Grey Day

Something about winter is just so lovely; the big pots of peppermint tea, bringing the throw rugs out and snuggling up after dinner to read a book (or play some Trivia Crack on the iPad, let's be real) The dark winter wardrobe I favour lends itself quite nicely to a wide variety of makeup looks - I can flit between a bold blush one day, bright Bourjois-velvet clad lips the next before getting smoky with some dark shadows...for this winterfied palette, I've gone down the fresh grey path when pulling things from my makeup drawers.

Hazy Grey Eyes
When I think winter, I automatically think grey and wearing it on the lids is definitely easier than rocking something like the much lauded Chanel Notorious, don't ya think? I prefer greys with a hint of brown to them to warm it up a notch, and my fall back grey palette is this Lady Grey MAC quad (especially the lower right hand shade, Hazy Day!)

The Classic Grey Mani
I love a good greige mani all year round truth be told, but it's never better than when it's chilly outside and you're all rugged up in a cozy knit scarf rocking the most elegant nails out there. I initially overlooked essie Take It Outside* but I love love love it on the nails - even on my nubbins it manages to look decent, so imagine it on perfectly shaped ones...*sigh* The magpie factor made me throw a coat of essie Hors D'oeuvres* over the ring finger, because bling bling!

Flush of Blush
I'm breaking away from neutral cheek shades for a second to dally in pinks flushes, but nothing screams "hi there I just came in from the cold can you pour me a cuppa?" than a RED flush - so natural on the cheek, yet so scary in the pan! Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Natural Beauty is just that, but the deep red tone of essence Renesmee Red is my personal favourite for a red cheek. Crème blushes aren't really my fortay but the old discontinued YSL Crème de Blush is the bees knees regardless - it's a nice powdered finish that I like in the winter. I've also turned a bit icy this season, with the new essence highlighter Enter Wonderland from the brand new Hidden Stories collection.

What is the best part of winter for you?

I'd love to know what your favourite hot drink is, I'm totally obsessed with big mugs on the couch right now!

-Emma

 

*Provided for consideration. Honesty, always.

Makeup Pile Inspired by Fifty Shades of Grey

I’m sure by now some of you have spotted the racy Fifty Shades of Grey film trailer online – I know a few people on my Facebook feed have been counting down and can't wait to see the film when it is released tomorrow! I feel a little hint of shame when I admit that I have indeed read the three books in the series, and am actually rereading the first in the line-up now…perhaps that stems from studying literature for so many years!

The 50 Shades franchise definitely isn’t the best written works I’ve ever read (so far from it that it’s laughable to be honest) but I will step up to the plate and say that I’m planning on seeing the film, if only for curiosity’s sake. Using the title as inspiration, I played around in my makeup and nail stash to grab some of the rare greyscale pieces that live within my drawers.

Eyeshadows in grey are always wonderful in theory, but sometimes they make me feel a bit too ‘rock chick’ unless they verge on taupe or I warm them up with another shadow in the crease. I think it has something to do with having dark hair and very pale skin...

If I ever need a true silver or grey look I reach for my Australis Paparazzi Perfect Palette in Frock and Roll, which I used in this frosted winter makeup look. I also have a few grey and grey/brown shades in my custom Inglot palette, and one of my most loved grey shades is Too Faced Garter Belt from the Boudoir Palette. I’d consider Mercury from Topshop a taupe shade more than a true grey as the purple tones pull through enough on me to make this something a bit out of the ordinary. Two other pops of grey in my stash that haven’t yet been touched are the Bourjois single eyeshadow in 14 Gris Delicat and the Maybelline Charcoal Smokes quad*.

The best way that I know how to inject some smooth grey shades into my beauty routine are on my fingernails – I’m always up for a deep metallic blue, but a grey tone also doesn’t go astray and these are some that are residing in my polish drawers right now. 

For an elegant and simple greige shade, essie Master Plan* is my very favourite – but for a bit of bling essie also brings it to the table with Ignite the Night*! It’s a darker more charcoal sort of glittery colour and I’m thinking it would work perfectly in an ombre nail look. An affordable nail polish comes via German brand essence and their dark metallic grey Movie Star. The final beauty product we have is not technically a grey shade but I'm taking inspiration from the sleek gunmetal tube - Smashbox lipstick in Flirty is a true stunner of a bright pink and one of the first ‘higher end’ non-Priceline lipsticks I ever bought myself. Memories…

I really enjoyed rustling through my drawers to pull colours for this post – fingers crossed I have that much fun watching the Fifty Shade of Grey film at the cinema!

-Emma

*Provided for consideration, honesty always.

Moth Brown - MAC By Request // Swatches, Face of the Day

I have only been a beauty lover for a few short years, so when the MAC By Request idea was announced on Temptalia here, I had not owned or swatched any of the mentioned shades. I thought they were nice, but I was not taken with any shade in particular until Jessica from Getting Cheeky showcased the shade Moth Brown here.

Moth Brown is described on Temptalia as a purple tinted shimmery grey, and I would say so also, but note that it leans taupe and brown as well. It is much more purple than something like Satin Taupe, and I don't own anything else like it.

 

 

 

 

Moth Brown swatches smoothly and the pigment is easy to sheer out, but equally easy to build up for a darker, more dramatic look. Though it is a frost finish, I find it quite satin in finish.

 

 

 

I chose not to sheer Moth Brown out too much, and vamp it up with a deeper lip shade as well. I like the overall effect, and though Moth Brown can easily be an everyday taupe shade, I like that I can use it for a deeper night time sort of look also.

 

 

Face:

Face of Australia Face Base primer

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus foundation*

Illamasqua blush in Hussy

 

Eyes:

MAC paint pot in Painterly

MAC Moth Brown eyeshadow

Laura Mercier Pale Pink eyeshadow to highlight

Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara in Black Shimmer

 

Lips:

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Vernis à Lèvres in #4 Mauve Pigmente

 

Hair:

Toni & Guy Dry Shampoo for volume*

 

Moth Brown is limited edition and is $33 AUD here.

 

What are your thoughts on 'request' collections?

What discontinued products would you vote for?

What do you think of this shadow?

 

*I purchased this myself. Honesty, always.

Shades of Grey

More inspired by the dreary Melbourne weather I'm enjoying rather than the saucy trilogy penned by E.L. James, this look is full of soft grey tones and is a fresh winter look.

I applied my Bourjois Healthymix (nice and moisturising for dry winter skin!) with my Rae Morris Radiance* brush, and dusted a little Maybelline Dream Matte powder to tone down the dewy look of it.

As usual I used MAC Painterly paint pot as an eyeshadow base, then whipped out my deep grey Inglot shadow (matte 339) to use all over the lid, and used the matte vanilla shade (matte 351) to blend and highlight. I also popped a bit of MAC Nylon onto my inner corners. I used my L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in All Night Blue to line my upper and lower lashline, and I think it was a subtle touch that led to the cool-toned look. I finished the eyes off with my Australis Lash Length Extension mascara* and filled in my brows with my BYS brow pencil*.

The cheeks were kept glowy with MAC Full of Joy blush, which is a pale lavender toned pink blush that gives a gorgeous sheen to the face. The lips were given the once over with Face of Australia's Lychee Crush lipstick* (which I really like the look of in these photos!)

What is your winter makeup look?
Have you read 50 Shades of Grey? I've read the first two and my oh my the writing is woeful, but the storyline did grab my attention and I don't regret reading them. I'll get around to reading the third one one day.

*Marked products were provided for consideration. Honesty, always.



A Grey FOTD for a Grey Day

Yet another cloud-filled day on Saturday in Melbourne, and I had grey on my mind. Trying to take nice pictures of my IMATS and ABBW haul had me frustrated,so instead I snapped a few shots of the look I went with. I recently bought a cute grey Sportsgirl handbag, and I've been loving all shades of grey ever since.

A simple grey eye with pink lips and strong-ish brows (got them tinted at Benefit cosmetics over the ABBW weekend)

I really like the way the cool tones of the shadows go with a sweet pink lip. Usually when I wear a grey eye I go for a super baby pink shade on my lips, but I had just bought new warmer pink shades from Essence so chose them instead. Really liked the way it came out, felt like it was a a really pretty look for such a miserable day.

Here are the products I used:

Bourjois Healthymix Serum Foundation #52

NYX Powder Blush in Peach

MAC Painterly Paint Pot

Essence Quattro in Chic-ify (pale grey shade in bottom left hand corner)

Chi Chi EyeShadow Dust in Door Bitch

Shiro Cosmetics pigment in Magneton

Avon Ultra Luxury Eyeliner in Black

Clinique High Impact mascara

Nutrimetics Recharging Hydration Mist with Ruby 

Urban Decay eyeshadow in Buck (from Naked palette, for brows)

*

I used the Essence shadow over the paint pot before playing around with Magneton over the lid, and added Door Bitch in the centre of the lid to add a bit of brightness to the eye. (Everytime I say/write/think about the name Door Bitch I giggle, cheers Chi Chi!)

*

And for the lips...

Two brand new lip products from Essence!

The lip stain at the top is from the You Rock collection which has just hit Australia (which probably means it's old hat to those overseas) and is called Let me in Rose. It's one of two lipstains from the collection, and I will be showcasing these shortly because I am in love with them. The gloss at the bottom is from another collection also just released in Australia Blossoms etc... This gloss is called Flowerkissed, and I love the way it looks when paired with the lipstain.

*

In keeping with the grey obsession, I painted my nails!

I used Sportsgirl 'It Nail' in Storm with Sephora for OPI in I'm Wired on the ring fingers to spark it up a bit. Next I'm going to pair a hot pink shade with the grey.

What colours are you obsessed with at the moment?

Have you used any of the products featured in this FOTD?

emmabovary xx

FROCK AND ROLL! EOTD with Australis

A while ago, I was moaning about the lack of grey shadows in my makeup collection. After digging around, I came up with the new release Australis Paparazzi Perfect palette

-FROCK AND ROLL-

Containing 5 shades in a geometrical palette, this little stunner quelled my grey-shadow-lemmings!



Frock and Roll!

Australis describes this palette as having these shades:

"Pearlescent shades of coral pink, medium grey, cool grey, charcoal, deep red."



Swatches on arm of Frock and Roll



Swatches and Palette

These swatches are pigmented with one sweep, which is somethnig I really appreciate in eyeshadows. Rather than being a palette with some rad shades and some 'meh' shades, this range seems to have only winners! In my opinion, of course. I naturally went straight for the grey shades first, and this is the look I dreamt of and came up with!



EOTD with Australis Frock and Roll



The light coming in from the window makes it appear as though my makeup isn't even, be assured that it was! And please ignore the frizzy hair and crazy brows!

This sort of look is exactly what I wanted- I tend to avoid dark shadows as most of my clothing is quite dark, so I like to brighten it up or use shimmery neutrals for my day to day makeup. This is generally as dark as I like to go, unless I'm using brown shades.I often neglect to use eyeliner as well, but that is something I'm challenging myself to change.

*

I used the cool tone grey as a highlight, the medium grey swept all over the lid, and a tiny bit of the charcoal to slighlty darken my crease. I then dusted a tiny bit of the cool tone grey in the centre of my lid towards the inner corner, to brighten it up even more. Maybelline Falsies completed the look!



Close up of EOTD (and whoaa brows,haha)

If I were to create this look again (and I am totally going to, frequently) I would add in some black liner, highlight the inner corners and wing the shadow out a bit more. I'm no makeup pro, but I'm learning and loving and enjoying my products, and that's what really matters!

emmabovary xx

*This palette was purchased by moi, with my own pennies!

Frock & Roll

(Made in Taiwan) MICA, TALC, TITANIUM DIOXIDE, 2-ETHYLHEXYL PALMITATE, PETROLATUM, DIMETHYLPOLYSILOXANE HYDROLYZATE, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, GRAPE SEED OIL, PROPYLPARABEN, METHYLPARABEN. MAY CONTAIN: C.I. 77491/ 77499 (IRON OXIDES), C.I. 77742 (MANGANESE VIOLET), C.I. PIGMENT VIOLET 15, C.I. 19140:1 (FD&C YELLOW NO.5 ALUMINUM LAKE), C.I. 15850:1 (D&C RED NO.7 CA LAKE), C.I. 16035 (FD&C RED NO.40 ALUMINUM LAKE), C.I. 15850 (D&C RED NO.6).