Tuesday 24 February 2015

ILLAMASQUA LOVING.



I've been drawn to Illamasqua as a brand for as long as I can remember. I love how avant-garde, bright, colourful and abstract their designs are. I love how versatile their products can be. I was very kindly gifted some money for Christmas, so I decided to spend it in the Illamasqua sale. Admittedly, I got these about a month ago, but I wanted to try everything before I wrote about it.

I purchased the Illamasqua Masquara in Raven. This is the blackest, fullest mascara I've ever used. Fact. I love the size of the brush, it gives such a thick, full set of lashes in just one coat. I absolutely love this mascara. If I could live on one mascara for the rest of my life, this would be it. That's how much I love it.

I also got the Illamasqua Skin Base in SB04. I checked shade references on their website, and although SB04 is the Illamasqua equivalent to MAC's NW20, it's actually a lot lot lighter than my skin tone. I feel like I would need at least shade SB06 or SB08 to be able to have a proper match. When I go to London in July I'll be getting a proper match so I can use this foundation properly. I'm thinking of using it under my eyes as a highlight rather than a full coverage foundation at the moment, or maybe mix it with a foundation that's a little too dark. What I have tried of this foundation is amazing though. It's full coverage - which is exactly what I love. However it can make the skin appear dryer than it is - so I like to mix it with a little bit of moisturiser before applying on it's own. I would recommend this definitely if you get colour matched properly and don't go by the charts online!

Next is the Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner. This is the most stubborn gel liner I've ever come across in my life. It's so hard to get off it's unreal. It's a shame it's a gel liner in a pot to be honest because I still haven't quite mastered the application, however when I do get it right, it stays all day. Long lasting, pigmented, smooth. Perfection in a pot, quite literally.

Finally, the Illamasqua Multi Facet palette in Semblance. This contains a cream pigment, a powder blush, an eyebrow cake, a cream contour and four powder eyeshadows - including the most beautiful red toned brown I've ever seen in my life - I love a brown eyeshadow, and the darkest black eyeshadow.  YouTuber Jamie Genevieve has an amazing tutorial using some of these shadows. This is probably my favourite palette at the moment, especially as I travel a lot - everything is in one. The eyeshadows and blush are so pigmented, the eyebrow cake is amazing and the right shade for me too! I haven't really tried the cream products - mainly because I had the wrong brush with me at the time, but I'm getting round to using them again!

I'd 100000% recommend Illamasqua to anyone. I can't wait to keep buying from them!

Have you ever tried anything from Illamasqua?


Monday 23 February 2015

MY DAY ON SET: ORFILA - YOU SHOULD KNOW.

In November 2014 I had one of the most exciting days of my life (besides it being Mum's birthday - Happy Birthday Mum!). I was invited to be the on set make-up artist for Orfila, who are an acoustic folk/pop band, who were shooting a music video for one of their songs - 'You Should Know'.

I go to university with Louise, one of the members of the band, and after some lengthy chats, invited me along to be the on set make-up artist. I really wanted to gain some professional experience as I'm working towards becoming a make-up artist once I've finished my degree. We discussed what kind of 'look' the band were going for in this music video, and it was decided that they wanted a much darker, smokier, heavier look than normal (the girls in the band are very natural). I made sure I had everything they needed, packed my make-up case and off I went!

I got the train to the location in the morning; the shoot was in a very small, cold, location and I was in a tiny little back room to do the make-up. Luckily I was provided with a couple of portable radiators and a huge light - similar to that of a photographer (something I think I should invest in).

I started with the actress, Parisa. We wanted a very simple look - winged liner and red lips. Due to being a beginner - I had previously contacted Parisa to ask if she could bring her own foundation that she was comfortable wearing and I would provide the rest.

I quickly got to work on Parisa's face as the film crew were starting with the scenes including her - I used: L'oreal Lumi Magique base as a primer, underneath her own Chanel foundation. I used a light amount of Benefit Fake up concealer in the shade 'Light'. I used The Balm Mary Lou Manizer as a cheekbone and browbone highlight, Anastasia Beverley Hills Contour Kit shades in 'Banana' to set concealer, and a mixture of 'Havana' and 'Fawn' to contour and bronze up the face. I used Rimmel Stay Matte powder in 003 Peach Glow to set all of the make-up and get rid of any unwanted shine.
For eyes I used Soap and Glory Brow Archery pencil in Brownie Points. Parisa has gorgeous brows so they didn't need filling in as much! I used a Rimmel Gel Liner in 001 Black, a mixture of Benefit They're Real mascara and Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless mascara, I also used a very light dusting of a taupey colour from one of the Make-Up Revolution Iconic palettes.
For lips I used a Rimmel Kate Moss lipstick in 107.

That was Parisa completely done! I was able to have a little break before the band arrived. I was only making up two of the three as I doubt Matt would have wanted his make-up done. The band had very kindly provided dinner for myself at the cafe next to the location, which was a huge burger and chips! And a milkshake, And a tea - which very oddly tasted of coffee. Remind me to work with these guys again!

I then went onto work on the girls from the band: I started with Louise and then went on to Abi. There were very slight differences in what I used for their make-up however the majority of it was the same.

Louise has dark hair and a signature look of black winged liner which I didn't want to take away. Again, I asked all of the girls to bring their own foundation just incase the few shades I had didn't match. For Louise's base I used the L'Oreal Lumi Magique Base as a primer. I find this primer really hydrating and love the slight dewy finish it gives under a matte foundation. I used a mixture of Louise's Boots No7 Foundation, and Rimmel Lasting Finish 25 Hour in 100 Ivory. I used a mixture of L'Oreal Lumi Magique concealer and Benefit Fake Up under the eyes and to conceal any blemishes. I set this concealer with Anastasia Beverly Hills 'Banana' powder from the contour kit. I also used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit shades 'Java' and 'Fawn' to contour and slightly bronze up the face. I used Benefit Rockateur blush to add some colour and The Balms Mary Lou Manizer as a cheekbone, browbone and inner corner highlight. I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown to fill in Louise's brows, I then set them with Eylure Brow Control and Shape Gel. I used MAC Select Sheer Pressed Powder in NW20 to set Louise's make up. 

Both girls from the band had very similar looks - as usual, however I decided to use different eye colours to create their smokey eyes. Louise had a warm tone smokey eye, using browns, taupes and golds - I decided she would have a warm tone as she has darker hair and a dark fringe, therefore I gave Abi a cool toned smokey eye using blacks, greys and silvers. I used a combination of the Make Up Revolution Iconic 1 and 2 Palettes on the girls to create both warm, and cool toned smokey eyes. I used the Rimmel Gel Liner in 001 Black, to create a wing on both girls, and used Benefits They're Real mascara on the top eyelashes and Rimmel Lash Accelerator on the bottom lashes. This is my favourite bottom lash mascara!
Both girls also wore an Avon lipstick in Deep Orchid, topped with an Avon plump pout lipgloss in Rose.

Onto Abi's base: I used the same primer - L'Oreal Lumi Magique primer. This worked great on all of the girls which I was super pleased with. I used the Boots No7 Foundation that the girls had provided, and applied using a Real Techniques buffing brush. I used the L'Oreal Lumi Magique Concealer pen underneath Abi's eyes to really highlight and then set this with the ABH Banana Powder. I used the shade 'Fawn' from the same contour kit to contour and then used the L'Oreal Glam Bronze in the shade 06 Golden Bronze to really bronze up the skin and deepen the contour. I used the Benefit Rockateur blush on Abi, and to highlight I used the shade 'Sand' from the ABH Contour kit. I used the Soap and Glory Brow Archery in Brownie Points to fill in Abi's brows - I used both the pencil and felt tip ends to create more natural looking brows. I set these with Rimmel Brow This Way in Clear. I used Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in 003 Peach Glow to set all of Abi's make up.

I completely forgot to tightline all three girls!! So frustrated with myself but it's a lesson learnt! :(

The majority of the brushes I used throughout the day were Real Techniques brushes, with a few that I've accumulated from home. Most of the products I used during this day were drugstore too!

I loved the day, it was an amazing experience to work on set, and it was even better to be there with one of my friends! There were some hilarious points, and points in which I couldn't feel my toes because I was so cold! I'd do it again a million times. The crew were amazing too and couldn't have been more helpful, especially for a beginner like myself.

I've linked the video below with a few pictures Louise had taken from the day!



 



Hope you enjoyed reading about my day with Orfila!




SOAP AND GLORY SUPERCAT LINER.



I'd been looking for a liquid eyeliner in pen form for ages - I still haven't nailed the perfect winged liner so I thought a pen form could give me much more control and precision! I've seen so many reviews on the Soap and Glory Supercat Eyeliner Pen Carbon Black Extreme that I decided to purchase, and give it a go!

I purchased mine from Boots, and it cost me £6.00 which I thought was a good price for such a raved about product. I've used a few Soap and Glory make-up items before, and they were good quality so I was expecting good things from this liner.

First impressions were that it's super easy to use, and extremely black! It comes out so pigmented! The nib is also very soft - that may sound silly but I've used a pen liner before with the harshest nib and it felt like I was jabbing myself in the eye! Not nice!

The nib itself is like a felt-tip pen nib, it ends in a very fine point allowing you to create the perfect line - as thin, or as thick as you like to do it. The fine end of the nib also allows you to create a perfect wing if you like to wing your liner out. It's super quick, fast and easy - even for beginners.

The only downfall is that if you rub your eyes a lot (like me), or get watery eyes, it can rub off or smudge quite easily. However if you don't do this, it's staying power is long-lasting. To prevent any running or rubbing off I like to set mine slightly with black eyeshadow, any will do.

Do you have any suggestions for liner pens? Have you used the Soap and Glory Supercat liner?