Autumn Makeup Look: Maroon Eye and Berry Lip

Hello lovelies, so I know it seems like forever since I've posted but I've been so busy this summer so my blogging routine has completely gone out the window, sorry! I'm back now though and I'm aiming to be posting at least once a week again, on Wednesdays. So today I thought I would share with you what my go to look for Autumn is going to be. I knew I wanted to go for a darker lip than usual and pair it with a maroon eye look and this was what I came up with.

Base

1. To start with I used both the NYX pore filler primer and the Nivea post shave balm to prime my face. I am loving this Nivea balm at the moment because it is really good at making my foundation last all day long.

2. I then used the Nars sheer glow foundation in the shade 'Mont Blanc' and applied an even layer of this with a beauty blender to my face.

3. I then went in with the Too Faced 'born this way' concealer to cover up any blemishes on my face. I've only just got this concealer but so far I am really loving it!

4. I then used the collection lasting perfection concealer in the lightest shade to highlight underneath my eyes, the bridge of my nose and forehead.

5. After having blended all of these products into my skin I used the Urban Decay all nighter setting spray to set my base. I prefer to use it at this stage rather than at the end of my makeup because I find it makes my foundation last longer. 

6. I then took the Rimmel Stay Matte powder and applied this to my face to set my base and keep it matte. I like to use a beauty blender to apply the powder to my eyelids, undereyes, nose and forehead to keep these areas extra matte and then I use the real techniques bold metals '100' powder brush to dust the powder onto other areas of my face. 

7. Moving on to bronzer, I took the Too Faced milk chocolate soleil bronzer and applied this with the real techniques multitask brush to my cheeks, and sides of my face to warm up my face.

8. Following this I of course had to use my all time favourite blush. A powder blush in the shade 'Orchid Rose -15' by Chanel; which I applied to the apples of my cheeks with a Mac 168 brush.

9. To finish my base I took the becca shimmering skin perfector in the shade 'Opal' and applied this with the real techniques fan brush. I applied this highlighter to my cheekbones, cupid's bow and the tip of my nose.

Eyebrows

1. To outline the shape of my eyebrows I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow pomade in the shade 'taupe' with a zoevea 317 brush. I used this to fill in the middle and outer part of my eyebrow.

2. I then took the Benefit precisely my brow pencil in the shade '2' to draw the start of my eyebrow on and fill this in so it's not as intense and I can create a shape I prefer.

3. To finish, I used the Benefit Gimme Brow in the medium '3' shade to plump up my eyebrows a bit and make them slightly fuller.

Eyes

1. To create this look I took the shade 'white chocolate' from the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and applied it all over my lid and up to my brow bone. This is a cream shade that acts as a perfect base colour and subtle brow bone highlight. I used the zoeva 234 brush to apply this.

2. I then took the shade 'Cherry Cordial' from that same palette and applied this throughout my crease. This is a maroon shade which is what I wanted to base the look around.

3. Having blended this evenly, I took some of the shade 'Milk Chocolate' and ran this through my crease to make the shade slightly less red.

4. I then took a little bit of 'Triple Fudge' and blended this just to the outer corner of my eye to deepen up the look.

5. I then took a smaller zoeva 237 brush and applied the shade 'Marzipan' from the inner part of my eye up to about two thirds of the way across my eyelid. I made sure to spritz my brush with a bit of Mac fix+ to ensure that I get the best pigmentation and colour pay off.

6. I then took my Kat Von D Tattoo Liner and drew a thin line across my upper lash line and winged it out at the corner.

7. I then applied a thin coat of mascara, I used the maybelline lash sensational mascara, but pretty much any mascara will do.

8. Once the mascara had dried I took the Kiss '03' lashes and applied these to each eye. I then used another outer corner lash which comes as part of the eyelure texture 117 lash set. This helped to make the look appear more dramatic and so that I had a fuller lash.

9. I then took my zoeva 230 pencil brush and took that same maroon shade mixed with 'triple fudge' and ran it underneath my eye on the lower lash liner (focusing on the outer part) to balance out the look.

10. I then finished by applying some more mascara to my bottom lashes.

Lips

1. For lips I decided to wear my Kat Von D everlasting liquid lipstick in the shade 'Lolita'.

2. To darken this slightly I paired it with the NYX soft matte lip cream in the shade 'Rome'.

Drugstore Alternatives

So that is the look I will probably be wearing a lot for the next few months. If you want to recreate a similar look but don't want to splurge on some of the higher end products then I would recommend that you switch some of them out with these drugstore alternatives.

Nars Sheer Glow Foundation - Revlon ColorStay Foundation 

Too Faced Born This Way Concealer - L'Oreal True Match Concealer

Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer - Soap and Glory Solar Powder Bronzer

Chanel Blush - Max Factor Creme Puff Blush in '10 - Nude Mauve'

Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector - MUA highlighter in the shade 'Iridescent Gold'

Anastasia Beverly Hills DipBrow Pomade - Freedom Eyebrow Pomade
Benefit Gimme Brow - Eylure Brow Amplifier

Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette - I Heart Makeup 'I Heart Chocolate' Palette
Kat Von D Tattoo Liner - Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner 

Thanks for reading,

ffy x

American Beauty Haul / First Impressions

Hi lovelies, as promised on my previous post; I have a little haul for you today where I will be sharing with you the beauty bits that I purchased whilst on holiday. I have tried out some of them already so there will be a few first impressions thrown in there. Let me know if you've tried out any of these because I love hearing other people opinions on products! Hope you enjoy

NYX

Firstly, these are some of the NYX products that I picked up. If you know me, you'll know that I am a pretty big fan of the nyx lip products. I already had a few of the soft matte lip creams and was loving them, so of course I had to pick up some more! The colours I chose were 'Stockholm', 'Cairo', 'Budapest' and 'Istanbul'. So far I'm not the biggest fan of Istanbul, it's quite a bold pink shade to what I'm used to so its not really in my comfort zone. I find 'Cairo' to be slightly too nude when I wear it alone, so it looks slightly like foundation lips.  However, I think it could be nice to pair with a darker shade to create an ombré effect. As for 'Stockholm'; I am loving it! it's such an everyday shade that is really easy to wear with any makeup look. I am also loving Budapest but I think I will get more wear out of in in the upcoming Autumn and Winter months!



I also picked up two of the NYX lingerie lipsticks. There weren't many colours in stock so I only picked up two and the shades are '01 - Honeymoon' and '05 - Beauty Mark'. They aren't as opaque as the nyx liquid suede formala, which is my favourite, however you can layer it up to get a deeper colour. I prefer the shade '05 - Beauty Mark' as it is slightly more purple toned. Whereas, '01 - Honeymoon' is pretty grey toned and makes me look really washed out and pale.

The next item I chose was the NYX pore filler primer. Having tried this I can say that I am really impressed. It's pretty similar to benefits porefessional (but much cheaper). I think I may actually prefer this, although I would have to try it out more to say for definite.

The last product I picked up from NYX was their Tame & Frame tinted brow pomade. I picked up the shade '01 - Blonde' because the other shades looked to dark for me. I have tried this out and honestly I really wouldn't recommend it. First off, the colour match wasn't great at all, it was far too light for my brows. I'm also not a big fan of the texture, it felt rather waxy and didn't last very long when I wore it. It doesn't even come close to the Anastasia Dip Brow Pomade in my opinion! Another downside to this is that there is very little product in the actual container so I wouldn't say you get your money's worth at all!

MILANI

I picked up 3 blushes from Milani. Two of which are baked blushes; I picked up the shades '03 - Berry Amore' and '09 - Red Vino'. The other is a powder blush and is in the shade '01 - Romantic Rose'. This is my favourite out of the three because the colour is gorgeous. I love the packaging of all of these blushes, Milani have done very well to make a drugstore brand look pretty luxurious. I also love how the powder blush actually looks like a flower, I think that's such a cute idea. I haven't really tried out the baked blushes yet but from swatching them they appear to be very glittery, so I'm not too sure whether I will like them or not!



I also chose a lipliner in the shade '04 - All Natural'. This is such a pretty colour and is very similar to Mac's velvet teddy lipstick, but slightly more brown than pink toned.

COVERGIRL

From Covergirl I only picked up a couple of things. One of which was a mascara. The last time I went to America I got the clump crusher mascara because I'd heard people raving about it and I liked it at the time but I have discovered better mascaras since then. The one I picked up this time was the 'Full Lash Bloom' waterproof mascara. Now if I'm honest the only real reason I chose this was because it was in a pink bottle (silly, I know) but I hadn't really heard anyone mention it before. However, having tried this I wouldn't really recommend it. I didn't really find that it did much for my lashes. I found that the wand was a lot sharper than other mascara wands and it hurt quite a lot when I caught my eye accidentally.

The other product I picked up was the 'stay luminous' foundation. Again, I hadn't really heard anyone mention this before so I just picked it up hoping for the best. To my surprise I really like this foundation. I've only worn it a couple of times so far, but so far so good! It has a medium to full coverage and can be built up even more without looking too thick. It even lasted all day on my skin when i was in Florida when it was super hot! Of course I used a primer and setting spray aswell, but I was still super impressed with how long the foundation lasted. That was definitely a good pick!

RIMMEL

I only picked up one lipstick from Rimmel and it was the shade 14 from the Kate Moss collection. It's a really pretty nude/pink shade which is fairly natural looking, just like most of my lipsticks. It has quite a glossy finish so doesn't last too long on the lips but it doesn't wear off badly at all.

MAYBELLINE

The last time I went to America I remember looking at this foundation and really wanting it so this time I decided to try it out. I haven't yet used it but I'm a big fan of the concealer so if it's as good as that then I'm pretty sure I'll like it!

I also chose a lipstick in the shade '655 - Daringly Nude'. This is a gorgeous pinky nude shade which is matte. However, when I apply it it doesn't look as nice on the lips which is a shame. I probably wouldn't buy this again because there are many better alternatives!

REVLON

Whilst browsing the revlon stand there were three things that stood out to me, one of which was a powder which if I remember correctly, I think I've heard Tanya Burr taking about before. I also picked up a colorstay concealer. I haven't really tried out the powder or concealer properly so I don't have an opinion on these yet.

The last item I chose was the 'Ultra HD matte lip colour'. I chose the shade '645 - Eternité' because it looked really natural and wearable for everyday. So far I am really liking this lip product, it's pretty easy to apply and lasts for a while because it's a matte formula.

LASHES

As you can see, I picked up three sets of eyelashes. The Ardell 'Wispies' are by far my favourites. I used to be obsessed with the 'Demi Wispies' but I now prefer a more dramatic lash and these are just perfect. I also picked up the Vegas Nay 'Grand Glamour' lashes, now these are sooo intense! When I wore them you couldn't even see my eyeshadow or eyeliner when my eyes were open. However, part of me still likes them for some reason! I've also picked up a set of Kiss lashes, but I haven't yet tried these out.

ESSIE

Essie nail polishes are my favourites by far, so of course I had to pick up some more. I chose 6 in total, 3 from the gel formula and 3 of the original formula. The shades I got in the original formula (shown in the photo from left to right) were 'lady like', 'sand tropez' and 'topless & barefoot'. The shades from the gel formula (shown in the photo from left to right) were 'take me to thread', 'pinned up' and 'sew me'. I haven't yet used these but I know I will love them because I love all my other Essie polishes.

STILA

I believe it was Lily Pebbles who I heard raving about the Stila Liquid Lipsticks and I trust her makeup recommendations completely so I knew I would like this product. I picked up the shade 'Caramello' which is a really nude shade. I like to pair this with a darker liquid lipstick to create an ombré effect on the lips. I'm so pleased I got this because I wear it quite a lot now.

The other item I picked up from Stila was the 'Perfect Me, Perfect Hue' Eye and Cheek palette in 'fair/light'. I haven't yet used this yet but the eyeshadows and blushes look super pretty so I'm really excited to try it out.

BUXOM

I haven't ever tried anything from Buxom before but I have heard so many good things about these lip glosses. I have the shade 'Kitty' which is a browny toned shade. I'm not too sure if I like it that much though because it feels quite strange on the lips. When you first apply the gloss its just normal then after a few seconds it starts tingling. I thought this would stop after a while but it doesn't and I can really feel the product on my lips the whole time I'm wearing it, which personally I really don't like in a lip product.

TARTE

Whilst browsing Sephora I saw this mascara and I believe it was Fleur (https://www.youtube.com/user/FleurDeForce) who I have heard raving about this product, so its safe to say that I have pretty high hopes for this as I really trust her recommendations. I haven't yet tried anything from Tarte so I'm not sure how I will get on with; but it does have some good reviews so hopefully I will like it!

BECCA

Ever since getting the Shimmering Skin Perfector in 'moonstone' have been obsessed with it and I knew I wanted to get my hands on another highlighter as soon as possible. I originally wanted to get Champagne Pop because everyone seems to be in love with that shade. However, when I swatched them all in store the shade 'Opal' looked more appealing to me. I'm so pleased I purchased it now because it is honestly so beautiful. I love wearing both moonstone and opal together because my highlight is just glowing, this is probably my favourite purchase out of everything!

Thanks for reading,

ffy x