Summer Sunsets FOTD

This is my favorite look that I've done all summer I think. There's something about the golden eyes mimicking the gorgeous summer sun colors. I haven't used my Elf Candid Coral blush that often since I got it, and looking at these pictures, I really regret it. It's moving to the top of my blush pile rapidly!

Eyes
Goldmine all over
Cranberry inner crease
Amber Lights outer lid
Twinks outer crease

Face
Elf Candid Coral blush

Lips
MAC Ever Hip

Sparkly Eyes During the Day

This is a super simple look that works for both day and night when you want something a little sparkly, but not over the top. I wear this quite a lot when I don't know what I want to wear! I think that everything in this look is super pretty, but nothing is too over the top. Okay, maybe the glittery eyeshadow is a little attention grabbing!

Eyes:
UD Sin
UD Stardust in midnight cowboy
Mascara: Maybelline Full N Soft

Face:

Tinted Moisturizer
MAC Ripe Peach

Lips
MAC Lipglass in Perenially High Style

Sorry about the weird photo - I really struggled to get one where I look vaguely normal. I even have one where I was mid sneeze. Gross. 

Let's Have a Romance By Candelight

There's been a lot of talk about MAC's Mineral Skin Finishes with the recent launch of the In The Groove collection. I have to admit that I don't exactly see what the fuss is about. I have one, which I do love, but it doesn't make me rush out and buy more. Weird, no?

Anyway, I decided to build out this look around by only MSF, By Candlelight, which I picked up in the Warm and Cozy collection that came out late last year. It's a gorgeous pinky golden glow, strangely suitable for both summer and winter. I used a bunch of other Warm & Cozy products to put together a warm, neutral look. My husband's reaction was, "ooooh! you look so pretty. You should do that all the time!". I think that's a good thing.


All products MAC unless otherwise stated:

Eyes:
Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Base: MAC Shadestick in Nurture
Inner lid and highlight: Camomile
Middle Lid: Expensive Pink
Outer Lid: Modellete
Crease: A Little Folie
Liner: UD Lucky

Face:
Smashbox Primer
Tinted moisturizer mix
MAC MSF in By Candlelight

Lips
Perfectly Unordinary

Pop of Teal EOTD

A pop of color on the upper or lower lid is one of my all time looks. It's easy, fun, and not so over the top that you feel self-conscious wearing it.

All products MAC unless otherwise stated:

Base: Elf Shadow Primer
Lid All Over: Ricepaper
Liner: Urban Decay Cover Liner
Shadow Over liner: Gorgeous Gold
Mascara: Maybelline Falsies

Blue and Green Eye Look

Aaaah!! I really tried to get the photos right for this one, and I don't know why, but I just couldn't. It was much fresher than this!

All products Urban Decay unless otherwise stated
Eyes:
Base: UDPP in Sin
Inner Lid: Polyester Bride
Middle Lid: Maui Wowie
Outer Lid: Home Grown
Crease: Painkiller
Highlight: MAC Shroom
Mascara: Maybelline Full N Soft

Face:
Korres Rose Primer
MAC Blush: Ripe Peach

Lips:
Nothing

Peach and Purple Subtle EOTD

Peaches and purples don't sound as if they could possibly play nicely together, but honestly, they can!! This is another look using Urban Decay colors from various palettes over the years that I've picked up. When Urban Decay get it right, they do get it very, very right.

All products Urban Decay unless otherwise stated:
Base: MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner Lid: X
Middle Lid and Outer: Baked
Outer and Crease: Last Call
Crease: Flash
Highlighter: MAC Shroom
Liner: Lucky
Mascara: Maybelline Full N Soft
Brows: Elf Brow Kit in Medium

Urban Decay Smoky Eye Look

I recently dismantled my Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland palette so that all my shadows are in palettes and easy to find. I am sure that some beauty bloggers would have literally cried as I shamelessly tore apart the gorgeous packaging. Honestly though, it was a shame that those colors were not getting the true love that they deserved.

When Urban Decay shadows are good, they are very, very good. And when they are bad they are glittery. This look had a bit of both. The Alice in Wonderland palette has a surprising array of neutral colors, and I wanted to put something together that would be great for summer time glam. You know - late nights, cocktails on the roof deck, golden smoky. One of the shadows I was most excited about was Maui Wowie (Wonderland in Alice), which is a dirty gold. It looked so pretty and versatile in the pan, but ended up being a horrible glittery, fall-out mess. Honestly, I did clean up before I took these pictures, but even then there was still glitter everywhere. Such a shame. The rest of the shadows were beautiful to use - soft, rich, easy to blend. Mushroom is a particular favorite, although I already have it from the Book of Shadows Vol II. It's the perfect transition shade between brown and gray. I probably could have defined the crease more and gone a bit more over the top.

All products Urban Decay unless otherwise stated.

Base: MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner Lid: Maui Wowie
Middle and Outer Lid: Mushroom
Outer Lid and Crease: Baked
Crease: Oil Slick
Highlight: Vanilla
Waterline: El Dorado
Lower Line: Stash
Mascara: Maybelline Full and Soft

MAC To The Beach FOTD

This is an easy sunset eyes that I put together to try out some of the recently launched MAC To The Beach collection. I didn't officially review the collection because I felt that there were so many reviews out there already that I was not really adding anything to the mix. I've had a chance to play around with some of the products for the last week or so, and I really love the cream bronzer consistency and texture. I know a lot of people gave Beachbound Glaze Lipstick a hard time because it is so sheer, but I love it. I think it gives that gorgeous bronzey, beach goddess look so well.

All products MAC unless otherwise stated:
Eyes
Base: MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner Lid: Goldmine
Outerlid and Crease: Amber Lights
Highlight: Shroom
Line: Nehru
Mascara: Maybelline Full and Soft
Brows: Elf Brow Kit in Medium

Face
Base: Tinted Moisturizer Mix
Bronze: Cream Bronzer in To The Beach
Blush: NARS Orgasm (Cream)

Lips:
Beachbound

Sugary Sweet Pink FOTD

I wanted to see whether it's possible to do a pink-themed FOTD and not end up looking weird or ill. I think I more or less pulled it off, but mascara really saves the day here. I had a lot of fun experimenting with these colors.

Eyes:
Base: UDPP in Sin
Inner / Highlight: MAC Sweet Lust
Middle: UD Sphynx
Outer: MAC Da Bling
Crease: MAC Da Bling and Stars and Rockets
Mascara: Maybelline Full N Soft
Brows: Elf Brow Kit in Medium

Base: Tinted Moisturizer Mix

Cheeks: NARS Orgasm (Cream)

Lips:
MAC Hue
MAC Lusterglass Pinkarat

FOTD Summer Sparkly Eyes

I did this FOTD yesterday when I was ill with food poisoning. It gave me something to do for 10 minutes to distract me from my general misery, but I also realise that my eyes look ridiculously tired, and it's because they are - I had had about 3 hours sleep.

I was also doing this to test out a bunch of products that I have had sitting in my drawer for a while. I actually swatched the Make Up Forever HD Blushes and Urban Decay Stardust Shadows over a month ago - the shame! I'll have reviews up for both later in the week.

As this was the first time using the Stardust shadows, I didn't get quite the effect I wanted. I was really looking for a deeper color near my lids, and a wash of teal working up. I tried to do this with blending the color up from my lids, but the shadow just did not want to play.

I liked the MUFE blush for the sheer hint of color, but it was not the easiest to apply. Full review up later this week!

Products used:
Base:
Clinique Sheer City Sun Block
Urban Decay De-Slick Oil Control Make Up Setting Spray
Tinted Moisturizer (my mix using Kiehls Ultra Facial and MAC Studio Sculpt in NW25)

Eyes:
Urban Decay Primer Potion in Sin
Urban Decay Stardust Shadow in Atmosphere
Urban Decay Stardst Shadow in Midnight Cowboy
Maybelline Colossal Mascara
Elf Eyebrow Kit in Medium

Face:
Make Up For Ever HD Blush in #3 Nip Slip

Lips
Urban Decay Lipstick in Naked

Gold Eyes and Peachy Cheeks FOTD

This was just a nice weekend day time look I put together this weekend. I was wearing the most amazing leopard print romper, so I wanted something gold to play off that.

I love how the light is getting brighter and it makes me want to skip out on smoky eyes - can you imagine!?!? Love it.

All products MAC unless otherwise stated:

Base: Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner lid: Nanogold
Middle and outer lid: Goldmine
Crease: Amber Lights
Crease: Bronze
Browbone: Ricepaper
Waterline: Blackline liner
Lower Lid: Urban Decay El Dorado
Mascara: Maybelline Full N Soft

Face:
Primer: Tarte
Base: Tinted moisturizer using Kiehls Ultra Facial Moisturizer and MAC Studio Scult in NW25
Concealer: MAC Moisture Select in NW20
Highlight: NARS Orgasm Illuminator
Powder: ELF HD Powder
Blush: MAC Ripe Peach (Peach side)

Lips:
MAC Perennially High Style Lipglass

FOTD: My Wedding Look

Last summer I had two wedding celebrations following my real wedding to my husband which was in NY City Hall back in January. My family lives in Ireland, and his family in Israel, so you can see why we had so many weddings. Because of that, I decided to go to MAC and get a very simple look that I could do myself on the day rather than stressing about arranging make up artists and dealing with all that pallaver. I went to MAC and in just over 30 minutes got a very simple, easy, innnocent and sweet look that I could easily do by myself and was not so complicated that an evening of sweaty dancing (of which there was plenty) would ruin it.

My base was MAC Studio Sculpt in NW25. I apply this with a brush spritzed with MAC Fix+, and I really like it now, although I am going to deviate from it with my next foundation purchase (NARS Sheer Glow I think). I used Smashbox Primer which I think is amazing at keeping skin looking smooth and matte all day.

My eyes were incredibly simple - MAC Paint in Bare Canvas as a base, All That Glitters on the lid, the tiniest, lightest tough of A Little Folie in the crease, Vanilla to highlight, and then I used Nehru as a shadow to line both the upper and lower lid. Nehru is a dark navy, although in this look it shows up as grey. The MUA explained that lining as a shadow would keep the look very soft with no harsh lines. This was the only part of the look that took a while. I also made sure to line my lower waterline with a white eyeliner and get no shadow on the lower waterline.

My cheeks were NARS Orgasm in cream blusher form. I knew that I wanted a sweet, pink cheeked look, and this gave a great glow.

My lips were A Rose Romance lipstick followed by Virgin Kiss gloss. I actually had no idea what I wanted to do for my lips (the original look had Creme Cup which was sweet but not quite right), and then the day before my wedding I was in MAC and saw the new Rose Romance collection and picked up a bunch of things on a whim, and luckily they worked! I still love those colors to this day.

The best thing about this look is that although it was great for my wedding, I can wear it anytime without being over the top. It's just a classic, simple, pretty, summer look.

MAC Spring Color Forecast FOTD

It's a beautiful day here in NYC - the sun is shining, the snow is melting, and there's barely a cloud in the sky. What better time to play around with MAC's latest collection - Spring Color Forecast?

I love this collection. It's so bright and fun and spring-like, with colors that will attact anyone eye. The fact that there are four separate color collections based on Pink, Coral, Plum, and Amber means there's a little something for everyone.

I wanted to wear something easy and straightforward today as we were just going for breakfast. It's just a very light sunset eyes look with light base and simple lips. Hot Hot Hot is such a fun pink to wear - so far it hasn't made me look ill once - always a risk! :)

Everything MAC unless stated

Eyes:
MAC Paint in Bare Canvas
Inner lid: Nanogold
Middle Lid: Straw Harvest
Outer Lid:Hot Hot Hot
Browbone: Nanogold

Base:
My own tinted moisteriser using Kiehls Ultra Facial Lotion, MAC Studio Sculpt in NW25, and a touch of MAC Strobe Cream
MAC Select Moisture Cover in NW20

Cheeks
NARS Orgasm Illuminator
Benefit Posie Tint

Lips
NARS Dolce Vita Lipstick

FOTD Teal Smoky Eyes

I put this FOTD together partly as a way of testing out some products, and partly because it has taken me about 5 years to actually do it! This is incredibly embarassing, but I wanted to do this eye for my graduation ball, but didn't really have the skills to do it. I was just playing around the other day and realised that I could probably do a stab at what my mind's eye had imagined. I didn't really have an idea of how to get to where I wanted, and my limited google searching didn't bring up anything I was looking for. However, I do really like the results, although the mint on one eye got a little blown out.

 

Products used:





Eyes:
ELF Eyelid Primer
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Black Bean
MAC Pigment in Mutiny
MAC Knight Divine
NYX Rock
MAC Aquadisiac
MAC Shroom
NYX Geisha
CoverGirl LashBlast Luxe Mascara
Anastasia Brow Gel
ELF Liquid Liner
MAC Fix+

Face:
Smashbox Primer
MAC Moisture Select Concealer in NW20
Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich Foundation in Sand
MAC MSF in By Candlelight
MAC Fix+

Lips
NYX Lipstick in Pumpkin Pie

I used Elf's Eyelid Primer as my base to test out the product. Then I used NYX Jumbo Eyelid Pencil in Black Bean over the whole lid. I put a couple of dabs right in the center, and used a flat brush to smoosh (do we do that with our bases - smooosh?) it over the whole lid and a little into the crease.

Next, I sprayed a brush with Fix+ and took some Mutiny and used it over the whole lid. This created a teal-gray color which I really dug. I was tempted to stop here and be done. However, it wasn't the look I was going for. I then used a dry brush and used Knight Divine on the middle lid, and Rock on the outer lid. I took a small brush and put Aquadisiac in the whole crease, and used a blender brush to blow out the color. I then highlighted with Shroom. I used the ELF's Liquid Liner to draw a line along the whole of the lid with a slight wing. I actually liked the way this applied. I put Feline on the lower waterline, and Aquadisiac on the lower lashline. I also added a touch of NYX Geisha to my tearducts.

For blush I used MAC MSF in By Candlelight on my apples of my cheeks and up to my temples in a kind of C shape. Lips were NYX Pumpkin Pie from my recent NYX haul. It looks like, but smells like soap. I know they are cheap, but I'm not sure if I can get over that!

Oh, and please excuse the hair. I have been testing out a leave-in conditioner and it seems to have made my hair a horribble mess!

Urban Decay Book of Shadows Vol II FOTD - Bronze & Teal

I was playing around today with my Urban Decay Book of Shadows and got inspired to come up with this look. I love how rich and pigmented these shadows are - they are so strong and soft to play with. I am also experimenting with primers right now - all week long I'm working with different ones to see which ones are worth me splurging on the fullsize.

I used:

• UD PP as a base
• UD AC/DC on the inner third of the eye
• UD Half Baked on the rest of the eye up into the crease
• UD Twice Baked in the crease
• UD Flipside underneath the eye as a liner. I actually winged the under-eye liner up almost like a winged liner and thought it looked pretty good. 
• CoverGirl LashBlast Luxe Mascara
  

Face:

• NARs primer - not impressed. Didn't see any improvement!
• Bobbi Brown Moisture Rich Foundation. Again, not in love with this product. Kind of makes me shiny.
• NARS Orgasm Multiple as Blush

Lips:

• Hue + Creme Cup

As you can see, I broke everything out of the traditional packaging as it was taking up waaay too much space. Now I can see it and work it into everything else I have in the collection. Score!