Valentine's/Date Night Tutorial

This is my first tutorial so if it's rubbish I apologise in advance!

I hate how when people do Valentine's Day tutorials, they always use pink eyeshadows - I hate pink eyeshadows because they can make your eyes look puffy. So I have decided to do a look that is just a natural, soft smokey-ness that isn't too over the top so you won't scare off your date (hopefully!) 

This is my friend Alice! This is how I would do her makeup if she ever managed to get a date hahaha... She was my model for the evening and this is the final look.
Nice eh? Not too much but it enhances her eyes and makes her look lovely! (you should have seen her before I put makeup on her! Talk about rough! tehehe)

To start off with, I cleansed and prepped her skin to get it looking its best. I used the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum foundation because it is lightweight, but it has a nice coverage without looking caked. It also has a nice natural glow and doesn't make you look shiny or greasy...
If you apply it with a duo-fibre brush like the Real Techniques stippling brush, you can get a really nice, almost airbrushed finish.

Next, I applied some concealer mixed with some under eye highlighter (something like the YSL Touche Eclat) under her eyes in a 'v' shape, down the bridge of her nose and a bit on her cupid's bow a la Kim Kardashian. This really highlighted her face.

We'll come back to the rest of the face later. Now for the eyes.

I started by applied MAC paint pot in 'Bare Study' which is a gorgeous iridescent goldy nude colour - I can't really describe it, but believe me, it's nice!

Then I applied a light brown in the crease to use as a blending colour for the next few steps. I applied a shimmery white colour all over the lid. It is 'Bootycall' from the Urban Decay Naked2 palette.

The next colour is one I haven't used before. It's the Bourjois Intense eyeshadow in number 07. It is a kind of grey colour with a slightly brown undertone. SO nice. I just smudged this into the lashline, concentrating on the outer corner and slowly, bit by bit, bringing it into the outer corner of the crease.

You don't want to bring it into the crease too much because we don't want it to look overly smokey so we're concentrating it mainly at the lash line. Then, take that same colour and apply it on the lower lash line using a pencil brush or an angled brow brush, whatever you prefer.

I wanted to define the lash line a little bit more, so I smudged a tiny bit (and I mean tiny) of MAC blacktrack gel liner right into the lashes and blended it into the grey colour. Then I put a bit of black eyeshadow over the top. I didn't bring those into the crease though. You could always add a thicker line and really wing it out 50's style if that's your thing, using the gel liner.
I then filled in her brows just using a brown eyeshadow and a thin angled brush. Alice likes her brows quite thick, but you can do yours however you normally do them.


Then I moved back onto the face. I bronzed and contoured her face using the Chanel 'Bronze Universal', Highlighted using MAC's Cream Colour Base in 'Pearl'. For blush, I started with MAC's cream blush in 'Ladyblush' and then set it using 'Peaches' powder blush (also from MAC) but you can use any peachy pink blush, whatever suits your skin. I set the bronzer with the Bourjois Chocolate bronzer.

Back to the eyes again! Curl your lashes and apply lashings of mascara to the top and bottom lashes. I love the Makeup Forever Smokey Lash, but that's basically impossible to find in the UK, so whatever you favourite voluminous mascara is, use it.

Once that's done, you can highlight the inner corner of the eyes and under the brows. I used Vanilla Pigment from MAC. This stuff is so beautiful, I think Alice wanted me to throw it at her face. It will really help open the eyes and make them look more bambi-esque and innocent, if that's the look you're going for. I also didn't apply any liner on the waterline for the same reason. But if you're the more 'seductive' type then go ahead and apply the liner to the waterline.

I wanted to make the lashes look really fluttery and pretty, so I went with individual lashes, just on the outer corner. It acts almost like a liner as it elongates the eye, but in a really subtle way. I love a good individual lash!

Then I'd go back and just touch up bits of concealer and foundation if they've rubbed off. Then lightly powder down the centre of the face (forehead, nose, under eyes and chin) with a loose powder (or pressed if you prefer)

On the lips, we want to keep on the natural theme by using soft pinks and nudes. (Plus, if there's going to be any sneaky kisses, I'm sure you don't want bright red lipstick everywhere...)
I just used a Rimmel Lip Liner in 'Eastend Snob' and layered it with MAC Lipstick in 'Hue' which in my opinion suits everyone.

Apply a bit of gloss if you fancy and voilà! You're done! 

All ready for your hot date!
Of course this look can be used for many other occasions, not just Valentine's obviously!

Here's a closer look of the eyes... 

I really hope you enjoyed
And I hope you have a good Valentine's Day!

Love Laura

xo

Making Your Makeup Last: Volume II

This time, I'm talking EYES. I used to have trouble with creasing eyeshadow and running eyeliner, as I'm sure most of us have, but these simple steps have helped get rid of these problems...
They may seem easy or obvious, but they all help so here we go...


Priming

As with priming your face, priming your eyes will almost act as a glue to keep everything in place.
My personal favourite is the Urban Decay Primer Potion. It comes in a few shades (but the original is best!)

I also love using long-wear cream shadows as a base because they can really add depth to your eyes. My fave is the Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadows. Particularly the shade 'Birthday Suit' as I must have gone through about 8 pots of the stuff! They're really nice to use just on their own as they all have a slight shimmer so they are an instant look.. The MAC Paint Pots are also great. I haven't tried the Maybelline Colour Tattoo ones, so I can't tell you what they're like, but I'm sure you can find a review somewhere ;) 

If you don't want to buy any of these products, you could always just use a light layer of concealer and a slight dusting of powder. It works, but I don't think it lasts as long and depending on the concealer, may still crease.


Eyeshadow

I don't think that eyeshadow is hugely responsible for long lasting makeup, but anyway, some minor things might help.

For example, if you layer up different layers and colours and textures, it will not only help your eyes look fab, it will make it stay on.. It will also help set your base a bit more too.
I also think that using a highly pigmented shadow will help.

Liner

Whether you use pencil, gel or liquid liner, by applying a shadow of the same colour on top, it will seal in the colour.
For pencil liner on your waterline, it will stop it bleeding out and making you look like Alice cooper. Waterproof eyeliners are obviously the best to use. I honestly don't know why they don't make all liners waterproof as they make ones that are very soft and easy to smudge if that's the look you want! It seems like an obvious thing to look for but whatever.. I would still set with eyeshadow just for an extra barrier.

My favourite is the Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof Liner. But others that I like are the Soap and Glory ones and the YSL one. 

As for gel and liquid I love the MAC fluidline gel liner and the L'oreal Super Liner. 

Mascara

With mascara, again, waterproof is a must when looking for long-wear.
There are also some brands that do mascara primer, but quite often they are white and a tad clumpy so I'm not a massive fan. I find that just using waterproof works.

People say that you should do multiple coats of mascara, which is correct, but they say that you should let the first layer completely dry before applying the next layer. This is rubbish because if you put a fresh layer of mascara over a dry one, it will go clumpy, flakey and horrible, so I'd just let it dry a little bit so it's still sticky (I don't mean sticky but I can't think of the word.. You all know what I mean!)


So that's it for Volume II.. Volume III coming soon! 

Hope this helped!

Enjoy!

xo