris...

Inglot's New Brow Shaping Pencil

Inglot's newest product: Three Brow Shaping Pencils

Sadly, I missed Inglot's grand opening of their new dedicated Pro store on South Anne Street, just off Grafton Street, Dublin.  For personal reasons I just couldn't make it on the night.  I am still looking forward to popping in to have a nose around, hopefully this week or next.  In the meantime, I wanted to just post about their newest product for all you brow-obsessed fans.

Chanel's newest foundation: Vitalumière Compact Douceur - preview

Chanel Vitalumière Compact Douceur - campaign visual

Joining their other Vitalumière foundation product lines (look here for more information on Chanel foundations and here for more information on Vitalumière Aqua Compact (cream) foundation - my absolute favourite foundation ever), Chanel's latest foundation is a lightweight compact powder foundation, offering an "effortless application with no sensation of heaviness or tightness during the day".  The latter will be interesting to see, as powder foundations can certainly contribute to a dry, tightened feeling over the skin as the day progresses.  When I use a powder-based foundation, I generally spritz it with a finishing spray on top to help alleviate this dry feeling - so I'll be curious to see how Chanel's one pans out, and if it does the trick without needing to spray afterwards, especially around the drier areas of my skin...

Wayne Goss Brushes 03 05 06 - review

Wayne Goss Brushes T -> B: 03, 05, 06

When I heard that MUA and beauty blogger Wayne Goss was working on his own set of brushes, I was definitely "watching this space".  He shares my absolute obsession for brushes and I've agreed with most of his brush recommendations to-date.  So when they launch-date arrived, saddo that I am, I had an alarm set on my phone to remind me to purchase as soon as they were released!  These are not LE brushes, but they are handmade, and only a small number of them was available in the launch, as Mr Goss was completely funding their production and sale out of his own pocket (yep, that's right - this is really his "own" brush set, funded by himself, researched by himself - it's not his name to another brand).

I think it paid off for him;  the first round (product launch sales) was a complete sell-out.  Sold through the ever fantastic love-makeup.co.uk, I decided to purchase three of the brushes to try out.

My Autumn Red Lippie

My Autum red...

My perfect Autumn red lippie is actually an old MAC one that I'd always intended to buy and kept forgetting to get around to it...

MAC PRO Masterclass: Makeup for Music & Creative Videos

Now this was a fun one...

This won't be of interest to everyone, but if you'd like to know a little bit about creative makeup (rather than "wearable makeup") looks, and the particular MAC (of course!) products used to create the looks, and some interesting stories from this highly sought-after industry insider, this one might be for you.

This post is about the latest MAC Pro Masterclass in Dublin, which featured an extraordinarily talented MUA and her story about the looks behind a particular Rihanna music video.  It's long, and it's image-heavy.  You have been warned :-)

Chanel Collection Rouge Allure Moiré

Chanel Collection Rouge Allure Moiré - campaign visual

Chanel have had far too many yummy collections this year.  In the lipstick stakes alone, there were three planned.  First-off, there was Avant-Première de Chanel (April), which featured new Rouge Coco Shine and new Rouge Coco shades.  And then in June we saw the gorgeous Collection Révélation de Chanel, which introduced some delicious new sparkly and glossy Lèvres Scintellantes.  To complete their planned trio, Chanel have now delivered their third and final lippie collection for 2013: Collection Rouge Allure Moiré, which according to Chanel, is "inspired by the beauty and refinement of overflowing fabrics and ribbons" and features new and LE Rouge Allure, Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss and Crayon Lèvres lipsticks, along with two LE Le Vernis shades.

WTF? TLAs MUAs & Bloggers (ab)use :-)

TLAs - WTF?!

I remember (it seems like a long time ago now) when I started reading blogs, way back when, a long time ago in a planet far far away, and definitely before I'd even considered writing one myself.

The TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) that bloggers used drove me MENTAL.  I had no idea what they all meant.  And they've started sneaking their way into my blogs too, - it's a slippery slope!  So, here's a quick-n-dirty guide to some you might see in a few blogs out there.