Gunshot Glitter

I've been playing around with the Pixi Glitter-y Eye Quad since I got it a few weeks ago and last weekend I tried the silver shade and came up with a kind of ombré glitter wing. I started with a black liquid liner and then built up the silver over it with an angled brush. I added a small bit of a cool toned metallic shade along my lower lash line for some definition.

Glitter is never subtle but I think a look like this is a more "wearable" way to wear it if you aren't into all over glitter. I kept everything else quite simple, I mixed Glossier Cloud Paint in Storm and Dusk on my cheeks and Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb in the shade Fenty Glow on my lips.

I've been using the new No7 HydraLuminous Moisturising Foundation since it was released a few months ago. I'm a big fan of No7 foundations so I bought it as soon as I saw it in store. As suggested by the name, it's a foundation that gives your skin hydration and radiance. It also contains vitamins A,C and E that treat your skin and grapeseed oil to hydrate so that it's actually helping your skin to look brighter and more moisturised after continued use. In recent years I've really gotten into base products that also have skincare benefits, like the IT Cosmetics CC Cream. I like to know that my foundation has ingredients that will benefit my skin as well as providing coverage and luminosity. I find this foundation quite similar to the IT Cosmetics one in texture and finish, however it only has SPF15 so I use SPF30/50 underneath (which I usually do anyway).

You can probably see from the before and after photos below that it's a medium coverage foundation and it really does give my skin a healthy glow. If you like a more radiant finish and you have dry or combination skin, I highly recommend getting a sample of this. I don't know how it would wear on oily skin, but I find it wears quite well on my oily t-zone throughout the day, I just make sure to use a little powder for longevity. I've said it before and I'll say it again, No7 are my favourite drugstore brand for foundations, they have something for every skin type, it's just a pity the shade range isn't more extensive. 

Glossier Invisible Shield Daily Sunscreen SPF 30
Clarins Re-Fresh Hydrating Beauty Mist
No7 HydraLuminous Moisturising Foundation (Porcelain)
L'Oréal Paris Unbelieva'Brow Long-Lasting Brow Gel (Dark Brunette) Review Here
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (Anti-Aging)
bareMineral bareSkin Complete Coverage Serum Concealer (Fair)
Kevyn Aucoin The Eyelash Curler
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Liner (Black)
Pixi Glitter-y Eye Quad (BluePearl)
Lancôme Monsieur Big Mascara
Glossier Cloud Paint (Storm and Dusk)
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter (1 Fair)
IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Poreless Finish Airbrush Powder (Translucent)
Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer (Fenty Glow) Review Here

*Press Sample


Would you wear glitter like this? Have you tried any of these products?


Emma x

Purple Haze

Last week when I was doing my makeup I wanted to wear a colour I hadn't worn in a while. Wasted, a matte purple from the BPerfect Cosmetics Carnival Palette was calling to me as I hadn't actually tried it yet. The look was inspired by this one from Viola of Killer Colours and this one by Celine Bernaerts. I liked the idea of taking just one vivid matte shade and blending it out and that's the basis for the whole look. It looked great on it's own but I decided to take inspiration from Celine's look and add black liner for more of a contrast. You could definitely add a bigger wing and lashes for more drama or pare it back and just wear the purple on it's own with lots of mascara. That's what I love about bright colour, you could do this kind of look with literally any bright matte eyeshadow and it would look amazing. I definitely want to try it with yellow or the same cornflower blue that Celine used.

I then added some of the Clarins cream bronzer stick to warm up my skin a bit and I reconnected with an old friend, the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid Highlighter in Moonstone which I bought in the travel size about a year and a half ago in Sephora but haven't used in ages. I've seen Makeup Artist Nikki Wolff using it on her Instagram quite a bit as she's a brand ambassador for Becca. I applied it on the high points of my face using the Real Techniques Setting Brush and it gives such a gorgeous luminous sheen to my skin. I definitely want to get the full size but I think I might try the shade Pearl which is a bit better suited to fair skin tones. Instead of using a setting powder I very lightly dusted the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light over my face. 

I kept my cheeks and lips in a more peachy tone. I used the Peach shade from the Clarins duo stick on my cheeks and mixed two lipsticks to get the shade I wanted for my lips. I also want to give a mention to the Lancôme Teint Idole Foundation Stick which I actually prefer to the liquid version. It's so handy, you can just apply it directly onto your face wherever you need coverage and it's such a  creamy formula, it blends out so easily. It's a great option if you do your makeup on the go or if you need to do it quite quickly. I also needed three concealers as my dark circles were more pronounced than usual and I had a few blemishes. 

*Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Oil-Free Foundation Stick (010 Beige Porcelaine)
*Lancôme Teint Idole Ultra Wear Camouflage High Coverage Concealer (010 Beige Porcelaine)
*IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye Full Coverage Anti-Aging Waterproof Concealer (Light)
bareMineral bareSkin Complete Coverage Serum Concealer (Fair)
*Billion Dollar Brows Brow Powder (Taupe) (Review Here)
Glossier Boy Brow (Brown) (Review Here)
*Clarins Glow 2 Go Duo Stick (Golden Peach) (Review Here)
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (Anti-Aging)
Sephora Collection 12hr Colorful Contour Eyeliner (02 Clubbing Stilettos)
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Liner (Black)
*BPerfect Cosmetics Stacey Marie Carnival Palette 
Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara
Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid Highlighter (Moonstone)
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Travel Size (Dim Light)
Charlotte Tilbury K.I.S.S.I.N.G. Lipstick (Bitch Perfect) (Review Here)
Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick (Meringue) (Review Here)

*Press Sample


What do you think of bright colours like this? Would you wear purple eyeshadow?


Emma x

Pixi Glitter-y Eye Quads

If you saw my last post, you'll have seen the basis for this look already. I had worn it out for lunch and when I got home I decided to play around with my new Pixi Glitter-y Eye Quad and amp it up a bit. I added some of the holographic glitter with my finger and blended it out with a brush and then added the Glossier Lip Gloss over the matte liquid lipstick I was already wearing. I loved how it turned out, the look was already quite dramatic with the winged liner and bright pink lips but I think the fact that the glitter isn't pigmented and neither is the gloss means it's not too over the top, not that there's anything wrong with that. The L'Oréal Rouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipsticks are the perfect base for layering under a gloss as they're a light texture but with great colour payoff and a long lasting formula so if the gloss fades throughout the day, the pigment remains. 

There are three colour ways of these Pixi Glitter-y Eye Quads, the other two are GoldLava (gold/neutrals) and RoseBronze (warm pinks and purples). I bought the BluePearl one because I don't have any blue or green glitter, whereas I do have gold, red and rose gold from other brands so I wanted to buy something different. The glitter is in a cream formula that you can pat on your eyes with your finger or with a brush for more precision, however the latter causes more fallout. I love that you can use these so easily to create impact quickly, either as a topper or alone. As you can see from the swatches the blue, green and silver shades all have great pigmentation whereas the holographic one would be perfect to use on top of any eyeshadow shade. 

Glossier Invisible Shield Daily Sunscreen SPF 30

*My Clarins Re-Fresh Hydrating Beauty Mist
*L'Oréal Infaillible 24hr Fresh Wear Foundation (15 Porcelain)
*L'Oréal Infaillible More Than Concealer (322 Ivory)
*L'Oréal Unbelieva'brow Longwear Brow Gel (108 Dark Brunette) 6 shades
*Clarins Glow 2 Go Duo Stick (02 Golden Peach)
Keyvn Aucoin The Eyelash Curler
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Liner (Black)
Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette (jet)

Pixi Glitter-y Eye Quad (BluePearl)
Bourjois Volume Clubbing Ultra Black Mascara

*Glossier Cloud Paint (Storm)
Glossier Haloscope (Moonstone)

*L'Oréal Infaillible Magic Loose Powder
Mac Prep + Prime Lip
*L'Oréal Rouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipstick (114 I Represent)

Glossier Lip Gloss


*Press Sample


What do you think of glitter and gloss? Have you tried any of these products? I have more looks using these glitters coming soon. 

Emma x

Because You're Worth It!

A couple of weeks ago I went along to an event with L'Oréal Paris to check out their new collection. I was intrigued to see what the products would be like mostly because it's been a while since I've bought anything from the brand. I don't think I could tell you what any of their releases from the last few years have been and a few of my fellow bloggers on the day felt the same way. I have used their True Match and Infallible Matte foundations before and really liked both of them. I also love their mascaras and eyeliners but other than that I haven't tried many of their products.

I was excited as soon as I walked into the room and saw little stations set up with an array of products for us to play with including base, brow and lip products. We were given a short presentation in which the marketing manager said that L'Oréal Paris were looking to go in a more edgy/modern direction with the brand and make it more relevant and appealing to the current market which you can clearly see in the new campaign imagery.

They have tried to take into account the big makeup trends at the moment, one of the biggest ones being skin looking like skin and not like it's covered in heavy makeup. Part of this latest launch is a newly formulated Infaillible 24hr Fresh Wear Foundation.  It's a long wearing, waterproof, lightweight formula with oxygen technology (I have no idea what that is but I'm guessing it's what makes the formula so light). It's also advised that a little goes a long way and I totally agree, especially as it is a more full coverage finish. The Infaillible More Than Concealer is the accompanying concealer to the Fresh Wear foundation and has all the same claims, full coverage and a lightweight, long wearing formula. It comes with an oversized doe foot applicator which makes this concealer perfect for using as both a concealer and as an all over or targeted base product which is a popular technique at the moment. 

They also created a new brow product, Unbelieva'Brow, as they realised that the brow market is still huge as well as their Rouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipstick range. I feel like a lot of brands have moved on from liquid lipsticks and particularly matte lips, however L'Oréal have created a new lightweight but highly pigmented and long wearing formula so at least they're trying to improve on what's already on the market. 

Infaillible 24hr Fresh Wear Foundation (Porcelain), Infaillible More Than Concealer (Ivory), Rouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipstick (I Represent and I Achieve), Unbelieva'Brow (Dark Brunette). 

Bare Skin

Foundation, Concealer and Brows done

Close up of the foundation on my skin

Having tried the products for the past couple of weeks I'm so suprised by how much I like everything. The powder is what you'd expect, a good setting powder that I'll definitely keep using but nothing mind-blowing (I don't know any powder that is). The collection also came with the Infaillible Magic Essence Drops which contains hyaluronic acid to hydrate, anti-oxidants and light diffusing technology to brighten dull looking skin. I only tried this briefly at the event so I can't attest to how well it works but it's definitely something I'm interested in buying myself. 

I've been using the foundation and concealer on an almost daily basis since I got them which I haven't said about a "drugstore" brand for a long time apart from No7. If your skin is on the dry side I'd definitely make sure it's sufficiently hydrated before applying these as long wearing products have a tendency to be a bit more drying. On my combination skin I find they last really well and don't end up sitting on top of my skin after a long day which some much more expensive foundations can do. In the photo below I had been wearing both of them for 9 hours and they still look pretty much perfect. Obviously my skin is quite good at the moment and I haven't had any blemishes to cover thankfully so I can't say how these products would work if you're having any issues with your skin. As always  with foundations and concealers, try them in store or get a sample before you buy. There are 26 shades of the foundation and 25 shades of the concealer so not the most inclusive but not the worst either, sadly most drugstore brands are the same. 

I was really interested in the brow gel as I'd never seen any product like it. It comes with a small doe foot applicator and a double ended brush, one end with a spoolie and the other with small and thin angled brush. I've found the best way to use this for me is to brush my brows first and then use the angled brush end to take product directly from the doe foot applicator and apply it a little bit at a time so that you don't overdo it and end up with Groucho brows unless that's what you're going for. Then I brush it through just to make sure it's properly coating my brows so that they stay in place. 

I'm so impressed with the lipsticks too. It's definitely a liquid lipstick formula unlike any I've tried. It's the most lightweight formula and the pigmentation is amazing. They don't sit on your lips like other liquid lipsticks can. Instead they're buildable so you can apply a light layer for more of a stain (and they do stain, let me tell you!) or add more layers for more opacity and longevity. I've worn them all day in work and I do find my lips feel dry by the end of the day and I want to put lip balm on top. The great thing is they last so well, I don't need to top it up the entire day. I've worn them as a stain with lip balm on top, as a full on matte lipstick and with gloss on top, so they're a lot more versatile than you'd think for a liquid lipstick. There's a great shade selection too, from neutrals to pinks, reds and dark shades.

Full list of products used for the look above:

Glossier Invisible Shield Daily Sunscreen SPF 30

*My Clarins Re-Fresh Hydrating Beauty Mist
*L'Oréal Infaillible 24hr Fresh Wear Foundation (15 Porcelain)
*L'Oréal Infaillible More Than Concealer (322 Ivory)
*L'Oréal Unbelieva'brow Longwear Brow Gel (108 Dark Brunette) 6 shades
*Clarins Glow 2 Go Duo Stick (02 Golden Peach)
Keyvn Aucoin The Eyelash Curler
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Liner (Black)
Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette (jet)

Bourjois Volume Clubbing Ultra Black Mascara

*Glossier Cloud Paint (Storm)
Glossier Haloscope (Moonstone)

*L'Oréal Infaillible Magic Loose Powder
Mac Prep + Prime Lip
*L'Oréal Rouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipstick (114 I Represent)

For this second look I used mostly the same products as the first look above but I've listed any additional or alternate products below:

*IT Cosmetics Brow Power Universal Brow Pencil
Glossier Boy Brow (Brown)
*Glossier Cloud Paint (Haze)
*Soap and Glory Supercat Liquid Eyeliner Pen
Kiko Milano Glamorous Eye Pencil (401-discontinued. Similar here)
Urban Decay Born to Run Eyeshadow Palette (Accelerate, Ignite, Stranded)
Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Mascara
*Lancôme Long Time No Shine Powder (Translucent)
*L'Oréal Rouge Signature Matte Liquid Lipstick (112 I Achieve)

*Press Sample


What do you think of this collection, is there anything you'd like to try? Are there any L'Oréal products you love?

Emma x

Firewalk With Me

Through the darkness of future past

The magician longs to see

One chants out between two worlds

Fire walk with me

On Friday afternoon I was scrolling through Instagram as you do and I saw this look that makeup artist Grace Ahn created for Lizzo. I'm a huge fan of a dramatic feline shaped liner so I thought I'd try to recreate the look. It also gave me an excuse to play with my new Glossier Play Glitter Gelée in the shade Firewalk, which I thought looked similar to the glitter Lizzo is wearing. Photos really don't do this glitter justice, I've tried it alone and over eyeshadow and I personally prefer it over a similar toned rose gold eyeshadow. I had been wearing the basic face makeup all day and then added the eye and lip makeup after work. As you can see it lasted well considering it had been on for about ten hours. I'll chat more about the new L'Oréal products later in the week. You can see the rest of the products I used below. 



*L'Oréal Infaillible 24H Fresh Wear Foundation Shade 15 Porcelain
*L'Oréal Infaillible More Than Concealer Shade 322 Ivory
*IT Cosmetics Brow Power Universal Brow Pencil
Glossier Boy Brow in Brown (Review here)
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion Anti-Aging 
*Soap and Glory Damsel and Copper Eyeshadows (limited edition Perfect Ten palette)
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Ink Liner in Black
Sephora Collection 12hr Colorful Contour Eyeliner in 02 Clubbing Stilettos
Glossier Play Glitter Gelée in Firewalk 
Kevyn Aucoin The Eyelash Curler 
Marc Jacobs Beauty Velvet Noir Mascara
*Clarins Glow 2 Go Bronzer Stick (Review here)
*Glossier Cloud Paint in Storm 
Glossier Haloscope in Moonstone
*Lancôme Long Time No Shine Loose Setting and Mattifying Powder in Translucent
NYX Professional Makeup Matte Finish Setting Spray
NARS Audacious Lipstick in Raquel 


*Press Sample


What do you think? Would you wear this look?

Emma x