Pink and Purple Smokey Makeup Look

I've got a mid week post for you all because I have a little bit of catching up to do, due to my lack of posts around the holidays. I thought it would be a nice idea to do a makeup look which is a bit more subtle and suitable for everyday wear as I know I tend to do a lot of night time, dramatic looks.

I started with Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation which is quite light and dewy, although build-able. This is one of my go to foundations for everyday wear, its very smooth, easy to apply and isn't bad for your skin. I paired this with Rimmel's Wake Me Up concealer for my under eye circles and blemishes. I wouldn't recommend this concealer for people with oily skin as it's very dewy and shiny so would probably slide off your skin. I added my trustworthy MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural Powder on top to keep all the liquid products in place. 

As per usual I used Hoola by Benefit to contour. I went on top with the blush and highlighter from my Sleek Face Form palette. I blended both the blush and highlighter together because they look beautiful mixed and I prefer blended colours rather than two block shades.

Sleek Face Form Palette: I used the middle and right shade

For eyes I used the Naked 3 palette, which is perfect for any pink or purple toned makeup look. On the lid I used Burnout which is a very shimmery light pink/peach shade - perfect for blue eyes. For my crease I added Nooner, which is a matte medium toned pink. This blended well with Burnout to create a shadowed smokey effect. Very lightly, I dusted Darkside into the corner V of my eye. I spent a lot of time blending out these colours doing a process of adding more product and then dusting it out for a smokey finish. For eyeliner I went with a thin winged line, using one of my favourite pen liners from Soap and Glory and used Lash Accelerator from Rimmel for my mascara. This mascara is great for separating my lashes and adds plenty of length. The only downfall is that this mascara does transfer throughout the day, so it's best to add a waterproof coat over the top.

I recently bought a new brow product and decided to use it in this tutorial. It is Soap and Glory's Brow Archery in the shade Hot Chocolate and in the pencil form. I find this product helps me achieve natural looking brows in no time at all. I love it!

For lipstick I applied MAC's Rebel which is such a stunning pink toned purple shade. It's a satin finish so not matte like many of my other shades. This lipstick does possess a lot of matte qualities though. It's long lasting and doesn't have a shimmer to it. This is one of my favourite shades at the moment.

And here is the finished look:

Makeup looks are definitely my favourite posts to do at the moment, so that's why there may be a lot. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and like this look. Be sure to check out some of my other posts if makeup tutorials aren't for you.

Gina x 

Lady Gaga Fame Perfume Review

Lady Gaga Fame is such a popular perfume and has been since 2012. I know it's often raved about and after I received it as a Christmas present I understood why. My Mum owned this perfume and I used to borrow it every now and then but I never used it enough to realise how much I loved it! Typically with perfumes I go for sweet, fruity smells or fresh scents. This, however is something slightly different. A lot more smokey and musky.

I'll try to describe the scent as best as I can but I can't promise I'll get it right. The bottle claims to have scents of belladonna, incense, honey, saffron, apricot and tiger orchid. At first, I find that there is a strong sweet aroma of honey which I personally like, however it can be overpowering. After a few hours the sweet honey smell fades and leaves a somewhat musky incense. Many people refer to this as perfume as smelling like an 'expensive hooker,' which in a way I do agree with as it leaves a lingering sultry, seductive scent. The reason why I love this perfume though, is because of it's long lasting power and I find I can still smell it at the end of the day. Also, what particularly stands out to me is how unique it is as it's very different to most of my other perfumes which are a lot more girly and youthful. This perfume makes me feel more sophisticated, unlike a lot of celebrity perfumes. I actually think most female members in my family have this perfume, which shows just how diverse the audience for this product is.

The bottle defines to product perfectly. It almost looks mysterious and I think the gold crown really portrays the message of fame and fortune. The black liquid too appears dark and alluring and when sprayed is transparent.

It's reasonable cheap too and I know the prices can vary from £12 - £20 at the moment. I think it retails for around £16 and it is definitely worth it. I've used it almost everyday since Christmas and there is still around 9/10 of it left. I know it took my Mum a while to get through it.

Thank you for reading! I'm most certainly not an expert in perfume but I really wanted to post about this to give you an insight into the scents that I like and what perfumes I love to wear at the moment. I hope this post helped some of you who are possibly looking to invest in a new perfume, or maybe your reading because you love 'Lady Gaga Fame' as much as I do.

Gina x

How To: Wear Purple Lipstick

Today I've got a makeup tutorial for you all, featuring as the title says a purple lip. There are a lot of beautiful purple lipsticks in makeup stores at the moment, but I know a lot of people tend to avoid them because they can seem too daring and a purple lipstick is tricky to feature in a makeup look. I've chosen to do a makeup look that isn't too difficult and really helps bring out the purple lipstick without you looking like a witch or a crazy person!

This is just my interpretation and some people may feel like this sort of look wouldn't suit them or that they would prefer to try a different approach, which is totally fine! There are so many different ways to style a purple lipstick, in fact I love observing other people's makeup looks - as it's where the majority of my inspiration comes from.

When wearing a bold lip, I like to have a flawless face so here I've chosen a medium to full coverage foundation - Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation in the lightest shade which is 1W1 Bone. This is my all time favourite foundation even above my trustworthy MAC foundation. It doesn't budge in the slightest, I've even slept with this on and when I woke it was still in perfect condition with a full coverage. It glides on smoothly and I use my Buffing Brush from Real Techniques to blend this in. There is also a vast shade range, so there shouldn't be any struggle when searching for a shade to suit you. The only negative thing I can say is that this product isn't cheap and ranges in different shops from £25 - £30. Saying this it is definitely worth it and it has lasted me a while because I only wear it for special occasions and parties. I teamed this with MAC's prolongwear concealer which I also used to highlight my face and MAC's mineralize skin finish powder. 

I have concentrated heavily on contour with brown and beige undertones rather than a more fluttery blusher. I used Benefit's hooler bronzer as it works perfectly with my my skin tone and unlike many it doesn't contain orange undertones. I used a blusher from Sleek but I only applied it lightly as I wanted this look to be very matte rather than shimmery. 

The eyes in this look are made up of neutral and subtle colours. I used shades from the Naked Basics and Naked 3 palette. I used Venus for my lid and to highlight my brow bone. I put Naked 2 in my crease and dusted Liar and Blackheart together over my crease and at the corner of my eye. One of the main features to this look is a strong winded liner. I didn't necessarily make it thick but concentrated on the sharpness and neatness of the line. I brought it very close to the inner corner of my eye and kept the line the same thickness all the way along. I used mascara but because it's a glamorous eye look you could wear fake eyelashes too. I also added a strong brow but using my usual brow products.

Finally the lipstick itself! This is a colour I've been eyeing up for such a long time and I finally have it! It's a lovely matte shade by MAC and it's called Heroine. It has a slight pink undertone but it clearly a strong purple shade. I've been told also that this applies nicely with MAC's magenta lip liner underneath. However, I applied it alone and even then the pigmentation is thick and covers the lips just perfectly! Because I know MAC lipsticks are more expensive, Sleek have a cheaper version called Mystic. 

I did use artificial lighting for this photo so the colouring may be slightly off, but the photo of the lipstick itself gives a better example of the colour.

I usually style this with plain colours or dark colours as I'd like for the lipstick to stand out and for the clothes to not take all the attention away from it.

I'd just like to leave you with the confidence to wear a bright purple lipstick. A year ago I would never have the nerve to walk out the house with such a bright lip because I'd feel anxious about what others thought of me. But I've realised people are always going to have something to say and if they do it's usually because they find you or something about you interesting, or that they're jealous! The only person you need to impress is yourself because at the end of the day it is your life and you only go through life as you. Remember you can't change other peoples opinion's only your own. Oops, I didn't mean to get that deep.  

As always, thank you for reading! Now that the holidays are over and I'm back into the swing of things so I'll try to post regularly of once a week. 

Gina x