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

GRWM Ed Sheeran Concert

Todays post is a 'Get Ready With Me' and I decided to show you a look that was quite dressy but still casual. I wore this for the Ed Sheeran concert at the Capital Fm area in Nottingham. I'm going to structure this with a step by step process, including how I did my hair and makeup and the outfit I wore.

I always start by doing my hair when I'm getting ready as it takes the longest to do. Also when I curl it I like to leave a little time before I go out for the curls to drop. I also wear hair extensions usually to add volume and thickness to my hair. The extensions I use are Dirty Looks HK Full Head Hair Extensions which are 20-22 inches in the shade Paparazzi Highlights. Over the years I've tried out a range of different hair extensions and it seems these are the ones I always come back to. The quality is very luxurious as the hair is all real and it has just the right amount of shine. I only wear 2-3 wefts as my hair is almost the same length anyway. These extensions can be curled, straightened, washed and dyed and if kept in good condition can last around a year.

Dirty Looks website: http://dirtylooks.com/

Using Tresemmé's Curling Wand I wound my hair around it and curled it away from my face. I did a looser curl for the bits of hair around my face just to frame it. I added a spritz of Urban Iced Raspberry and Vanilla Hairspray to keep the curls in place and to add volume to the crown of my head.

Next up was my makeup. I decided to go for a fuchsia lip with a neutral brown smokey eye. I'm in love with smokey eyes at the moment as they make my eyes appear much bigger making them pop and stand out. Some people are able to pull it off everyday, but unfortunately for me it takes too much time so I took this opportunity and added a winged line to it. I thought this was a fun makeup look due to Rimmel's Apocolips pink lipgloss/stain, but didn't seem too casual like my everyday look.

Left to Right:

Benefit POREfessional Primer

Urban Decay 24hour Liquid Liner

Rimmel London Apocolips in 303 Apocoliptic

MAC Prolongwear Foundation in NC15

MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC15

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer 

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Hazel

Ecotools Eye Brushes 

Cosmopolitan Blush Brush 

MAC Prolongwear Concealer in NC15

Benefit They're Real Mascara 

Real Techniques Buffing Brush 

Benefit The Bronze of Champions Kit

Okay, so for the outfit I decided to wear dark colours which consisted of mostly black apart from my skort which was the main attraction of the outfit. Although it had a floral print it wasn't girly or too feminine. In addition I found that it sat comfortably, unlike most skorts I own which can be uncomfortable but because of it's stretchy fabric this skort was fine. I like the wrap effect as it adds a little more to the look, making it more interesting. I decided to wear tights because the weather was quite cold out and I didn't want to brave it for the walk there (although this look would look fine without tights.) I wore my leather jacket to keep me warm, and this jacket has to be a staple in my wardrobe at the moment. These boots too are very comfy and surprisingly easy to walk in. The buckles also make them edgier. 

Wrap skort - New Look £17.99

Black cami - New Look £9.99

Leather Croc Print Jacket - TXMax 

Boots - Boohoo £29.99

As for jewellery I accessorised with a chocker from Topshop which has an attached Yin Yang necklace dangling from it. The colours of these worked well with the outfit.

Part of a set - Topshop £12

Here is the finished look! I've also included a photo of myself and my friend before the concert, and although you can only see half of my face it was the only close up photo I had that showed my makeup. I apologise for the poses.

Thankyou for reading! I've decided to do another post following on from this one, which will be about the concert itself, so for any Ed Sheeran fans I'd recommend the upcoming post for you. Sorry that this has been slightly late but I've got a lot more idea's so I'll be hoping to keep on posting regularly.


Gina x