FOTD

I gleefully unwrapped my new NARS palette yesterday, and this morning I've done a look with it. I have been wanting a NARS palette for years so I felt rather awed as I actually dipped brush into pan and applied the hallowed products to my face.

This is the Everlasting Love palette. The colours I used are Underworld 1 and Underworld 2 (eyes) and Edie (highlight), then Orgasm on cheeks and Dolce Vita on lips.

Here's a makeup look that's pretty easy to do, doesn't involve blending two hundred shades of eyeshadow, and that looks rather nice on greenish eyes.  Copper is a great juxtaposition to green, and even though my eyes veer more towards hazel than towards a pure green, the copper shadows used really bring out the green.



Here's the look within the context of my whole face (and wet hair).  It's interesting: photographing makeup like this helps you to realise how your makeup looks outside of the mirror; I'm always very careful with blush as I don't want to overdo it.  In reality, you can barely see the peachy blush I'm wearing here... so tomorrow, I'll be slapping on a bit more.

Face
Giorgio Armani Face Fabric foundation in #1
ELF HD powder
MAC Peachykeen blush

Eyes
Urban Decay Primer Potion
MAC Coppering eyeshadow (as wash)
OCC Pure Pigment in Authentic (centre of lid for depth)
Makeup Designory Pixie eyeshadow (inner corners)
Guerlain Terracotta Loose Kohl in Black
YSL Faux Cils Noir Radical Mascara
Chanel Le Crayon Sourcils in Auburn (brows)

Lips
Kiehl's Lip Balm #1 (my lipstick goes on at the last minute on the train!)

Here's a quick look using the following products

OCC Lip Tar in NSFW (these seem to have dropped off the map a bit, which is a shame because they're still as brilliant as they were back in Jan when they were getting so much hype)
Stila Oil Free Foundation in Shade A (as concealer)
Stila Convertible Eye Colour in Stone (gawd bless those bargain websites)
Belvada Noir sliding mascara (it's £5 in Boots at the moment but it's not that amazing, I am just using it up because I bought it out of curiosity)



Click for more pictures and a couple of close-ups

Today's post was going to be an FOTD inspired by seasonal British confection the Cadbury's Creme Egg, which Gemma and I both like quite a bit. (Lucky it's seasonal, or I would eat them all year round and be considerably fatter than I am now.) However, I gave up after two attempts at making that work ended up in muddy ill-defined rubbishness. Today I somehow lost my blending mojo. I'm normally OK at blending.

So instead, here is the look I did after I had given up on the Creme Egg idea. I began with a pretty basic wash of iridescent blue shadow on the lid after priming with UDPP. Then I applied a navy shadow as eyeliner, dry, using an angled brush and flicking up slightly at the corners. I put a bit of pale neutral matte eyeshadow on the browbone and blended the blue into it.

Both the navy shade and the brow highlight (which doesn't show up in the photos) are from Sleek's new iDivine palette, titled Bohemian, which came out this week. The blue on the lid is Jelly Pong Pong "Single and Loving it" eyeshadow in Butterfly Wings.

On my face is Stila Natural Finish makeup (shade A) and on my eyelashes is Maybelline Full and Soft mascara (black).

On my lips I have applied a bit of the red shimmer eyeshadow from the Sleek palette over a dab of OCC Lip Tar in Clear.

Comments, questions and blending-advice-for-idiots are all most welcome.

Below, the iDivine palette in its new-style white casing, and the JPP eyeshadow. ("That looks like a nice box of paints" said the man of the house on seeing the iDivine.)

Disclosure: These products were given to us to test free of charge by MUD cosmetics.

Here's the result of my first experiement with the MUD (Makeup Designory) palette and brushes I received at IMATS.


I don't normally go for looks this dramatic, but as I am off work for a few days I had some spare time to dedicate to my "art" (heh).


After gazing rapt at the array of shades in the palette for a while, I picked out the ones that most appealed to me - Smoked Sapphire (matte navy), Tea Tree (low-shimmer cool bottle green/teal), Spanish Gold (bronze), Moss (pretty much typical moss shade) and Pixie (lovely duochrome peach/pink).

I applied them from the inner corner outwards using the MUD 350 brush, blending as I went with theMUD 330 brush. I should note at this point that these are outstanding brushes, possibly the best I've ever used. They are soft in texture but have enough firmness to give you plenty of control over where you are placing your colours.

The colours were applied over a layer of UDPP, and finished with a coat of "Famous" by Sue Loxley glitter liner (I believe this is now discontinued, but you may still find it at Superdrug). The mascara is Maybelline Full'n'Soft.

As Gemma has noted, these are soft textured and highly pigmented shadows. They crumble slightly when brush is applied to pan, so best to be careful when loading up. The application is smooth, and the delivery of colour is excellent - true-to-pan shades are easily achieved, even with the matte shades (a rare achievement!).

I shall be treasuring these valuable tools - both the shadows and brushes are a pleasure to use and deliver great results.

I realise I've been extremely inconsiderate to my fellow Brits in creating a look with things that are almost exclusively unavailable in the UK - I'm very sorry! You can purchase the eye colours and brushes from MUD (Makeup Designory) with modest-ish international shipping rates. The refill pans cost 10.00USD each, and the palette 17.50USD. (NB these pans will also fit into MAC and e.l.f palettes, though you will need to attach your own magnet to the pan.) The 330 brush is 24.00USD, the 350 21.50USD.

MUD told us that they are currently considering a UK launch, but there are no firm dates in the calendar at present. If you're not up for taking the purchase-plunge sight unswatched, you could also explore the brand via their YouTube channel, which has some very thorough tutorials.

Below are a few more gratuitous shots of my handiwork.