Smokey purple using Hourglass and RBR

I thought I'd try a bit of a different shadow placement today. I used the Hourglass duo in Exhibition and this time I applied the darker colour only on the lash line. I have the lighter colour all over the mobile lid and I thought I'd experiment a with adding a bit of Rouge Bunny Rouge Solstice Halcyon at the edge of the lighter shade, just above the crease. I'm not sure whether it works or whether it's a little too much but the colours certainly go well together.



I tried L'Oréal Voluminous mascara for the first time today (I finally sent Sexy Curves to it's rightful home, the bin). It's been sat in my box for a while and I was convinced it was going to be terrible. I picked it up as I'd heard it was a good dupe for YSL faux cils. I baulk at the idea of purchasing Faux cils because I'm aware it dries up very quickly. So I thought I'd try this as an alternative. As it has quite a big brush I thought it was going to be the usually disaster for me. Blobs all over my lid and none on my lashes, you know I'm talking about you BadGal! I was pleasantly surprised though as this thickened my lashes and applied very easily.





I was in the mood for a bit of contouring today and used MAC Strada. The blusher I'm wearing is MAC Dame. I put Hue lipstick on first of all but decided it was too pale with the rest of the make up and swapped it for Syrup instead (both MAC). In the pictures Syrup looks quite bright but in the flesh it appears darker and more muted on my lips.

I'm not 100% sure I'm happy with this look. I like the eyes but I'm not sure if the blush or the lips were a good choice. It's hard to tell as the colours aren't entirely true to life but I think the pinks are a little too cool. Let me know what you think and what lip and blush you would pair with this eye.

Jane x

Another Suqqu Eye Look

I thought I'd try a smokey eye makeup using the Blend eyeshadow EX-07 from the Lilac Allure set. I used the darkest colour (3) on my mobile lid, blending out the edges at the crease using the champagne (2). I also added some of the champagne over the darker colour to soften. I used MAC brule as a highlight and lined using Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in caviar ink. I also used the volume length mascara from the set. This is a nice mascara but it's quite tricky to use the wand with such a short stick!



Here's the finished look. The photo is clickable and I hope the images are large enough for you to see the colours?



I really like this look and found layering the champagne over the darker colour created a nice effect. The shimmer is subtle and very pretty. As ever whilst taking photos a little person wanted to get in on the act, so here's is my 2 year old's beauty blog debut.



Thanks for looking,
Jane x

Skincare routine

I am really fascinated by people's skincare routines. I have gone from being fairly haphazard in my regimen to being very strict about removing all traces of make up and moisturising religously. In my working life I've come across a lot of problem skin and I'm aware that I'm really lucky to have clear skin though it is starting to show signs of ageing. I suppose for those with oily skin it's small comfort to know that your skin won't age so quickly.

Someone that I once worked with, on discovering my passion for beauty, took great pleasure in telling me that all moisturisers are produced from the same base product and that I was wasting my time spending more than a few pounds. I took it in on board for all of 5 minutes and then was back to my usual spendy ways! Although I understand that without prescription concentrations of active ingredients, no product will make a permanent difference. However, I think plenty of them work fantastically on a cosmetic level.

This is my current facial skincare routine:

Morning
Face wash: No.7 Gentle Foaming cleanser
Moisturiser: Oil of Olay Complete Care Multi-Radiance cream
Serum: Skin Wisdom Firm and Lift V zone serum




Evening
Eye makeup remover: The Body Shop Camomille waterproof eye make up remover
Cleanser: No.7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth cleanser (used with flannel instead of muslin)
Moisturiser: Nuxe Crème Merveillance

Treatments
Exfoliator: St. Ives Apricot Scrub
Pore tightening: Soap & Glory Fab Pore 15 minute facial peel
Radiance mask: Lancome Vivéclat
Lips: Lansinoh (nipple cream but great for overnight treatment on lips)

With the exception of the Soap & Glory, I love all of these products. The Lancome Vivéclat is old but this is wonderful as an overnight moisturiser when I need an extra bit of help. The Radiance Hot Cloth cleanser is lovely. Since buying it I have seen a lot of rave reviews pop up and they are well deserved. It's very creamy, smells beautiful and isn't at all drying. I think it's extremely important not to strip the skin.

The Nuxe cream is also a delight to use. I only use it at night in order to eke it out. The smell is amazing and it feels wonderful on the skin. I think the only thing that is noticeably absent from the list is an eye cream. I really need to rectify this!

I'd love to know what you use and what products you really rate. I'm always happy to find a new favourite. Also, if you would like more detailed reviews on any of the products please let me know.

Jane x

Blog Love

I was sent a blog love award by the lovely Shen’s Beauty, thank you so much Shen. Do please have a look at her blog if you haven’t already.

The idea of this award is that each recipient creates their own award and passes it on to the people whose blogs they love. I would like to pass the award to the following terrific blogs. I enjoy reading all of them as I think they all have great taste in make up and a wonderful way of writing. I love a bit of wit and brains with my make up!




London MakeUp girl
Visionary beauty
Vex in the City
Makeup Savvy
Lady of the Lane
Lipstick Rules
Dainty Dollymix
BritishBeautyBlogger
Get Lippie
Beautylicious Love

I hope you’re all having a lovely weekend,
Jane x

Doing the Cancan!

Despite having a catalogue of house disasters I'm in a good mood today. It's Friday and the sun has been shining so I felt like wearing some colourful make up.

Sorry about the wet hair, these picture were taken with my entourage in the room so I was keen to get it over with!





Face
MAC Select Moisturecover in NW20 undereye
MAC Studio Finish in NC20
NARS Loose powder in Eden
Shu Uemura H9 Seal Brown eyebrow pencil
Illamasqua Unrequited

Eyes
Illamasqua Cancan on the mobile lod
Suqqu pink from the Lilac Allure palette applied on top of Cancan
MAC Fig.1 in the crease
MAC Petrol blue pearlglide liner
Rimmel Sexy Curves

Lips
Illamasqua Test
MAC Pink Champagne lipgloss

I also wanted to mention that I'm absolutely thrilled that I have nearly 50 followers. I'm extremely grateful that all of you enjoy reading enough to subscribe and comment. I get a lot of pleasure from writing this blog and it's such a bonus that people enjoy my witterings! So a big thank you to all of you. I hope to hold a giveaway if I reach 50 and I'm already enjoying pondering what to get. Watch this space!

Jane x

Lilac Allure Part II: The Suqqual!

I used the Suqqu eyeshadow palette and lipgloss today and managed to get some OK photos of the make up on. I tried again to get some swatch pictures but the colours are really very subtle and sheer so it's quite awkward. I may need to try a shadow primer to see if that helps.

Anyway here are the photos.










Face
No foundation - I must get some tinted moisturiser
MAC Select Moisturecover in NW20 undereye
MAC Studio Finish in NC20
NARS Loose powder in Eden
Shu Uemura H9 Seal Brown eyebrow pencil
MAC Warm Soul (wrong choice!)

Eyes
Suqqu Lilac Allure eye palette
Champagne colour all over lid up to brow bone
Blackened plum in the crease
Lilac over plum in the crease to soften
White as highlight
MAC Miss Fortune pearlglide to line
Suqqu mini mascara from set

Lips
The mauve gloss

I think you can probably see from the photos that all the colours apart from the crease colour are very subtle. The light shades all have quite a lot of shimmer so I think next time I'll will use the palette in combination with mattes. I feel a bit too old to pull off lots of shimmer. Having said that, I do feel it creates a very pretty, soft look. I may also try to copy the smokey eye look from the promo pics. I tried the eyeshadow brush from the eye palette and rather than the usual afterthought it's excellent quality and so soft. It's done nothing to dampen desire for a full size brush!

I hope this has been helpful in letting you see the colours in action.

Suqqu Lilac Allure Anniversary Set

I was very excited when my doorbell rang yesterday and realised it was my package from Selfridges. I was so excited in fact that I refused to open the package until I was alone to give it the special treatment it deserved! Inside, in lovely packaging, was the Lilac Allure Anniversary set from Suqqu
as well as the Shu Uemura eyebrow pencil I've been after such a long time.





The set contains blend eyeshadow EX-07, a soft case for the quad, Dual gloss colours EX-03, a retractable lip brush, Mini mascara (volume long) and a gorgeous small makeup bag. The gloss pot contains a mauve and a peach gloss. I didn't manage to get any swatches unfortunately as they didn't show up very well on camera.



The make up bag is lovely and was a surprise addition. I don't think it's mentioned in the detais. It's a pinky-lilac, has a hand strap and some really handy little compartments. I think it will make a great travel make up bag.



The eyeshadow colours in the Blend EX-07 were a bit of a surprise too. With the exception of the highlight shade, they weren't what I had expected based on their appearance in the pan. The colour I was expecting to be a matte lilac (1) is a sheer, icy pink with shimmer. The 'taupe' (2) is a sheer, shimmery champagne and the shade that looks like a plummy brown in the pan (3), is much darker swatched and looks like a smokey plum.



I tried to do some swatches but I apologies as the colours aren't brilliant. As they are sheer, even layered they are hard to see. I will try again to see if I can capture them. It will be interesting to see how they work on the eye. I am a little nervy with such shimmery colours but as they are quite sheer I should be ok. I'll post a FOTD using the colours very soon.

The Suqqu Lilac Allure Anniversary set priced £65 and is available Selfridges in London and Birmingham. Details of the Anniversary event can be found here.