Neutral Face and Orange Eye Look Tutorial

Seeing as I got myself some new bits and pieces the other week, and it is Sunday today which means day off, which means makeup experimenting; here's a tutorial for ya!




If you like this look, then keep reading to find out how I did it!


So I started by priming my eyes with, as always, the Urban Decay Primer Potion, then using the Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush, I applied the shade Naked from Urban Decay's Naked Palette into my crease, evenly distributing the colour from outer to inner corner.


Then with the Sigma E55 Eye Shading Brush, I patted the shade Buck (also from Naked) all over my lid.



Then with MAC's Red Brick Eyeshadow and a Sigma E25 Blending Brush, I blended this into my crease, focusing on the outer corner, and then bringing it in when there was less product on the brush. Just keep blending and blending until it looks how you want it to look. I blended a lot, at least for a song per eye!


I then primed my T-zone with Benefit Porefessional, just with my finger tips, then with the Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Brush I applied my gorgeous YSL Touche Eclat Foundation. I press the foundation into my skin with the brush, before blending it in in circular motions. Then using the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer, I concealed my under eyes and nose creases, and highlighted my forehead, nose, chin and dimple areas (you can see in the photo). I think this concealer is really good for both concealing and highlighting.



I set my foundation and concealer with the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder in Transparent, then bronzed my cheeks, forehead and nose with this gorgeous matte Bourjois Bronzing Powder in 51 for a sun-kissed glow. I decided to just bronze my cheeks opposed to using blusher like normal because I didn't want anything to deter from the eyes, which are essentially the show-stoppers in this look, so it was neutral face for the win!


As always I filled in my eyebrows with the Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Black Brown and just used the little brush on the lid to blend it in nicely, then used the No7 Eyebrow Gel to help prevent my very long and fly away eyebrow hairs from going cray cray. Finally I highlighted my brow bone with the YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch.


Back to the eyes, I just used a Sigma E30 Pencil Brush to blend some more Red Brick under my lower lash line. Again, just keep blending until it looks how you like it!



I then applied a medium-ish line of Rimmel Exaggerate Eye Liner in Black, and of course with a wing. To make my eyes stand out that little bit more, MAC's Coffee Eye Pencil was essential, it just adds so much more to this look, and the coffee colour goes so well with the eyeshadow colours used. And then, of course, I applied two coats of Benefit 'They're Real' Mascara. If you've read a few of my tutorials, you've probably figured that I love dramatic bottom lashes, and would never apply anything less than two coats!


And as always we end with the lips. On a side note, it's always a good idea to put on some kind of lip balm before you start your makeup, so that when it comes to the lips they'll be nice and soft and moisturised. I'm using the Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm at the moment! Anyway, similarly to the cheeks, I wanted a subtle lip, so opted for the MAC Mineralize Glass in Be Nice. It's such a beautiful neutral pink colour, and gloss is so in at the moment so can't really go wrong with this one!

And that's it! I hope you liked this look and everything is clear. Any questions, just holla at yo girl!










Dani Alexandra
Xoxo

YSL Rouge Volupté Lipstick | Review

So I've mentioned this lipstick in a couple of my previous posts, but thought it was a good one to do a full review on. This is in the shade Peach Passion.





Like most, I was probably drawn to this little beaut because of the gorgeous and sleek gold packaging, the band representing the colour of that particular lipstick surrounded by the beautifullness of the YSL logo, and the way it makes your entire lipstick collection feel that much more expensive, important and unique. So yeah, completely sold by the packaging.

Appearance- Creamy
Longevity- Short
Price Range- £££
My Rating- ♥♥

It's a shame that the packaging doesn't quite live up to the expectations of this product. I got it because I wanted an everyday subtle lipstick and thought that paying as much as £25 for a lipstick, it had to be one I was going to wear a lot. I will say, the colour is absolutely beautiful and everything I wanted. It's a lovely coral edging slightly more to the pinky side, but the peach in it makes it so subtle and beautiful, it can literally be worn on any occasion and goes with EVERYTHING. Absolute plus.

The texture is really creamy which is nice for everyday, but it is surprisingly very drying and I feel I really need to lather the lip balm on after using it. This creamy-ness also means that I really don't find this lipstick lasting any longer than about an hour, and whatever is left is just really choppy and cracked. If you constantly press your lips together like I do, then this lipstick really isn't for you cause it just makes the longevity even less and it takes every fiber in my body to stop myself from doing it cause all I want in the world right now is this lipstick to last longer than 1-frickin-hour! I should also mention that the creamy-ness means that every dry patch and crack on your lips will be very very visible, so you wanna exfoliate those lips to the max beforehand.

A little really does go a long way, and even though you may feel you need to coat it on, 3 small swipes will do, with a lot of pressing it and blending it with your finger. Lathering will just waste the product and make it look far too greasy, in my opinion. This technique of applying it is how I've found it to look the best and last the longest. Still not that long though. On a side note, on discovering that only a little is needed per application may mean this product having a long lifespan, but at the same time the need to reapply so often may make it run out just as quick as any other lipstick. I've used it a lot and there still seems to be quite a bit left, but I'll let you know!

I really really wanted to give this 3 hearts, but I think that I want to love it more than I actually do. For the price paid and the way I can make it initially look on my lips makes me need to adore it, but the hard work it takes to make it look good and the amount of time it lasts takes a lot of that adoration away. Nonetheless, I will continue to use it either until it runs out or I purchase another daytime peachy lipstick that I love the initial look of just as much as this, and I am keen to try some of the other types of lipsticks YSL do, but I probably won't be getting another Rouge Volupté in the near future.

Here's a link anyway if you do want to check it out yourself, and below are some photos of it in action over the past weeks! (Yes you would have already seen some of these photos, but I like to recycle where appropriate :))






Dani Alexandra
Xoxo

Daytime Simple and Awakening Makeup Look

The past few weeks I've been doing some super early 7am shifts at work (which means waking up at half 5 WAA), so I've really been enjoying wearing this look. It's really really easy to do and doesn't take long at all. I just feel like it makes me look a bit more awake and glowing when in actual fact under it all, I am pretty much asleep..



If you like this look, then keep reading :)


I start by, as always, priming my T-Zone with Benefit's Porefessional. I just use my fingers to blend it into my skin. I then use the Garnier Caffeine Anti-Dark Circles 2-in-1 Roll-On, I think in the shade either Medium or Dark, I cant quite remember (and it's not on the bottle)! I use this under my foundation because I feel that the caffeine and anti-dark circle stuff probably works better directly on the skin, but that's just me! I also just dab that in with my finger. I then buff my Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation in Soft Beige all over my face using my Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Brush. I used about a pump and a half today.


I conceal/highlight my eyes, sides of nose, chin and forehead with the Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Radiant Touch in 1 (I probably need a slightly darker one to be honest, but I also feel the lighter colour wakes my face up a bit more!) and then set that and the rest of my face with the Rimmel Stay Matte Transparent Powder. Yes, there is no lid and yes, I lost it on a night out. I do not know how...



I put some colour back in my face by contouring my cheekbones and forehead with NARS Laguna Bronzer and then join that contouring together via my temples. It just gives my face so much more definition and nice sun kissed glow, especially after sweeping some NARS Gina Blusher up that contour line. I then fill my eyebrows in like I always do with the Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil in Black Brown, then clean up any mistakes or eyebrow fallout with the Touche Eclat.



I then take my Sigma E25 Blending Brush with my Laguna and just blend that into my crease. It just gives the eyes more definition and wakes them up that little bit more. I'm loving eyeliner flicks at the mo and I think gel liner is great at making them look professional and sleek, as well as it being a lot easier to control. So saying that, I did a flick and a medium-ish line of Topshop Gel Liner Ink using a Sigma E56 Small Angle Brush. I then lined my waterline with the MAC Coffee Eye Pencil, which I think is great for the daytime because it adds nice definition to the eyes, while not looking too harsh because of the colour. I finally finished the eyes off with a couple coats of Yves Saint Laurent Baby Doll Mascara on my top and bottom lashes.



I finish off the look with Yves Saint Laurent Rouge Volupte Lipstick in 13 Peach Passion. This lipstick is so so creamy, which unfortunately means every little crack and piece of dry skin on your lips is so visible (so excuse the picture), but I do actually really like it for the daytime because it's a little softer and subtle, and again adds to the whole sort of 'awakening' attempt. I also think this colour is absolutely GORGEOUS.

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this look, have a great week :)












Dani Alexandra
Xoxo