The Illamasqua Christmas Sale: What I bought

Whenever I go to Oxford Street (be it to go swatch mad on makeup or to pick up some bits for the flat/house), I meander on down to Liberty and now on down to the Illamasqua flagship store on Beak Street.

As I tend to hit this shop after I'm practically shopped out at Selfridges, John Lewis, Debenhams, HoF and Liberty, I get a bit of fatigue on only test out things that really jump out at me.  The only thing that annoys me is that they store all the products upside down which makes it hard to swatch them in a rush.

The Illamasqua sale is a proper sale.  You can pick up a lot of things for £5 (cream shadows, false lashes, nail polish etc..) 

This is what I got from the Illamasqu sale..8 things for a very decent £45.

I got three cream eyeshadows (Malevolvent, Debauch and Peak) which I will either use as such or to add a bit of colour to my lower (or upper) lashline.  I was going to buy an apricot shade to use as a blusher but after seeing the consistency of these, I'm glad I didn't as I don't think they have enough slip to be used in that way..but then I might be wrong.

I also got a set of three liquid metals for the bargain price of £10, each usually retail for £17.50.  They also smell nice and sweet..kind of like those Rusk biscuits and a bit like cocoa butter.

The final two things are eyeliner pencils.  One is a thin pencil (Eerie..which is black) and a fat pencil (Fickle).  Eerie looks furry and I don't think that's right.

Anyone else found any bargains?  I wanted to buy so much but have been behaving myself so this is it for me so far.  I might get a perfume from L'artisan Parfumeur but that is about it.  Well..and a Matalan order but I think that really is it!

You can check the sale out here.

The easiest way to turn eyeshadow into eyeliner: A tutorial!

I have an Indian function to attend soon and I want to wear a pop of blue on my lids.  There's no point kidding myself that I'd have enough time to blend any shadows on my lids so I've decided to go for something easier.

Someone mentioned that mixing butter and peanuts does really give you peanut butter.  For some reason, my mind equated mixing peanuts and butter to get peanut butter with mixing eyeshadow and liquid to get eyeliner.  This is where the idea was born..

What you will need:

• An eyeshadow colour that you want to wear as a liner
• A facial mist/setting spray (you could just use water in a spray bottle)
• A angled/non angled eyeliner brush (the cheaper the better because you don't want to be buying a NARS one that falls apart because you've gotten liquid into the ferrule and the glue has weakened).  All the brushes I have used will not break the bank and I can say that as I paid for two of them, one (the Revlon one) was a PR sample.
• A small bowl (if you're Indian, a standard koli will do)

I used the following:

Regarding the differences between an angled and non angled eyeliner brush, this is what I mean..

The Ruby and Millie and Models Own ones are angled brushes and the Revlon one isn't.  It's also naturally two toned, it's a bamboo shade.  The only reason it's a bit black is because I've been using it to apply colour to my waterline.  I've reviewed the Revlon one here and the Models Own one here if you want to take a look.

How to turn eyeshadow into eyeliner:

Practice this a few times before you wear it out just to ascertain how much colour you need.  You don't need to coat the whole brush in colour, it's enough to just coat the tip and a tiny bit of the sides.  I find it easy to do a thinner line first and then build it up but that's just me. 

The result:

I'm so pleased this worked out as well as I saw it in my mind.  You know how sometimes you have an idea in your head and then it doesn't work out in reality? I had a worry that this might be the case here but it worked out well.

I can't say I'd do this before work because I'm always rushing but I'm definitely going to be wearing these as liners when I'm on my own time.

If you want to go one step further and have two/three angled eyeliner brushes then you can be a bit more creative.

I could have worked it in a bit more on my inner eye area but it was dark, this was a practice run, the dog ate it, it was like

For this, I decided to utitlise my other eyeliner brushes.  You could do this look with just one brush but because I go back over and build colour up, I found it easier to use two. 

If you only have one angled brush then doing this kind of look might take you some extra time but it's easy to remove the colour from the brush.  I spray the brush with the ELF spray and wipe it on a tissue.  The faff is worth it because it does get people asking questions as to how you did it.

By the time I've finished, my eyeshadows are wet so I just dab at them with a tissue to take some of the moisture away.  I leave the palette open for about 10 minutes in a vain attempt to air dry it a bit.

This just goes to show that you don't need to fork out for coloured liquid liners (as these are easier to apply if you're new to liner) and that you don't need to spend a fortune buying products that specifically turn eyeshadows into liners.  For my eventual look, I've decided to mix the pink with the purple and that's given me a pretty good shade.

The colours in the Sleek palette when used dry are notorious for producing a lot of fallout but when you use them in this way, you don't get any fallout.  The ELF spray (which has been featured here before) is £3.50.  I did say that it smelt of cheese farts when you applied it to your face but in this context, you smell nothing. The Ruby and Millie i-Define brush (also featured here before) cost me about £1 with the Boots vouchers.  It might have even been free actually, I can't remember..  You can use any angled brush for this but if you really want the Ruby and Millie one, I'd suggest you get to Boots sharpish because Ruby and Millie is soon to be pulled from their shelves and the brush is currently on for £1.66.

The Swatch Files: Revlon Silver Fox Quad

It's not very often that I find a quad which not only has the desired amount of pigmentation but also has a decent enough variety of colour so that you're able to switch your look up from day to night by just adding another colour.

This palette is one of the good ones...

The grey and minty green shade are matte, the white and purple have a slight (very slight) shimmer to them..

I'm pretty impressed that the mint actually came out mint on my skin as usually they come out white.  They're all very soft and easy to blend..not so soft that they crumble..

The white looks a bit chalky but it's easy to blend out with a brush.  As for the sparkle..

It looks a bit gritty but that is due to my camera playing up, in reality, it catches the light really well without making you look like a glitterball.

The Swatch Files: Stila Noire palette

This is another palette that I tend to use a fair bit.  Stila isn't available "in the flesh" in the UK anymore but you can buy it from many discount makeup stores online.  Just Google Stila and they will come up.

The colours are pigmented and they're easy to blend.  I know the swatches do not show a great deal of pigment but they come up very nicely on my eyelids and can be worn for about three hours sans primer.

They're not chalky and they're not crumbly either.

The packaging is what I like about this, it's very travel friendly.  There is a magnet in the cover which makes sure that when you close it, it stays closed.  I just chuck it into my makeup bag and I'm off.

Mel B on a beauty blog?

Yes, this is a post about Mel B, but not as you know her..

When I first got this eyeshadow, I couldn't see why the SA had chosen it for me.  It practically blended right into my lid and I could see no difference.

I chucked it into the back of my makeup drawer and there it rested for a long long time..

It only came out a few months ago as I was doing a massive makeup sort-out..I used it a few times and then realised it was my MEL B shade, the "my eye lid (but) better" shade.

My lids are not the same colour as the skin around my eyes, they have always been darker and this has always been a source of frustration for me.  I always wanted to do a neat eyeliner flick on a flawless eye but it never worked as I didn't realise that most of the models sporting this look were wearing an eyeshadow.

It photographed with a hint of shimmer because my I'd used my Natural High eye cream beforehand.

This photograph does the colour no justice as in real life, it blends in seamlessly.  I've used it practically non-stop since coming to that realisation and there is now a massive dip and I'm sure I will be hitting pan very soon.  It's surprisingly pigmented for a No7 shadow, very nice and smooth and applies like butter.

It is pretty similar in colour and consistency to Illegal by Urban Decay, the only difference being that Illegal is a bit pinker but I still make it work.

I know that Boots have stopped making this shade as I can't find it and this pains me but Urban Decay thankfully show no signs of d/c'ing it.

The Swatch Files: 17 Solo Eyeshadows

Pigmented, smooth and to top it all off..they don't cost the earth.

The swatches for Mardi Gras and Walnut Pearl look like I've overdone the flash but this is how they came out when I took them by a window with no flash.

Superstar and Socialite are glitter eyeshadows but I'm pleased to say that the glitter isn't chunky and itchy, it's apparent but not too in your face.

I find that Walnut Pearl makes a great everyday eyeshadow for those with a darker skintone.

They're currently on 3 for 2 at Boots.

The Swatch Files: L'oreal Color Minerals Eyeshadow Shade 3 Desert Shimmer

This is one of my daily shadows, the packaging is a bit fiddly but ho hum.

The Swatch Files: Smashbox Quad in Electric

I only realised this when I started blogging but I seem to have only eyeshadow palettes.  I think I have four single eyeshadows..

And..there's extra rambling here as I feel this is a gem of a product which is not too well known..

This is another quad which I use a lot, something you wouldn't know unless you saw how grubby the packaging has become.

It looks like quite an odd/unassuming colour combo but the next photo illustrates why it gets so much use.

It was really difficult to photograph how sparkly the green shadow is and how flat the brown shadow is.  The brown is the flattest, mattest shadow I have ever come across..but it's still a very rich brown, if you can get something like that?  It reminds me of cocoa powder.

Look how sparkly number 2 is!

Ain't it handsome?

It's not often that I personally find so many different eyeshadow finishes in one premade palette.

Here's what I use the shadows for:

• Shade 1: I use this as a higlight or as a base for goldeny shadows as it has a very minute sparkle which comes through perfectly.
• Shade 2: This is a shadow and a powder liner.  That's the official Smashbox line, it's not something I decided to do myself.  It works brilliantly as both.  My eyes are brown so I use this as an eyelid shadow, a crease colour and a liner (both on my waterline and my upper lashline).  It's the perfect shade of green to bring out dark brown eyes.
• Shade 3: This too, is a shadow and a liner.  I've only used it as a liner though and it, too, brings out brown eyes.
• Shade 4: Alright (she types with a pained expression on her face) if used with a light hand.  I'm not the biggest fan of the shadow known as number 4 as it makes me look like this guy, which ain't a good look.

The Swatch Files (and a tiny review): Jemma Kidd Makeup

For once I bring you a post which contains more photos than words..I'm not happy with the spacing between some photos but for the life of me I can't figure out how to make the space smaller, if you know how, let me know.

I-Perfector Prep & Brighten Duo

What do I think? The primer is good but I wouldn't recommend it for a starter as you have to blend it in pretty well to get the eyshadow to stick to it smoothly.  If you don't blend it in, the eyeshadow applies really patchy.  It's very good to use if you don't need your eyeshadow to stay for more than a couple of hours.  I've worn it to work and it's worked well for all day too.  You only need a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit as well which is good.  The liner is crapola, for starters, it's too hard to use on your waterline which is the only place I would use such a colour.  You can't soften it or anything either (I tried).  You could use it as a base but I have never tried.

Define Stay-put Eye Liner

What do I think? The smudger is one of the best I have used and this pencil lends itself very well to smudging.  The pencil alone is ok..nothing spectacular, not too hard but could be a bit softer.  It works brilliantly when used for a smudging effect.  If you're looking for a pencil which is smooth and you don't want to smudge it..don't get this.  If you want to smudge it on out, this is fantastic.

Dual Illuminator Créme Highlighter & Shimmer Dust

What do I think? As you can see, you can barely see the colour on both my swatches which is a good thing as I dislike obvious shimmers.  The first swatch is of the solid highlighter which I prefer to the powder shimmer because it is a lot easier to apply.  The powder shimmer gave me many a problem..the puff which comes with it is a bit useless as I can't think I would put something so glittery on my cheeks and it doesn't pick up product up properly either as it is too small.  The powder section had a sticker on it which prevented it spilling out, took me ages to get that off..and you can't stick it back on properly either.  Overall, I like the cream highlighter, the powder shimmer..not so much.

Firming I-Silk Long-last Colour

What did I think? This surprised me. I don't usually like cream eyeshadows but this is so nice to use and the colour is lovely.  It's perfect for both daytime and nighttime usage. I would recommend not using it without a primer but it takes to the JK primer very well.

Do I have a standout product?

Hmm..well I like the primer but you need a fair bit of effort to work it so it's not ideal when you're in a rush to get to work in the morning..and the nude coloured liner is totally pants.  I like the cream highlighter but the powder shimmer needs some amendments..I think my favourite overall is the eye pencil because it smudges up a dream.