Blogmas: Day twenty-one | Christmas Makeup Tutorial

Hellooo everyone! Party season has arrived and I thought that I would post up a quick and easy makeup tutorial for you to follow.

Step 1 and 2

Start with a completely clean fresh face. I used Clinique’s rinse off foaming cleanser mousse which completely strips your face of all oils, dirt and makeup. It is amazing, I wouldn’t know what to do without it! Then apply moisturiser if you have dry skin. I didn’t do this as I mousturise at night and then my foundation is quite oily and so in the mornings it is my moisturiser substitute.

Once you have prepped your face, apply your foundation and concealer. I have no idea which way round these are supposed to go, so if you know the proper way of doing this please let me know! However, I tend to put on my foundation first and then concealer on top. Here I used Clinique’s even better makeup SPF 15 evens and corrects foundation in the colour 04 Cream Chamois, and Clinique’s airbrush concealer in the shade 04 Natural Fair.

Step 3 and 4

I don’t contour that much but I do apply a little bit of bronzer where the sun would naturally shine on my face. I brush it onto my cheekbones, my jaw line and the side of my nose – if you don’t have a fringe you can put it on the sides of your forehead just below your hair line. This just adds a little bit of dimension to your face and gives it a natural glow. I use No7’s Perfectly Bronzed Dual Bronzer. As it is dual, there is a highlighter in the pack too which I use down the center of my nose (and my T zone… it also sets my foundation quite well too), my cheeks and my chin. I then apply Natural Collection’s Rosey Glow blushed cheeks blusher. This is my skin done! Now onto the eyes…

I think for a Christmas look, the eyes need to be quite natural with the eyeshadow, but a lot of emphasis with the eyeliner. Here I used a light brown on my lid and then a darker brown in the crease, just like contouring this is to give my eye some more dimension. Underneath my eye I applied a thin line of light blue eyeshadow. The camera doesn’t pick it up too well but I think it really goes well with brown shades and really brings out my eyes.

Step 5 and 6

I quickly coloured in my eyebrows with Gosh’s long lasting eyebrow pen in the colour 001 Dark Brown and then went onto applying eyeliner to my eyes. On the top lid, I went for a thin line in the corner of my eye and then made it go wider the further it went out. I drew on my wings quite small for a softer look, however if you want more of an intense eye the make your wing flick out bigger. The eyeliner I used was Seventeen’s Lacquer Liner wet look finish in black. I then used Natural Collection’s pencil Eye Lines black eyeliner for my waterline. I went right into the corner of my eyes in order to really frame them. After this I used my Soap and Glory thick and fast mascara in black.

Then I finished with what I think is the piece of resistance of the look. Bright red lips. I used Maybelline’s Pleasure me Red lip liner and filled in the rest of my lips with their Pleasure me Red (547) lipstick.

I really like this look, especially around Christmas. I think the red lipstick makes it warm and gives it a festive feel.

Please let me know what you think of this turorial and if you’d like to see other posts like this on my blog! If you recreate the look please let me know in the comments below. x

Clinique Foundation | Review

A couple of weeks back my skin started to go a bit dry and itchy. I don’t know what caused it to do this, maybe it was the change of the seasons or just my hormones playing around with my skin. There were many things that could have caused it, one of them being my foundation. I’d had it for quite a while and so decided it time to purchase a new one.

After debating whether or not to get a cheapish one or go all out, I thought it was best for my skin to get something allergy tested and dermatologist developed. Therefore, it had to be Clinique.

I went to the counter and asked if they could do a colour match. We went through quite a lot of different foundations. Some oily, some matt, some dewy until we found the perfect one for my skin. I ended up going for the ‘Even Better Makeup, SPF 15, evens and corrects’ in the colour Cream Chamois 04. I’ve been using it for the past three weeks, and it has to be the best decision I have made with makeup in a long time. It says that it evens and corrects and it really does! My chin has been slightly spotty for sometime, but since using this it’s the best my skin has been in forever.

It’s a medium coverage but saying this, it tends to cover my blemishes really well and gives an airbrushed finish if you use a makeup brush. It has a really nice consistency with a smooth creamy kind of texture and feels so light on your face.

It might be a little bit pricey, but it is so worth it and I will definitely be buying this again.

If you’d like to check this product out click here, I absolutely adore Clinique and would really recommend this foundation.

Clinique Chubby Stick | Review

I am absolutely loving this product at the moment. My mum shops at Clinique for all of her make-up as it’s one of the only brands she has come across that so far, touch wood, doesn’t affect her eczema. It might be on the pricey side, but she swears by it and if it works then splashing out that little bit more than you would originally is sooo worth it.

Because she is a loyal customer, she gets all of the deals and gifts that Clinique offer. Just recently she got a free goody bag and shared it out amongst me and my sister.

Amongst the gifts came this Chubby Stick.

I’ve seen reviews on eyeshadows that come in this form before and have desperately been wanting to try it out. So when my mum offered me this, I couldn’t refuse.

The colour it came in is 09 Lavish Lilac. Although it isn’t the colour I would normally use, when applying it on my eyes for the first time I was pleasantly surprised. The shade seems to go amazingly well with my complexion.

Even though it is called lilac, it has a slight greyish tint which means it goes with almost everything. You can wear it on its own or even jazz it up a little by adding some powder shadow. I like to put it with browns or blacks and greys.

The texture is very creamy which is great as it seems to last a very long time on your lids. It also doesn’t collect in your crease as I have found quite a few shadows do by the end of the day.

There’s a slight metallic look to the colour which is really lovely allowing you to either dress it up or dress it down.

Since this stick has been added to my make-up collection I have not been able to get enough and have worn it pretty much every day!

❤

Clinique 3-Step Skin Care | Review

For Christmas I was so lucky to get this 3-Step skin care set as a present. I was really excited to start using them!

I’d tried a few Clinique products before when my mum had gotten freebies, and they’re just so lovely.

All three of these products have been dermatology tested and all are fragrance free. So far they haven’t irritated my skin in any way which is absolutely awesome. In fact since starting to use these products, my skin feels and looks the best it has done in a long time.

Step-1 Liquid Facial Soap Mild

I must admit this is a little sticky and has a bit of a gel like substance when if first comes out of the tube. But as a soap substitute it does the job amazingly. It seems to effortlessly take off my make up without me having to scrub away at my face leaving an overall fresh look.

Step-2 Rinse off Foaming Cleanser Mousse

I think this is my favourite stage of the three. Aesthetically this foam looks gorgeous. When it comes out it almost has a pearl like look to it which is so pretty. It cleans my pores and even though it doesn’t claim to exfoliate, it leaves my skin feeling extremely smooth and hydrated. However, after these two steps my skin can sometimes feel  a little bit dry as they literally remove all of the grease and make-up from my face – which is why Step-3 is so good.

Step-3 Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

This gives such a great finish. Applying this moisturizer after steps 1 and 2 leaves my face feeling so soft and silky smooth. The moisturizer itself is really thin and spreads easily and evenly over my skin. It seems to sink in quite quickly and doesn’t leave me with that greasy feel like some moisturizers do.

I am so impressed with this set. Not only does it make my face feel amazing, it seems to be clearing up my skin as well. I know Clinique is quite pricey and I definitely wouldn’t have been lucky enough to try out these products if it wasn’t for them being a gift. But if you have the time and money for this 3-step Skin Care then I would most certainly recommend that you try it out. Hopefully these bottles will last me a long time as you don’t need to use much of them when cleaning your face. However, when they do eventually run out I might have to save my pennies and purchase them again. It is such a beautiful set.

 

Clinique long last glosswear SPF 15 | Review

Clinique’s own Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 is my life saver. For me this is not just a lip gloss, but it seems to work better than any other chap sticks I have ever used. My mum first introduced me to this gloss saying that it worked wonders in the winter to protect her lips from getting chapped and on top of this had a really nice look to it. With this recommendation I decided to get some.

At first I must admit, I did find it a bit sticky but you kind of get used to this or just put up with it because it is soo nice. I went for the shade stellar plum which is quite subtle, it’s practically the same colour as my lips so it just adds that little bit extra to your finished look without going over the top!

It’s one of those dress it up or dress it down glosses, there is a little bit of glitter in the mix so with a full face of makeup you can really accentuate your lips. However, it’s also perfect for day to day wear as the shimmer effect isn’t too obvious – there is also an option of getting non-shimmer if you want that polished matt look.

If you’re feeling adventurous you can also layer it up over some lipstick too. It’s translucent so you can see the colour of your lipstick underneath, it just adds a beautiful glossy effect.

The one thing I was unsure about when purchasing this item was how it claimed to be ‘long lasting’. There have been a lot of beauty products I’ve bought that say this, but after a morning, or sometimes even after a coffee, I find myself no longer wearing lipstick. This though really does live up to its long lasting title. I can find myself going a whole day without needing to top up my lips which is probably one of the main reasons why I absolutely love this item!

At £16.00 it is quite pricey, but I adore this lip gloss and would really recommend that you give it a go. You definitely get what you pay for and it definitely does what it says on the tin!

Click here if you’d like to purchase the item.

Face to Face | Everyday Make Up

The make up I used today consisted of Natural Collection, Clinique and Maybelline. I wanted a natural look, that kind of ‘no make up’ make up effect. On my eyes I used a cream shadow from Natural Collection which I put on the lid but also underneath to make my eyes brighter and look more awake. I used a dark brown shadow as eyeliner for the bottom lid of my eye. The liquid eyeliner too was from Natural Collection (you can see my review in my previous entry to this) and then I used Clinique’s mascara on both my top and bottom lashes.

To get a smooth complexion I used Maybelline’s Dream Mousse foundation which I mixed with some Aveeno cream to give a tinted moisturiser effect. I then used Natural Collection’s blusher to create a matt finish.

For my eyebrows I used a Maybelline dark brown pencil then to finish them off I carefully brushed the same dark brown shadow I used for the liner effect under my eyes. This gives my brow a more natural look rather than just using the pencil.

Finally to finish off my look I used Natural Collection’s (yup! I love this make) clear lip gloss which tends to give them a lip balm look.

I’m not one for coating my face but I do think that this look is subtle, natural and good for everyday wear.

War of the Liners

I’m a huge user of eyeliner and have been trying to find the ideal one. Over my teenage years I have managed to narrow it down to three!

They’re all completely different types of liner so I guess you can choose whichever one you want depending on what look you’re going for. I’m no make-up expert and I this is only my opinion but here are my top three eyeliners that I have come across and would recommend to anyone!

In third place I’m going to put the Lasting Colour Gel Eyeliner from Collection 2000. As much as I love this look I do feel as though it goes on just that little bit too thick and can feel quite heavy. This could be due to the brush that they provide you with, it does seem a little bit too big for its purpose and so I may have to purchase a smaller one in order to get more precision. However the quality of the liner is great and stays on throughout the whole day without a single crack or smudge!

My runner up is the Clinique Intense Black Pencil Liner. This was a lucky find as it was a freebee in one of my mum’s Clinique gifts so I just randomly fell upon it (I don’t normally buy Clinique due to the expense). However, you do get what you pay for and this is a shining example. The application is easy and the liner seems so soft that you can get a sharp line on top of your eye as well as the bottom. Again, this lasts all day without any smudges or cracks and gives a lovely matt finish to your eyes.  I do feel however that it’s harder to do a line on your top lid with pencil than it is liquid which helped my decision in ranking this second place.

This takes you to my winner! The eyeliner I use pretty much every day is the Natural Collection liquid eyeliner. With the brush being so thin and delicate the application is easy allowing you to get the perfect wing and line. The brush allows you to be accurate and the nature of the eyeliner itself gives a sharp matt finish. Throughout the day it does not smudge however it may crack a tiny bit, but nothing too obvious. I find that it is the quickest one to apply and lasts all day which is why I rated this my number one eyeliner.

Which make is your favourite eyeliner? Do you find pencil easier to apply than liquid? Comment below and let me know what you think!