Warm Coppery Look Testing Real Techniques Limited Edition Duo Fiber Brushes

Not too long ago, Angie from Vanity Rouge posted a picture of the Real Techniques Limited Edition Duo Fiber Brushes which I'd been waiting to pop up in stores. I saw them a few times in pixiwoo videos but the real tipping point was when Nic (I think) mentioned offhandedly in a video that she loved how the eye brush blended. I decided I must obtain them! I've been having a major hankering for the Paula Dorf Sheer Crease Brush that Lisa Eldridge uses quite frequently and mentioned in her My Favourite Brushes video. But, it's not sold anywhere I regularly make purchases or have discounts for, so I've never picked it up (it's $30). I've been trying to talk myself into a different blending brush that I could get with a discount, so I was hoping this would do it for me. I had a 20% off one item ULTA coupon and snatched this kit up, regularly priced at $19.99.

I thought I would do a look that put all of my new brushes in action. I put a solid stripe of matte shadow into my crease and started blending away with the eye brush. I also kept an eye on how long it took to blend out to my liking.

"No Makeup" Makeup Look Inspired by Lisa Eldridge Video

(video link here)

A little while ago, I was browsing through Lisa Eldridge's videos on youtube and watched her 'No Make-up' Makeup Look again. Most days when I don't wear much makeup, I do smudged out liner with brows filled in and mascara. I hadn't really tried a true "no makeup" look and I was inspired to play around with the idea after watching Lisa pull it off so wonderfully.

Updated Collective Swatches of Foundation on Very Pale Skin

The most viewed post on my blog, by a large amount, is my original Collective Swatches of Foundation, Powder, Concealer on Pale and Freckled Me. I'm glad because a lot of what inspired me to make this blog was the relative rarity of very pale and freckled skin represented in the beauty blogging community. I have found others like Christa from Perilously Pale and her tweet of an older post of her foundation swatches reminded me I should post something new with the new products I use now, or still use. I didn't include concealer this time around, I think I will do that separately. This time I also wanted to make sure the foundation was mostly blended (although heavier than I would wear it on my face in the arm swatches) and had a good 30 minutes to dry down/oxidize.

For color reference, MAC Matchmaster in 1.0 is considered to be about NC10 - I am between NC5 to NC10 (matching to the lightest part of my face and neck is my goal). It is always tricky finding foundation light enough in both high-end and low-end brands.

In an effort to embrace my very oily skin, the past year I have used more powder foundations than liquids. With the winter/pregnancy and my drastic skin change to barely oily-almost normal, I have been back to using liquids more frequently.

• MAC Matchmaster in 1.0 - this blended into my chin fairly well when matched at the MAC counter, but is slightly dark on the rest of my face
• Revlon ColorStay Combination/Oily in 110 Ivory - this is also workable, but a bit dark
• Maybelline Fit Me in 110 Porcelain - a more neutral shade, this is probably the best liquid foundation match I have
• MAKE UP FOR EVER Face & Body in #38 - applies very sheer but if applied more heavily, it's also a little peachy/dark

Here they are swatched from above my jaw down into my neck. My face is noticeably darker than my neck (and my chest is even paler than my neck, yikes!) and I do strive to match my face to my neck to avoid the need to bring foundation down onto my neck. I always apply foundation in a thin layer to avoid covering my freckles, I am looking to even out my skintone and take down the redness/pigmentation on my chin, nose and cheeks.

Swatching the powder foundations was even trickier as several do not have a ton of pigmentation or match me decently well and disappear into the skin.

• Laura Mercier Mineral Powder in Soft Porcelain - the color is okay but coverage is very sheer and it doesn't agree with my acne-prone skin too well
• LORAC Wet/Dry Powder Foundation in WD1 - a good match, nice texture and light coverage
• CARGO blu_ray High Definition Powder in #10 - a little dark to use as a foundation but the finish on this powder is gorgeous, very smoothing
• MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Light - also a touch too dark to use as a foundation but has a nice finish
• Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Face Powder in Translucent - not so translucent, eh? It's too dark if used as a foundation applied with a puff, obviously
• Sonia Kashuk Bare Minimum Pressed Powder in Translucent Fair - a good match, also has a nice texture (not quite as silky as the LORAC) with light coverage

Let me know if you'd like heavier/wet swatches of the liquid foundation for comparison or have any questions about the products shown. Getting the lighting and coloring right is really a task, I did the best I could in editing but these aren't perfect. I hope this helps if you're in the market for a new liquid or powder foundation in a similar skintone! Thanks for stopping by, as always. Have a great day!

Winged Upper and Lower Liner Look

I was practicing my winged liner the other day after being inspired by Lisa Eldridge's video for Modern 'Baby Bardot' look - she makes it look so easy of course. I've had a couple of posts/videos explaining how I try to work with my slightly hooded/mature eyes with winged liner but doing anything dramatic is usually still a complete failure. Here's a recent post about my eye shape, slightly rounded/hooded/downturned for reference with bare eyes and a simple everyday winged liner.

My Eye Shape - Slightly Hooded Outer Crease

My eyes are not fully hooded, I have a couple creases that can get a little bunched up and I lose a lot of lid space/room between my crease and brows, but I do have a decent amount of visible lid space. What I find most tricky though is a slightly downturned outer corner with the crease folding down a bit more beyond the corner of my eye.

This combined with a slightly rounded shape, I have always had trouble creating a winged liner that makes sense. The desire, of course, is to lift the wing up but the elongated crease/downturn/round shape conspire against me.

Mascara Swatching Series: Benefit They're Real

I received a sample size of this mascara with the Sephora Beauty Insider free birthday gift and have been using it off and on for a couple months.

It has a plastic/non-traditional brush with some extra spikes at the end. I think this shape is what got everyone excited about it originally, but that spiky bit is what bothers me most about this mascara.

The mascara glops into the spikes and I have to gingerly brush it on the tube to remove the excess, all the while hoping I'm not going to fling mascara on to my clothes from a spike getting caught up on the tube. Having excess product at the tip also means that I'm likely to make a mess when using on bottom lashes.

Nail of the Day: Zoya FeiFei

It's been ages since I posted anything nail-related, I haven't been wearing much polish lately and not taken any pictures when I have. I picked up this Zoya FeiFei polish during a promotion a while back along with two other colors (Brizia and Bailey). I wanted to get interesting polishes, so I searched around for suggestions - but FeiFei I picked out on my own because it looked neat.