Mastering Your Makeup: December 2015

Stocking Filler & Gift Ideas This Christmas- Budget & Luxury!

Hi All,

Merry Christmas!!

It's so exciting, the days are ticking by, the presents are wrapped and I'm just waiting on the big red man to arrive now with some treats for me. If you are still stuck for some ideas then take a look at some of these treats I've tried and tested...

Catrice All Matt Plus Foundation:

I hadn’t tried a Catrice Foundation in AGES but this was in my goodie bag from the #DeiseBloggers event and I was thrilled. I am a bit of a foundation fiend. There are a lot of foundations I have tried which haven’t been perfect and to be fair, many of the foundations I do fall in love with are always high end. I am just dying to find one I love that doesn’t break the bank. Well thanks to Catrice, I have found one I will be buying in a few shades to ensure I never run out.

I have the shade 040 Sun Beige, it’s deffo a tan shade for me. It’s funny, I am not a fan of my pale self and there’s not a lot of foundations I like when I am pale either. I think I just feel I look better with even a little colour on my skin. I don’t really wear too dark a foundation when I have tan on unless I’m going for a full on glam look for a night out or something.

This Catrice All Matt Plus Foundation is beautiful. It is a shine control makeup which is music to my oily ears (my ears are not oily but you get the gist) It is so easy to apply, I used both a beauty blender sponge from Blank Canvas Cosmetics and the beloved F20 also from BCC and both times I had a flawless face. It has really good coverage, you won’t need two layers at all the way you do with some medium coverage foundations and it is said to be oil-free and long lasting.

I am always fearful of oil, I don’t like shine at all, dewy is something I struggle with but I also don’t want to look like a cake face and no depth to my face at all. This has a really good balance. It is certainly long wearing lasting all day while I’m in work not needing a top up and I keep powder in my handbag so touch up my forehead if needed.

This beauty is only €6.99 and is highly recommended by me.

NYX Blush:

A week or so ago I was quite sick, that typical winter bug caught a serious grip on me and I was miserable I won’t deny it. Late on Friday evening there was a ring on the doorbell and my very first package from NYX Cosmetics arrived. If you haven’t fallen in love with NYX yet I am going to assume you have been living under a rock. NYX is a budget brand as they go but you won’t see prices as cheap as the likes of Essence or W7 for all of their products.

NYX is a hugely popular brand for their wonder pencil, their lipsticks, lip liners not to mention their setting sprays and primers. The list is endless, if you google NYX reviews in Ireland, loads of my fellow bloggers have written really positively about NYX Cosmetics. I too have written a post which you can see on the blog and there I spoke about how I deffo needed more.

The blusher that I received is my favourite of the three products I got that evening. Now don’t get me wrong of course I loved all three but the blush is the one I’ve chosen to write about for today. The shade I have in this blusher is Wanderlust. This is a beautiful coral type shade with a soft hue and it’s flawless on the cheeks. These blushers can also be used as an illuminator and a bronzer. I love multi-tasking products.

This retails around €11 and is a beautiful stocking filler for your cheeky lady.

Roger & Gallet Crème Sublime Cracker:

Another gift which arrived on that Friday which I was thrilled to see is the Roger & Gallet Crème Sublime cracker. It contains a 30ml hand cream and a sample size perfume. This is a really stunning gift and I know it’s something my mum would love but unfortunately one sniff of the perfume and I had to keep it. I have also kept the hand cream in my bag and have been lashing it on the last week or so. You don’t need to use a lot at all, I actually love the scent of this crème sublime as it’s not too strong but this is a really super treat for Christmas.

This is a perfect stocking filler for only €6.50. It’s the perfect treat for someone who loves a beautiful scent and wants a handbag friendly sized hand cream.

The Body Shop- Frosted Cranberry Shimmery Body Lotion:

Now price wise this does jump up a little so this may be more of a gift than a stocking filler but one I had to add to my list once I purchased this on black Friday. Christmas to me means one thing, lots of decoration. Be it on your tree, in your house, on your jumpers or on your face, you need some glitter somewhere.

The first thing I love about this product is the scent, I have the frosted plum range and yes it is beautiful but personally I prefer the cranberry scent. It’s a huge bottle for only €13.50. You can cover your leg using two pumps if you don’t want to be too glitter crazy. With being sick, I haven’t been out and with this miserable weather I also haven’t had my legs out but sure enough on my girly night coming soon I will have tanned the day of the event and then lashing on this beauty before I go out.

The shimmer is truly beautiful on this product and won’t interfere with your tan so go get yourself or someone you know loves to shine at Christmas.

Penney’s Highlighter in Pearly Queen:

Back to budget with a bang… there are no other words…. BUY THIS!! It’s €2.50 in Penneys and if you like highlighter you need it. Simple as it’s too cheap not to own it, it’s too gold not to love it and it’s too shimmery not to have it in your possession right now. People have been swatching this beauty all over the internet but believing is seeing. I stuck my finger in to pan took a light swatch and felt I had been dipped in gold.

It’ll sit on your brush no problem and sweep onto your face making you shine bright like a diamond!!

REN Flash Rinse 1 minute facial:

“REN Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial. Transform your complexion in 60 seconds, with this revitalising skin treatment”. It retails around €37.97 so again I totally agree this is not a stocking filler but a seriously lovely present to get someone you love this Christmas. I have to agree with REN on this one, I love this product. I use it probably twice a week, usually when I am having some ‘me’ time, a nice hot soak in the bath, time to relax and unwind and my face has felt fantastic every time I have used this. It really does give your face such a boost, you feel so clean and so fresh. I think I will start including this in my regime for when I am heading out. I think it would make your makeup sit beautifully on your skin afterwards, especially if you add in REN’s beauty shot before your primer, ooh this is luxury in a bottle my friends!!

Anneco Mineral Makeup:

Finally on the blog today is another product I received at the #DeiseBloggers event at the end of November. People who have read my blog over time will know I am a serious mineral makeup lover. I use the Fuschia mineral foundation in Fawn over my foundation on night’s out. I have emptied Bare Minerals foundations and I have also tried mineral makeup from the Go Aloe group.

I have read a lot about Anneco mineral makeup and wanted to go and speak to them at the beauty show but the stand was manic. Ann is getting some seriously good reviews of her products so do check them out online and see what else they have. When I saw this in the goodie bag, I was thrilled. As I’ve said before, work days for me are not big makeup days, I’ve been having some trouble with my skin and stuff so I tend to use the ‘less is more’ policy during the week. I have the mineral makeup in the shade Medium and it’s perfect. I buff it on using either the F20 from black canvas or my buffing brush from Real Techniques. It’s a really lovely products so if you know someone who wants to use more natural products on their skin then this makeup is perfect.

“Made with 100% pure mineral ingredients with no additives that cause skin irritation such as artificial / chemical colours, mineral oils, perfumes, preservative and man-made minerals such as bismuth oxychloride, our Mineral Foundation Makeup offers numerous benefits and advantages.”

This lovely gift is €25.50 and Anneco have a number of stockists in Ireland including Conefrey’s Pharmacy.

So there we have it, a few last minute gift ideas for you to think about to treat someone or of course treat yourself to this Christmas. Don't forget to head on over to my Facebook page Mastering Your Makeup for your chance to win this Christmas bumper package I'll be choosing a winner on Sunday evening. Rules are simple!!

You can win all this!

Happy Shopping xx

12:55:00
1 Comments

A Christmas Guide to Buying Brushes with Nima Brush

11:39:00
1 Comments

Blank Canvas Cosmetics- Master Series, Palette One

Hello lovelies,

This post was first written when I received the Blank Canvas Master Series Palette One and it is well loved in my life. Let's take a look at the palette and see has anything changed for me...

"Friday morning wasn’t just an ordinary Black Friday morning for me, my heart skipped a little beat when the door buzzer went off and the postman told me he had a package for me. I’m not gonna lie, I had zero idea what it could be and I just love getting post.

So it was a padded envelop and still it could have been anything to be fair but it wasn’t just anything…it was something I had been stalking on social media, it was something I knew I’d want, I didn’t know was coming to my door but my god when I saw it I squealed like a little piggy.

This picture was killing me with suspense

As you can tell from the title of this post it was of course the Blank Canvas Cosmetics Master Series, Palette One. Oh wow it’s so pretty. I am a sucker for packaging, some people aren’t bothered about such trivial things as a sleeve for the palette or whether or not it comes with a brush but these things are really important to me. Every time I buy makeup or shoes for that matter and it comes in a box, such as MAC, Urban Decay or Inglot makeup, it has to live in it's box for at least 6 months to a year. I love opening my makeup drawers and taking items out of their boxes, they always feel so safe and it keeps the makeup really clean.

I am starting to sound quite neurotic but trust me my obsession with makeup is totally justified, it’s all for the sake of the blog….I swear!! Anyone who has followed me since I started blogging will know that I just love Blank Canvas Cosmetics, I post about them all the time, I use their brushes each and every single day I wear makeup and I love their palette including the contour palette, neutral palette and the beloved Pippa palette released earlier this year.

I am thrilled that Una and her team have released this Master Series, Palette One before Christmas as of course I would be adding it to my Christmas list. Ladies (& Gents) listen up…If you have a makeup lover in your life then they will need this palette. If you are also a fan of Pippa O Connor, you will know that if you add PIPPA to your basket you can get 10% off your sale so now you really have no excuse!

Let’s take a look at this beauty now…

Palette One is made up of : 12 beautiful neutral shades perfect for creating a variety of eye looks. The palette has the perfect balance of 11 velvety matte shades ranging from a gorgeous vanilla base colour to a dark brown shade. It also contains 1 shimmery champagne highlighter shade.

The Master Palette also contains the bestselling vegan friendly E40/41 Double Ended Tapered Crease Blender/Smudger. The stiff flat shader end (E40) can be used dry/damp to apply eyeshadow. The fluffy dome side (E41) can be used to blend seamlessly.

The palette retails at €34.99 and can purchased from www.blankcanvascosmetics.com

For a day look recently I used four shades out of the Palette. I started with Strut and blended that into my crease as my transition colour, I then added Forza the slightly warmer shade again to the crease to define it more. For the lid I went with the beautiful highlight colour of Goddess and then on my bottom lashes I used Carmin. This was an extremely simple look, probably taking 5 minutes at the absolute most. The colours are really easy to blend and the payoff is wonderful. I was up really early that morning, 6am to be exact and the eyeshadow was still perfectly in place when I got him that evening from work.

The colours in the palette are really suited to my taste. I don’t always have tan on, I try to but some days your body just needs a break so I like to use orange and brown tones on my eyes. They tend to work well with my brown hair and blue eyes. Actually my hair isn’t exactly brown at the minute it’s got a subtle purple hint but that will be gone on Saturday so I can safely say brown hair. Time to get more festive and warm looking. Festive is actually a word that springs to mind with this palette, again I don’t know if the packaging has something to do with that but it’s warm and cosy looking, it suits the wintery weather we have today and it can create beautiful night-time looks perfect for those festive nights out.

If I am in a rush to get to work some days I have been using one colour all over the lid and crease. Most days I will choose either Carmin or Forza. I just love the peachy tone to them and then when I have a little tan on and a darker foundation, the coral colour brings out the blue in my eyes brilliantly. I love how this palette can take a person like me from day to night in seconds. I’m sure there’s plenty of palettes that can do this for really talented MUA’s but there are days and especially mornings that I will really struggle to be at my best makeup game. Some days in work I wear little to no makeup so a wash of a good, easy to blend, beautiful colour keeps a girl like me really happy.

I think this is why the palette will work for people who are trained or just have a love of makeup. I also think it is a fantastic starter palette as all of the shades will suit a range of eye colours and it comes with a double ended brush. This to me makes a really good Christmas gift so if this is something you want or you want to get someone else then please do order soon so you are not disappointed with delivery times."

When I read back over this post last night with a view to having to edit a lot of it, I was surprised that my eye looks are still the same I create with this palette. I still love the Goddess colour for the lid to brighten the eye but you cannot beat the two shades of Forza and Hibiscus to really make a blue eye pop!

I had this palette post on my mind as lately I have found myself going for the master series palette more and more during the week. With the beauty show looming, I am penciled in to work the two days with the Blank Canvas Cosmetics team and once again I'm sure this palette will just fly off the shelves. Back in September, the shelves had to be constantly restocked during the beauty show as they were such good value. I still think this palette is the perfect gift from someone else or to treat yourself. As always my love for Blank Canvas only grows and I'll be sure to bring you more posts on the brand before the beauty show.