Two Toned & Glossy Eye'd!

Today I wanted a two tone lip (again) and glossy eyed look.

To keep the focus on these I went for matte skin which is never easy with my oil slick of a face.
After using Illamasqua's Matt Primer I blotted any extra moisture away, applied concealer then dusted my face with MAC's Studio Fix powder foundation.

To create the two toned lip, I used my favourite red lip pencil. It's called Poppy but it's so faded I can't see the brand anymore - it's the perfect brick red/orange colour though. I filled my lips with the pencil but left out the middle where I wanted to pat the different colour. I went over the red pencil with Estee Lauder's Fire red lipstick and then, using a MAC 219 blending brush I patted Barry M's 129 light purple lipstick into the middle of my lips. I went over that with a sparkly pink lippy I brought a while ago called Crystal Gloss by Collection and blended the edges into the red.

To create a glossy eye I washed Illamasqua's Furore pigment all over my lids and blended Heroine into the socket. I also washed Fervent, a shimmery reddish brown eyeshadow, lightly over my brow bone and under my eyes, lined my top lashes with my MAC Smolder black kohl pencil, curled my lashes and coated them with two coats of black mascara.

I've started using dark brown mascara on my bottom lashes when I'm doing a more natural look on my eyes. It's a tip I read in Kevin Aucoin's brilliant book, Face Forward.

To finish my eyes I dipped my eyeshadow brush into Vaseline then into the Furore pigment and ran it over my lids to make them more glossy. This has to be the last thing you do as it creases very quickly but i think it looks cool. I used to use just Vaseline on my eyes sometimes when I was younger, then you don't have to worry about the creasing and you get a nice healthy shine.

And that's it for me in #TheRedLippyWeek. I've had a blast and learnt a lot about my products an how they work with each other - which is one of the main reasons I love creating looks for this blog.

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Glitter & Crystals for The Weekend...

I started out with a look quite similar to yesterday though I managed to get more of a matte finish to my skin to using a matte primer (as always) and then adding extra primer to my foundation.

I wanted a bit more coverage today so used Illamasqua's Skin Base and I've also added pair of Boots own brand Natural Volume lashes as I wanted to try them out. I really like them, not too long, very natural looking and comfortable to wear as they have a very thin base. And at £4 they're cheap as chips!

I created a bit more of a dramatic eyeliner flick and used pinkey/ reds on my lips (Illamasqua's Strumpet Medium Pencil & Salacious lipstick) plus Maybeline's Electric Orange gloss again.

I brought these crystals (Eye Rock Glisten Crystal Tatoos) in Boots a while ago and they've been sitting in my kit waiting for an opportunity to be used.

They come as a set of two shapes that you can transfer directly above your eye as shown on the packaging but you can easily grab the crystals off the plastic backing and apply them individually as I have with a tiny bit of Duo Glue to help them stay in place.

Using a sponge applicator, I patted Illamasqua's Berber Pure  Pigment, a shimmery auburn red to my lips, over the top of the gloss. I love the shimmery effect it adds to the lipstick and it also kind of sets the gloss giving a bit of extra staying power.
Finally I patted a touch of MAC Antique Gold glitter to the middle of my lips for extra depth & dimension.

I tried the crystals in a couple of places and prefer the below placement I think as it's a bit softer and prettier than above. What do you think?

I've really enjoyed my red lip week for #TheRedLippyProject / The Eve Appeal Charity and hope I've inspired at least one other person to wear red lips and spread the word that we must take advantage and get screened for cervical cancer as often as we can and are offered on the NHS.

Once more day to go and I think I'll try the two toned trend again tomorrow. I have done it before but it didn't photograph well so I'm going to try using a different technique and products. Watch this space!

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Summery & Red

This is a look I LOVE for a summer night out, especially when I had long hair and could pile up in a topknot.
Oh how I miss my hair, boohoo!

Shimmery gold eyes, matte skin - as matte as my oil slick of a face will go anyway, eyeliner flicks, peachy cheeks and loads of yummy orangey red gloss on my lips.

Tan - optional. Summer weather - urgently required.

For my eyes I applied Illamasqua's Furore Pigment all over my lids using a wet brush then Heroin Eye Shadow blended into the crease. Heroin is such a versatile product and my favourite product for contouring cheek bones and around the eyes. Great name too. I used Illamasqua's Gel Liner with a fine brush to create the eyeliner flicks and defined my brows with Illamasqua's Eyebrow Cake in Thunder.

I used YSL's Le Teint Touche foundation, YSL Touche Eclat over my dark circles, MAC Studio Finish Concealer under my eyes & over my many blemishes and set with MAC Prep & Prime Translucent Powder.

I mixed Illamasqua's Lover & Hussey Blushers to create the peachy flush and for my lips I used Maybeline's Coral Tonic lipstick & Electric Orange.

Day 4 of my red lip week for #TheRedLippyProject which is raising awareness for cervical cancer screening with The Eve Appeal Charity over. I'm thinking fun, glittery red lips tomorrow. Stay Tuned.

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of http://www.kiransingh.co.uk/charity/New_Picture_2.png

Gothic Eyes

I fancied doing something a bit different today, using some of my eye shadows and pigments that I haven't dipped into for a while. Generally speaking I don't tend to like going heavy on my eyes and lips but I'm having a red lippy week for #TheRedLippyProject which is raising awareness for cervical cancer screening with The Eve Appeal Charity, so decided to go colourful but not too heavy. 

After a couple of glossy red days I wanted, no needed, a matte red lip today so lined and filled with Illamasqua's Strumpet Medium Pencil and patted Vamp, a matte red lippy by Illamasqua over the top.

What do you think of my eyes? My friend Moira and her toddler Amy had a bit of a shock when I answered the door to them this afternoon!

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Green Eyes. Red Lips.

Day 3 of my red lippy week for #TheRedLippyProject.

It's been a crappy humid, grey & drizzley day here in Croydon and I've been rushing about town on buses, trains and taxis.
Not a good day for wearing makeup - not only is my face sweating & sliding all over the place before I've even picked up my foundation (damn my sweaty face genes) but I've been constantly drizzled with that irritating, fine rain. The worst type in my opinion!

I kept it fairly simple with a light base (MAC Face & Body), ran some green over my eyes (MAC Lucky Green) and smudged a black kohl liner across my top lashes (MAC Smolder).

On my lips I'm wearing Illamasqua's nude Medium Pencil in Ascend Lily-Rose Sheer Gloss, a warm dark pink/red which looks a little orangey over the nude pencil.

I think it's a nice look for summer, if only we could actually have a summer here in England please!

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of http://www.kiransingh.co.uk/charity/New_Picture_2.png

Glossy & Red

Today I've gone for classic red lips.

Glowing skin, strong brows and a glossy red lippy - lined and filled in with Illamasqua's Strumpet Medium Pencil with a layer of Magnetism lipstick over the top which is actually a dark raspberry pink.

To achieve a healthy looking glow to my skin I used MAC's Face & Body foundation and set it with a dusting of MAC Mineralize powder.

On my eyes, I used Illamasqua's white Intrigue blusher all over my lids and under my brows to highlight. I then blended MAC Copperplate eyeshadow into the crease and Malt over the brow bone to add a little extra warmth then lined my upper lash line with Illamasqua's Gel Liner, curled and coated my lashes with Max factor's False Lash Effect Mascara.
I defined my brows with Illamasqua's Eyebrow Cake in Thunder using an angled brush.

I used Illamasqua's busher in Lover, a warm apricot on my cheeks, highlighted with Furore Pure Pigment & contoured with Heroin eyeshadow.

I'll be wearing red lips all week for #TheRedLippyProject which, in conjunction with The Eve Appeal, is raising awareness for Cervical Cancer.

Image courtesy of http://www.kiransingh.co.uk/charity/New_Picture_2.png

The Red Lippy Project

This week I'll be supporting #TheRedLippyProject by rocking red lip looks all week.

My heart breaks every time another relative, friend & colleague is affected by any form of cancer.
Smear tests aren't particularly comfortable for us ladies but they're over in a couple of minutes and we're incredibly fortunate to be offered these potentially life saving screenings for free on the NHS here in England.

Amazingly though at least 20% of women miss their screenings and the Red Lippy Project is a fun & visual way to highlight Cervical Cancer Awareness Week (9th-15th June 2013) and encourage everyone to get screened.

Thinking of all my dear friends and family that have fought & won or sadly lost their battles with cancer - some are fighting as I type and some have had pre-cancerous cells removed thanks to those mildly uncomfortable but necessary smear tests.

So, I'm going to wear all my fave red lipsticks, glosses & glittters (yay!!) all week and will pester my friends and family to wear theirs too and/ or donate to the cause here.

Here are me & my gorgeous sisters Perdy & Clio kicking the week off in some of our trusty reds:
Illamasqua's Tramp (me), Salacious (Clio on the right) & MAC Chilli (Perdy in the middle).

For more info about the cause visit http://www.theredlippyproject.com/

Experimenting!

Agh, another slow posting week on CT&B - apologies! I have been creating some fun looks but have computer issues preventing me from posting anything. Here are a couple of looks below.

For the first look below I tried creating a monochromatic double eyeliner flick using my new Illamasqua black gel liner and Scribe liquid liner. I love the look and reckon it's really brightening and flattering. I love it with my Chanel eye glasses too, shame it's a rubbish pic but what do you think?

Another day, another look.I recently got accepted to becoming a MAC Pro Member (a-woohoo!!) and couldn't resist having a little splurge with my new discount, yippee! Amongst other things I brought me some Face & Body foundation - a light, dewy, buildable base, Mineralize powder in Light Plus, Brick Red Eye Shadow - a gorgeous warm red shade & Dimensional Blue Eye Shadow - a shimmery light grey/ silver/ blue.

I brought red because I've wanted one in my kit for a while and also because I've never worn it and I like to challenge myself! I decided to try out the double eyeliner trend again, using black gel liner with the silver/ blue over the top. Then I just HAD to try an incorporate some red!

What do you think of the double liner looks, would you wear it? Do you dare to try red eye shadow???!

Rocking a purple lippy

So, I finally got round to trying out my new purple lippy, Illamasqua's ESP from their Paranormal Collection. Funnily enough I had meant to buy Posture as I thought I'd get more use out of it but the lovely shop assistant mistakenly popped ESP in my bag instead by mistake. A happy accident if you will.

ESP is a gorgeous, vivid purple and having tried it out I adore it! I used MAC's Nightmoth lip pencil underneath which is a dark purple. Next time I use the lippy I'm might try a lighter lip pencil to see if it lightens the look at all, though I love it this way. I patted a touch of Barry M's pale purple (129) into the middle of my lips to create a little extra dimension.

I kept my base light, using YSL's Le Teint Touche Éclat foundation, a warm pink over my eyes and black eyeliner - a mixture of Illamasqua's Sophie Medium Pencil and Precision Gel Liner over the top and finally their Eyebrow Cake in Thunder on my brows which is my new fave.

Tribal Eyes

Today I started off planning to do a look with clean, simple eyes, a bit of eyeliner and a purple lip colour I brought recently but I went off on a bit of a tangent and seem to have created a bit of a tribal eye look.

 

Very current I guess - tribal prints are all over the high street at the mo.