The one where I pretend I'm 'Lost'!

It's my turn to do the Beauty Spotlight Team's Desert Island post and you're about to be subjected to my Lost fantasy. Of course, I have cast myself as Kate Austen (I have a very active imagination) and in order to maintain the interest of the two men in my life, I figured some of my favourite beautifiers might come in handy. Yes, I know they'd fallen from the sky, had no access to a bathroom and were running from a smoke monster but please don't try and tell me that Kate was going completely au naturel. I've seen those lashes!

So, if I was Kate, these are the makeup and beauty items I would have packed in my backpack (prior to the handcuffs) then carefully retrieve from the plane wreckage. When I wasn't suturing Jack's wounds or hiking through the rainforest of course.

NARS Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturiser
This was my summer base and I think it would make an excellent desert island foundation. I deliberated over whether to take my BECCA Luminous Skin instead as it gives a sheerer coverage than the NARS but I find my skin gets upset if I wear the BECCA everyday (I suspect it's the sunscreen ingredients). The NARS tinted moisturiser also has an SPF of 30.

rms beauty 'Un' Cover Up Concealer
I spent rather a long time dithering over which concealer to take but I decided on the rms beauty concealer because it's creamy enough to use on the undereye area as well as blemishes. My old favourite RMK Super Basic Liquid Concealer would have been a good alternative too.

BECCA Turkish Rose or Hourglass Rouge Cheek Stain
I wanted to take a fairly natural looking blusher that would be easy to apply with my fingers. Turkish Rose immediately sprang to mind but after I had taken the pictures, I realised my Hourglass Aura Cheek Stain in Rouge might have been a better choice. The cheek stain has more of a translucent quality than Turkish Rose and is a little brighter, plus it's more likely to stay put in the heat and humidity.

Ilia Arabian Knights
Like the concealer, it was very hard to pick only one of my lipsticks. I have so many lovely sheer, moisturising lipsticks but I chose Arabian Knights because I felt it would keep my lips in the best condition and it's a nice bright berry shade. RBR Murmurings came a very close second.

Mascara
The Maybelline Falsies Flared isn't particularly a favourite, it's just what I'm currently using, but there's no way I'm going to be stranded without a tube of mascara. Max Factor Masterpiece or Hourglass Film Noir are my personal favourites.

MAC Teddy Eye Kohl
Although I do have a great number of brown pencils, Teddy is the one I'd choose to be stranded with. It looks great worn as a smudgy line, pairs well with Solstice Halcyon and it also makes a good base for a smoky eye.

Customised eyeshadow palette
Aren't you feeling better about me de-facing all those pretty Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadow pots now? This palette includes some of my most favourite eyeshadows ever, namely RBR Solstice Halycon, Delicate Hummingbird and Kjaer Weis Wisdom. I've also recently discovered that Gracious Arasari is an excellent colour for blending out dark colours at the crease. Unfortunately, sticking to only 12 items meant that I have been restricted to the small travel brush that sits in my palette. It's a good job I'm going for a no makeup look really...

Pencil Sharpener
It was a shame to lose one of my items on such a practical necessity but as I'm no good at whittling, I figured it had to come along.

Tweezers
I had to do some cheating^✝ to get this into my bag. The tweezers fought off stiff competition from brow pencils and brushes. Without tweezers, I fear the rogue hairs would gradually start to take over my face and I don't recall Kate ever looking like a Yeti.

Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm*
I felt it would be pointless taking along all this makeup without remembering to pack something to take it all off again. I find this balm takes absolutely everything off, including eye makeup with minimal effort which is pretty convenient if you're washing your face in a rainforest.

Flannel
We have another necessity taking up space that might have been filled with something else more exciting. However, if I pack the Emma Hardie, I need the flannel too.

Avene Antirougeurs Light Moisturiser SPF20
Like the mascara, the Avene Antirougeurs isn't necessarily a favourite product but it does contain an SPF. Plus, it would help to tame the telltale red cheeks once I started hitting the duty free bottles. Oh wait, maybe Kate didn't actually do that...

It was extremely difficult to stick to just 12 items, particularly when you realise that so many items require accessories to accompany them. Kate was a very resourceful girl though, so remaining in character, I can't promise I won't go back and rifle through other people's bags later to look for shampoo, razors and a couple of makeup brushes. Don't judge me!

^✝ Cheating
I mentioned cheating and I thought I better explain myself as this was an integral part of my desert island preparation! Rather than use up one of my 12 items with my Shu Uemura brow pencil, I decided to dye my eyebrows. I can credit Pixiwoo's Evangaline Lilly tutorial for planting the idea in my head. I've never dyed my brows before and I was nervous that it could be a disaster but I'm actually very pleased with the results. If I could have added a 13th item into my bag, I would have taken the kit with me to top up. I used the Eylure Dylash kit in Dark Brown for reference.

* I received the Emma Hardie Cleansing Balm as a press sample.

I'm still here!

I'm sorry about the lack of posts so far this week. Mr MB is away with work and things have been hectic. By the time I've got all the children off to bed, I've just wanted to flop and catch up on films on my laptop. I have so much respect for solo parents who manage this all the time.

However, I haven't put beauty things on the back burner. I seem to have hit another pocket of using lots of products up at once and I did a spot of beauty DIY that I'm looking forward to sharing with you in the next couple of days. I'm also really excited about my upcoming Desert Island post for the Beauty Spotlight Team.

For now, I wanted to wish you all a wonderful Friday evening. Have fun whatever you're up to!
MB x

Beauty Spotlight Roundup 11/11/12

Perilously Pale is excited to share her brand new site design with you AND the amazing new Fyrinnae Samhain 2012 collection. I know, I know. The Fyrinnae is prettier, but it's still worth checking out both. ;-)

Teri from Beautiful Makeup Search took COVERGIRL's latest mascara out for a test drive. How did it perform?

15 Minute Beauty has been using way too much mascara! Check out what 30 layers of Clump Crusher looks like.

Lola's Secret Beauty Blog is madly in love with the Giorgio Armani Nude Lip Set featuring Rouge D'Armani Beige 103 and Gloss D'Armani Beige 103.If you love a gorgeous nude lip- then this is a must-have set!

The Pink Sith Blog tells you all about Literal Linda and the Lise Watier Portfolio Corrector. She is also giving one away, so enter today!

Over at Prime Beauty, poor Cindy is befuddled (it doesn't take much) trying to pick which bareMinerals Holiday Gift Sets to keep and which to give. I'm all for the 1 for you 2 for me method!

Sparkle and Gold, it must be the holiday season approaching, Visionary Beauty shows us the Dior Night Golds palette.

Pammy Blogs Beauty's Holiday Shopping Guide 2012 series continues with her review of Laura Mercier's beautiful Color-To-Go Palette

Beauty Info Zone not only has a fabulous Cult Nails purple lacquer to share with you but they've joined with bloggers all around the world to say STOP BULLYING. Come see the gorgeous glittery Seduction polish as well as to read our message.

Modesty Brown shares swatches of the Make Up For Ever Black Tango palette along with a quick face of the day.

Beauty Crazed is giving stuff away and wants everyone to enter - if you are looking to update your makeup bag with some Burberry Beauty, shu uemura, Veil Cosmetics, Revlon and more be sure to come and enter!

London MakeUp Girl shows us what Dior Addict lipstick in Londres looks like on her, and what other colour cosmetics she likes to wear with it. She had to buy it for the name!

Paula, from Older Girl Beautyreceived some exciting news this week - her BFF is pregnant! Now she just needs to learn about pregnancy beauty products, starting with the Mama Mio 9 Month Stretch Kit.

Hourglass Neo-Classic Vol.6 Eyeshadow Palette

It's not often that I'm stumped on how to begin a post but this is one of those rare occasions. It's probably because this is neither a rave review nor a slating and often they are the hardest posts to write. The Hourglass Neo-Classic Vol. 6 palette is a mix of positives and negatives and although it isn't easy to write, I imagine it will probably be quite useful for anyone considering a purchase.

The eyeshadows come in the stylish signature Hourglass packaging complete with the reversible swivel lid. The palette includes six eyeshadows; the lightest two 'base' colours come as slightly larger pans than the darker eyeshadows (2.5g instead of 2g). All of the eyeshadows have a matte finish with the exception of the flesh toned peach which has a fine shimmer running through it.

The eyeshadows have quite a powdery texture and this does lead to the darker colours catching fallout from the lighter shades within the palette. The eyeshadows are well pigmented but they are not as smooth in texture as the Hourglass duo formula. I think you can probably see this from my swatches. However, when used on the eyes with a primer, I don't experience any patchiness.

Hopefully you can just make out the swatches of the bone and shell colours despite being so close to my skin tone

The palette contains a slightly curious mix of colours in my opinion which I don't think I fully appreciated until I tried to use it to create a look. In essence, it provides good base/highlighter shades and liner/defining colours but not much in the way of mid-toned or transition colours. The only mid-toned shade is the rosy pink, which I wouldn't consider to be universally flattering on the eyes. On the SpaceNK website this shade is listed as a taupe, which it most definitely isn't. I think a taupe or mid-brown might have been a more versatile inclusion.

Just because this isn't a 'look in a box' type palette doesn't mean it isn't incredibly useful. For me, the beauty of this palette is that it provides staple matte colours which work well to supplement my existing eyeshadow collection. The lightest colour has been a perfect replacement for MAC Brule and I've been using it everyday for the last couple of weeks. I've regularly use the black, navy and brown to define my lashline and have even used the brown as a brow powder.

The bottom line for me is that your mileage may vary when it comes to the Neo-Classic palette. If you're looking for a travel palette or a palette that will provide multiple looks on its own, I would hesitate to recommend it. However, if you're looking for some staple matte colours and don't mind switching between palettes when applying your makeup, you may well find this very useful. You could of course buy these sorts of colours from MAC as single pans and create your own custom palette but you wouldn't have the lovely Hourglass packaging to admire then, would you?

Hourglass Cosmetics are available from Zuneta, Liberty and SpaceNK in the UK and the Neo-Classic palette costs £42. This palette was passed on to me by a very lovely fellow makeup fan.

Swatches: MUFE Black Tango Palette

I had a request from the lovely Leanne of Do Not Refreeze for some swatches of the Black Tango palette I showed you yesterday. Thankfully the sun was on my side today.

Slightly out of focus so that you can see the reflects

The darker three colours all contain shimmery reflects and the base colour sets to quite a matte finish. All three are well pigmented too. The plum colour has a brown undertone with stunning red reflects. The blue and green both have quite a black base however they do read as a colour rather than an off-black, if that makes sense. The ivory highlighter shade has a frosty finish and is more sheer than the other eyeshadows in the palette.

This is the result of a quick play with the palette from yesterday. I applied the plum shade as a base from lash to crease and then applied Ikat from the LMdB Silk Road Kaleidoscope over the top. I used the blue along the lower lashes, the green on the upper lashes and the ivory on the brow bone. I lined both upper and lower waterlines with Kevyn Aucoin Basic Black pencil.

First impressions of the MUFE Black Tango Palette

I'm currently in the grip of a major smoky eye phase and I spotted the stunning Make Up For Ever Black Tango palette whilst browsing the Sephora.fr website. After checking they had the palette in stock at Cite Europe (such a useful function), I sent my Mum instructions to pick it up on her travels.

It's just as beautiful in the flesh as the promo pictures suggested. It's essentially a set of four mini Aqua Creams: three dark, one light, and I love the fact that each individual cream has its own lid within the palette. I managed to hold off long enough to take pictures before I started using the colours but I confess it was touch and go!

Post photoshoot, I allowed myself a little play this afternoon and I discovered the double brush included in the palette works very well at applying the creams. I often get frustrated with synthetic brushes that remove as much product as they apply but this deposits and distributes colour evenly. The creams work well as a base for powder eyeshadows just as I'd hoped but I've yet to try using the colours on their own. So far, I've had no creasing either.

In my head, this palette is going to allow me to create an edgy Berenice Marlohe style smoky eye (yes, I went to see Skyfall this weekend and I have a new Bond girl crush). In reality, my looks will be more subtle and probably not as low or smudgy. Whatever the outcome, these dark creams do work very well at bringing intense colours to life and I look forward to experimenting.

My Black Tango palette came from Sephora and cost 39.50€, the palette is also available from gurumakeupemporium.com in the UK.

Image of Berenice Marlohe from KissandMakeup.tv

Beauty Spotlight Team stranded on a desert island, part 1

One by one the Beauty Spotlight Team members are being stranded on a desert island. Poor Marcia from Beauty Info Zone drew the short straw and has been airlifted there. Will the items in her whimsical bag reflect what she took with her?