Currently Obsessed : Golden Peach with MAC

Reorganising my daily drawer for what seems like the millionth time and I stumbled upon an eye combo that I hadn’t tried before, and thought I’d put it to the test.  I’ve been relying on my neutral shadow palettes to create easy-to-wear eye looks lately and this is a lot peachier than I’m used to, but I’ve found it to really brighten up things and I actually wore this shadow combo every day last week!

 

MAC Rubenesque

I bought the MAC Paint Pot in Rubenesque at a CCO (does that stand for cosmetic company outlet?) in Las Vegas and flashbacks of watching Miss Glamorazzi beauty video’s back in the day resurfaced and made me drop it into my cart. It’s a warm peachy shade with lots of fine golden shimmer that doesn’t apply as smooth as my Painterly Paint Pot, but it’s of a smoother quality than the other shimmery Paint Pots I own so I will give it a star for that. It can turn a bit of an unpleasant orange on me if I layer it up too much thanks to my pale skin, so for this look I’ve left it light and then went back in with my MAC powder shadow in Retrospeck.

MAC Retrospeck

I acquired Retrospeck in the Royal Assets : Warm Eyes palette from a blog sale and it’s something that I have loved from day one. It’s a bit too ‘blonde’ and golden for me at times but I still wear it often (that’s love, right?) and when it hits Rubenesque magic happens and it creates a gorgeous eye look that I can’t get enough of.

What is your favourite eye combination? What MAC Paint Pot do you swear by?

-Emma

A Sexy Summer Shadow Look with Too Faced

When I think 'summer shadows', I gravitate towards champagne and gold aka the lazy lady shades! I think because our festive season in Australia is so hot it is easy to embrace these flattering shades, but I decided to use my favourite shades from the Too Faced Sexy Summer Shadows palette instead to create a makeup look.

I dipped my brush into the beautiful satin Toasted Coconut and blended it on the whole lid, before buffing the edges with a floppy brush to soften the edges. I'd probably take the shadow a little higher next time, but I wasn't intending on using this for a blog post so I was just playing around with the colours. I used Seashell to highlight my brow bone, as I thought the glitter in Peach Fuzz and Sunbeam were a little too much for a look like this.

I then took the beautiful deep teal Mermaid and dragged it along the outer third of my lower lash line, and it came out a lot darker on the eye than it appears in the pan as I mentioned in my last post. I am really getting into wearing colours on the lower lash line, and I think it is perfect for the upcoming summer as it is a quick and easy way to create a fun look that is low maintenance. I'm also pretty obsessed with lining my upper lash line (pencil or liquid) so I'll have to share my liner loves with you soon.

I can't remember exactly what I had on my lips for this look, I have a feeling it was a Sportsgirl gloss (I adore them!) but I didn't jot down the products as I made up my face - how frustrating! 

What do you think of this easy summer shadow look?
What colours do you like wearing on your lower lash line?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

What's On My Face // Placement Edition

 

I began the daunting task of my first rounds of student teaching over a month ago now, and though at first I shook like a leaf and was constantly lost, I am absolutely loving the chance to sink my teeth into what will hopefully be my future career. Since I'm used to wearing bright eye looks to work and university, the change to a teaching position means I've had to evaluate my look. I decided that though my school is quite casual in style I would still tone down my makeup, at least until I get to know the students and they are comfortable around me. I'd rather be known as 'that teacher who helped me with the tricky question' than 'that teacher with the cool eyeshadow!', you know?

 

My face staples have naturally been lazy morning staples such as Tarte Amazonian Clay blush in Exposed and Australis Curve Ink liner*, but I’ve been throwing a bit of essence Hot Chocolate liner in as well. Chanel Troublant and Stila Glaze are top lip picks, and Chanel makes another appearance with the Pink Explosion JC which lasts all day long on my cheeks.

My default eye look has been a simple one that I trust will last the long work day, and I'm really happy with how it has been working and lasting for me so far. As always, I set a base of MAC Painterly paint pot to give the shadows something to adhere to and to stop them from creasing up as the day goes on. I then go in with my Maybelline Bad to the Bronze Color Tattoo, which creates a nice bronzed chocolate base for my eye. I use my fingers for both of these cream products, and then I head in with a sweet of Maybelline Silken Taupe to ice up the look a wee bit, and just add some interest. It’s quite a strange mix that I stumbled across, but I like the way it makes my eyes pop and is easy to apply.

 

What makeup look do you turn to for work days? Do you tend to wear neutrals to err on the safe side?

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Smog // An Urban Decay Face of the Day

It was when I saw this post from Lil Lady Life that I turned my attention to a shadow that had been sitting neglected in my Urban Decay Naked palette. I use the general palette quite often, have almost used up Virgin and wear Sin with Darkhorse far too frequently, but Smog lay unloved amongst the neutrals.

 Apart from the fact that my laugh are out of control in this picture (I must've been very cheerful that day!) I love the way Smog makes my eyes jump out without being glittery, though it is quite a metallic, shimmery look.

I swept Smog over the lid with a flat shader brush, and blended the edges with a clean fluffy brush. I ran some Smog along my lower lashline, which created a sort of foiled effect which I really like. I like to run Sin from the Naked palette along the inner third of my lower lashline and into my inner corner, the shade is perfect for brightening up a look without clashing with any of the colours used. I finished off with Virgin to highlight my browbone.

The mascara I used for this look is the Revlon Grow Luscious mascara in Black Shimmer. I'm not sure of my feelings for this mascara, even though I've been using it for a while now. I'm not sure where the 'shimmer' comes into it, I see no difference in colour between this and my regular black mascaras.

I've been wearing this look quite a bit this past month, and I think the obsession will continue right through October as it is a look that suits all seasons. Running some deep brown liner and adding a more volumising mascara would take this look into a nighttime look, so I'm looking forward to giving that a go as well.

 

Are you a fan of Smog?

What are your most used UD shades?

An Enchanted Eye Look // ft Clarins Enchanted Palette

I've been so obsessed with palettes lately, I love being able to create a whole look with one palette open in front of me. It saves space in my 'daily face' bag and when palettes are well put together is it generally easy to put together a flattering look. To put this look together I used the Clarins Enchanted Colour Quartet & Liner palette featured in yesterdays post.

I used the golden and purple shade on my lower lashline, and I must say I love the effect. It adds some colour to a look without being too over the top. I've been wearing the golden shade on my inner lower lashline with a lot of my neutral looks to work, I feel like it really brightens my face up!

On the lids is the golden bronze shade, and blended out some of the shimmery chocolate shade on the outer third. It's a subtle look, but the sheen makes it something special. To highlight, I used the palest shade from the palette. Of all of the shades in the Clarins Enchanted palette, the pale champagne shade is the least impressive. I have similar shades in my collection which are a smoother texture and have better colour payoff, but I'm still glad that it is included in the palette to have a highlighter option close at hand.

What do you think of these colours on the lower lashline?

Do you think this look is enchanting?

 

*This palette was provided for consideration for review. Honesty, always.

bold wrath, baby

Since subscribing to amazingly brave beauty blogs like Silhouette Screams, I have gained confidence in my makeup style. I quite like to head out for coffee with Chris with a crazy makeup look on, he thinks it is pretty cool and I think so too!

I began this look with no real idea in mind, but had my new Femme Fatale Cosmetics set out before me and just winged it (literally!) I swatched the shadows here.

I have hardly had Poison off my lids for the last couple of weeks, and I wasn't sure if Wrath Baby would mix well with it but I ended up really loving the pairing. I think the way I winged out Wrath Baby and used both shadows on the lower lashline really tied the look together- what do you think?

Admittedly it is quite dramatic, I think I need to start trying out some neutral looks to show you all soon! If you are a bright eye fan, the best tip I can think of is to bolt the look down with some dark liner and plenty of mascara. It seems to make even the scariest look more wearable!

Pairing bright eyes with bright lips isn't my favourite, so everything else I used was quite toned down for this look. I used Urban Decay's Virgin as brow highlight and MAC's Nylon for my inner corner highlight.

What do you think of these colours together? Do you like the winged out Wrath Baby? I will definitely be wearing this look again, I really like it and Chris did as well!

*These shadows were provided for consideration, which does not affect my feelings about them.

A Bright, Nicki Minaj inspired look

Chris was sweet and bought us tickets to the recent Nicki Minaj Melbourne tour, and I decided to brighten it up for the night! I went for a bright lemon and lime inspired look with a dramatic winged liner, with MAC''s Viva Glam Nicki to really contrast with it.

I love the way the eyes are really bright, and though this photo isn't the most flattering (thanks iPhone!) I think it shows how much the colours really popped against my pale skin.

A shot of me sitting in Hisense Arena waiting for Nicki to show her pretty face!

Nails of the night, alternating with OPI Did It On 'Em from the Nicki Minaj collection and essence Viva La Green.

Products Used:

Bourjois Healthymix Serum Foundation in #52

Maybelline Dream Matte Powder

Benefit Dallas Blush

BYS Brow & Eye Pencil in Brown*

Ardell Clear Brow Gel

Femme Fatale Cosmetics pigment in Poison*

MAC eyeshadow in Bitter

essence gel liner in Midnight in Paris

MAC Viva Glam Nicki lipstick

Do you like these sorts of bright looks?

Who is your favourite band or artist?

*These products were provided for consideration which in no way affects my opinion of them. Honesty,always.

Powdery Blue

I will happily put my hand up and say that I love matching my makeup to my clothes! If I am wearing a scarf with a rich green tone in it, you can bet that I will rock a green eye look that day. It must be in my genes, I reach for matching colours on auto pilot now! This powdery blue look was inspired by both my scarf and my grey and blue cardigan, both of which are favourite pieces in my collection at the moment.

The look was very simple, and used a taupey shade over the lid with the dusty blue shade from the NP Set Red Carpet palette (that I posted about yesterday, link here) through the centre of the lid.

I love the texture of the blue shade from NP Set, it applies really nicely and is quite easy to blend. I like the way it gives a bit of colour to my look without being over the top or bright (which are looks I often fall back on anyway!)

I didn't use eyeliner for this look as I wanted to keep it subtle, and just use a few coats of mascara to frame my eyes.

I applied Nars Orgasm gloss lightly to my lips to create a natural look to go with the blue eye, I think I applied it on a pink lipstick base but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was.

I actually wear this look quite often when I wear the powdery blue scarf, and I love the way the scarf brings forward the colour from the look. I found it really hard to find a powdery blue eyeshadow with slight cornflower tones to it, so when this palette presented itself I was beside myself with glee!

What are your thoughts on matching makeup to clothing?

A bit naff, or do you do it too?

*The eyeshadow in the post was part of a palette that was provided for consideration for review, which in no way affects my opinions or review. Honesty, always.

The Inglot Inventory: a champagne and purple FOTD

Earlier in the week I posted here about my efforts to utilise a set group of products from my collection in order to use some up or just get creative with them. Part of that bunch were my beloved Inglot palettes, which I crack out often but not often enough. Here is one of the looks I came up with using them! I will call this series The Inglot Inventory, I do hope you enjoy them!

Face:

-BareMinerals Mineral foundation in Fairly Light*

-BareMinerals Warmth powder (bronzer substitute)*

-BareMinerals Mineral Veil (light reflecting powder)*

-Face of Australia loose powder in Outback Translucent*

-NYX Peach blush

Eyes:

MAC Painterly paint pot

Inglot AMC Shine 08 (post here)

Inglot purple shade, unknown number (post here)

Mirenesse Tightliner in Black*

Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes

Urban Decay Virgin

BYS Brow Pencil in Brown*

Ardell Clear Brow Gel

Lips:

Sportsgirl Liquid Lip Colour in Wow!

The look was quite subtle with only a few pops of purple, but I was really happy with the look as I thought the champagne and purple shade went really well together.

A blurry one taken in the car but I think it shows the purple off well.

Purple shadow was from this palette...

And this is AMC Shine 08, oh how I wish Inglot would name their shadows properly!

What sorts of looks have you been wearing lately?

What shadows from Inglot do you think I should buy next?

*Products marked were provided for consideration.

get some good karma!

 

This is a well-loved eyeshadow compact indeed! I bought this Australis duo in 'Karma' for my best friend Candice (who blogs over here) a while ago, even though she wasn't huge on wearing makeup. I suppose it is part of my role as a beauty blogger to push products into the hands of those around me, to try and spread the beauty obsession.

I've slowly but surely gotten her into makeup (eyeshadows at least!) and I love seeing what looks she comes up with when we meet for brunch. I found this in a clearance tub and knew I didn't need it, but couldn't pass it up and thought they colours would look great on Candice- I was right!

Candice already has a really nice almond eye shape, but the way she's done her liquid liner really excentuates it.  I often have trouble applying shadow to my lower lash line as it sometimes irritates, but Candice does it all the time and it really completes the look in my opinion.

Candice swept the golden champagne shade from the palette across her lid and popped the turquoise shade in her crease and outer third and along the lower lashline. This is a quick and easy look that is really pretty, and I know Candice can do it in a flash because a little birdy told me it's her fall back look ;P

What is your fallback look?

What do you think of Candice's EOTD?