Boyfriend does my makeup!

I've joked with my boyfriend Adam about him doing my makeup for ages, and now that I have a blog I convinced him to do it for the good of the blog. I did film it, but my camera cut out after 20 minutes and there was nothing worth seeing there, however I've taken some super flattering photos of the results.

I provided him with a box full of several options for each type of products and gave him free reign of the lot, including my makeup brushes.

Plenty of options to choose from.

He knew enough to choose a primer first, but I had given him 4 different primers to use. He decided to go with a mix of 2 primers. He picked the miracle primer from Primark as he said he'd heard me mention it a few times before (glad he listens sometimes!), as well as the (unfortunately discontinued now) GOSH Cream Foundation primer. The way he picked them was '...that says primer on it, I'll use that'. As he was looking for primers he also picked out my eyelash curlers, discarded them and said 'we won't be needing those'. Can't blame him there, they are terrifying.

The method of application he chose for primer was a single finger, cautiously spreading the product around my face, which worked well enough for him, apparently.

He then went back into the box in search of the next step, which he decided was concealer. He picked out the Maybelline Eraser Eye concealer, and when I asked what he was meant to do with that he said 'its an eye thingy', put it down and left it at that. I picked up my Freedom Pro Correct palette and handed it to him. He said that was a 'concealer thingy', and wanting a more in depth description I asked what each of the colours would be used for.

Green - 'goes on spots'
Lilac - 'freckles'
Salmon - 'scabs'

Well, he tried. I tried to explain the colour wheel/concealer concept but he wasn't having any of it, so that was also put aside and left.

Adam cleverly worked out that the next step would be foundation, and said he'd seen me mixing the 2 shades of Rimmel Lasting Perfection 25hr foundation together, and did the same, using the Real Techniques buffing brush. I have to say, he did really well on this. He even went over the blending with my Makeup Revolution blending sponge and blended into the jawline/onto the neck. The colour match wasn't exactly right, but by the time he'd finished you wouldn't have been concerned about the foundation colour match.

He picked out the Sleek Cream Contour kit and applied only the darkest shade into the hollows of my cheeks, around my hairline on my forehead and even down the sides of my nose, again blending with a sponge, as he'd seen me do before (and he read the blog post I'd done on it). I was starting to relax and feel like I was in safe hands here. He chose to use my Makeup Revolution Radiant Lights powder in Breathe as my setting powder with a 'big fluffy brush', as he said he'd seen me do before, and to be honest I was really quite impressed at how much he'd picked up from watching me do it.

Then he went for contour powder. Part of me died inside as I watched him pick up a ton of product on a fluffy eyeshadow brush and apply it to my cheekbones. I know how pigmented the powder in my Makeup Revolution contour palette is and boy did he go hard on that contour. He then decided to blend it out using the same little fluffy brush and I felt him blending it downwards, which resulted in a really nice orange jawline which you can see in the photos.

Happy with the face, he went on to eyeshadow. I was impressed when he went for an eyeshadow primer (I'd left my freedom one in the box in case he went for it), not so impressed when he used my MAC 226 crease brush to blend it. He chose to work with my Naked original palette for eyeshadow. He applied Sin all over the lid (and I was really happy with the fact that he chose a nice light pink shimmer for this as I use that too), but then he went for the interesting choice of Half-Baked (a gold shimmer) for the inner corner/inner v. He tried to define the crease of one eye using Toast but made the creative decision to do it more where my browbone highlight would go than in my actual crease, and when he realised that wasn't the effect he wanted, he left it there and didn't do the same on the other eye. Good choice. Very artistic asymmetric eyes.

Lovely uneven eyeliner and mud stripe.

We were both understandably terrified about eyeliner. He chose a felt tip pen from Primark for the easiest application (it was a good choice but in reality didn't help much at all). He tried to even out the wings with a very enthusiastic 'boom lads' as he applied them, and I guess he didn't do too badly for a first go. I hope he appreciates now how stressful eyeliner can be!

The mascara went really well, to be fair to him. He applied it evenly and very carefully, for fear of poking me in the eye with it (despite my insisting that years of doing that myself had made my eyeballs practically numb). He noticed that the mascara was a bit clumpy (which the MAC one he used can be) and tried a little wiggling motion to separate them, but they didn't look that bad. He used an eyeshadow/brow kit for the brows and they look pretty good considering the circumstances!

He was very excited to use the highlighter, although I doubt he'd admit it. He knew what highlighter was from me showing him, and he picked the 'fancy looking' one (MAC Mineralize Skin Finish in Lightscapade) and was considering using my Real Techniques Contour brush before (thankfully) switching to the Fan brush, and left me a very very blinding stripe of highlight.

As the last product he chose a nude lip by Rimmel, and again he didn't do too badly. He kept it all within the lines and gave a pretty even coverage.

I have to say, he really didn't do too badly. When I asked him when I should wear this particular look, he gave it a moments thought and said "When you get absolutely hammered and decided to do your makeup before you go out somewhere", which is great advice, and is an accurate description of the look.

Orange jawlines are the best jawlines... right?

That highlight tho

Let me know if you enjoyed this post! It's a bit silly and different from what I've been doing so far but I really enjoyed it (and I think Adam did too, even if he denies it!).

Thanks to Adam for allowing me to be blessed by your artistic talent.

See you again soon!

Paige x

Setting Spray Suggestions!

I don't know about other parts of the world, but right now in the UK it's absolutely boiling! This means that if you're like me and you can't not wear makeup even in the scorching weather, then you need to be prepared, or anything you put on your face will melt off in a matter of minutes, especially if you're going to be moving around. This is also helpful for those of you who like to go out in the evenings - makeup and sweaty clubs don't go together too well unless you're willing to put the time and effort in to complete the necessary steps. I'm going to talk about primers when I''ve finished trying out all the ones I currently own, but for now I'm going to talk about the last step - setting spray. Not only does setting spray help your makeup last, I also use it to dampen brushes for stronger shadow and highlight!

My makeup routine has inevitably had to change to suit the weather (let me know if you want an updated makeup routine post!) but one thing that hasn't changed is needing a setting spray. While I have really dry skin, I get quite an oily t-zone, particularly if it's warmer. When I worked in Superdrug I had a lot of people ask me to recommend them one, so I'm going to tell you all what I told them.

Hands down THE BEST setting spray I've ever used is the Urban Decay All Nighter setting spray. I received a little travel bottle of the stuff and Urban Decay my Lord and Saviour did it again. It made my makeup stick to my face and last for hours longer than it would have without setting it. Holy grail product right there. Unfortunately, my love affair with the UD setting spray came to an abrupt end, when I ran out of the product, and realised that it was £22 to purchase the full size 120ml bottle. My bank account said no, even though my heart was saying yes yes yes do it buy it plssss. So, I went on the search of a good and cheap(er) setting spray.

Photo by Urban Decay (http://www.urbandecay.co.uk/) - Urban Decay Setting Spray

The first I came upon in Superdrug was the Makeup Revolution Setting Spray. The bottle's big, in fact you get 100ml for £5! Unfortunately my excitement didn't last long. I love Makeup Revolution and I really wanted to like this, but it just didn't do anything for me. I was so disappointed, I've heard so many people say they like this product, but for me it just kind of felt like spraying water on my face, without any improved staying power for my makeup. So sorry Makeup Revolution, I love you, I just didn't get on with it. Maybe it's just my skin? Who knows. Have you tried it?

Photo by Superdrug (http://www.superdrug.com/) MUR Pro Fix

The other two alternatives are Freedom and Makeup Academy, and I have to say both were pretty on par with eachother. Again, both the Pro-Fixing spray from Freedom and the Pro-Base Mattifying Fixing mist were £5 for 100ml of product, and these ones were definitely worth the money. While the staying power wasn't as good as the UD setting spray, who's going to complain for such a huge saving?

Photo by Superdrug (http://www.superdrug.com/) Freedom Spray  

Photo by Superdrug (http://www.superdrug.com/) MUA Spray

There are other notable setting sprays that I'm yet to try:

- L'oreal Infallible Fixing mist
- NYX Dewy Finish Setting spray
- Maybelline Superstay 24hr spray
- Evian Facial Spray (apparently!)

And of course the MAC Fix+ which I am desperate to get my hands on!

I've linked to the Superdrug website for the drugstore sprays, and makeup's all 3 for 2 at the minute there so you can treat yourself!

Is there a setting spray you've tried that you'd recommend? Have you tried the MUR and did you like it? I'd love to know.

It has been a little over a week, I was in a little bit of a blogging rut but I'm hoping to be posting more often now!

See you again soon (hopefully!)

Paige x

How To Use: Sleek Cream Contour Kit

After I posted the Sleek cream contour palette review, people requested that I do a little 'how to' post, with pictures of me applying it. Now, I'm definitely not a pro when it comes to applying my makeup. Neither am I 100% confident in my skills. However I thought I'd be brave and give it a go! 

Some of the products I used for this look, and a treat for editing!

I both cleansed and exfoliated my face, using the B. Men Charcoal Face Scrub from Superdrug, which is technically my boyfriend's but I wanted a nice deep cleanse and it was the best I had to hand. The product itself is branded as a man's face scrub but lets be honest, it's just a decent charcoal scrub, who cares who it's meant to be for. I then applied my Olay Hydration and Radiant Glow moisturiser, which is a nice light moisturiser for summer as it contains SPF 15 and adds some radiance to my skin. 

After I'd given time for that to sink into my skin, I applied my base products. I used the Primark Miracle primer (of course), and then my X-ceptional Wear Makeup Foundation from GOSH, which is good for a light, sheer base (even though you can build it up), and then applied the Maybelline Eraser Eye concealer on my blemishes. 

This is my face with only the base products applied

 I then went in with the contour kit, following the guide that they supply with each palette.

It says on the sheet to use an angled contour brush. I do own the Real Techniques contour brush but I find it a little too large as my face is quite small, so as I said in the last post I use a MAC angled flat foundation brush, which is MAC 193. 

Cream Contours when initially applied

As you can see, my lines and shames really aren't that neat at all, but once you've blended them it doesn't matter. You really don't have to be a pro to apply these! If I can, anyone can.

Cream Contour after blending

I blended all the shades using a damp beauty blender, starting with the light shades and working into the darker shades.

Here I've set the creams with powder

After this, I applied the GOSH Velvet Touch prime 'n' set loose powder over my highlighted areas, and applied a Makeup Revolution contour powder over the top of the cream to set it all in place. I then went ahead and did my eye makeup (taking photos of my eyebrows in the state they were in was almost traumatising). While I did this, the translucent powder worked to both set and lighten the cream highlight. Once the rest of my makeup was done, I brushed away the setting powder and 

applied some blush and my MAC mineralize skinfinish in Lightscapade as a highlight. 

The finished look

This was the finished look! I think it really slims my face, and I just like how it looks. It's a bit nerve wracking to post photos of me actually using the products and I was a little hesitant to post this one, but hopefully you all enjoy it! 

Would you try the cream contouring kit? Let me know if you have and how you found it. 

Paige x