Any Requests?

Hi,

I have posts scheduled for the next few days but wondered if anyone had any requests, questions etc. Any celeb looks you'd like to see re-created?

Send me an email or leave a comment and I'll see what I can do

xx

Beaute Weightless Lip Creme

I have been after Beaute for months and recently came across a website called cocobeau.co.uk (click here) that supplies the UK with this fab brand. May I say of Coco Beau - the little extra detail in the packaging was FAB!! This was £22 and the P&P was about £3.

I didn't have the balls to go for one of the brighter colours initially and I wish I'd gotten Girlina and Masochist but I plumped for 'Trace' and will be going back for the other 2, although it'll need to be after payday and I can't tell Neil ;)

For the sceptics amongst you, thinking this is just a gloss, it's not. This is like whipped cream, in a tube in beautiful colours - living up to the name of 'weightless'. It really doesn't have that lipstick feel on the lips and the texture is like satin.

I'm not going to say anymore, other than I think this little tube has more than lived up to the hype and has been well worth the wait!

Please excuse the weird pic of my lips - I got carried away cropping...

Chanel Pro & Mat Lumiere Foundation

I really think that foundation is worth spending a bit of time finding the right one - it can impact on the condition of your skin and I refuse to slap any old rubbish on my face. For years I have swung between Benefit's Playstick, Bobbi Brown stick foundation and Bare Minerals. Actually am a huge fan of minerals for personal use but find that sometimes they don't mix well on days when my skin is particularly oily and the kabuki brushes can irritate my skin if I'm having a bit of a breakout.

About 4 months ago, I picked up a bottle of Pro Lumiere (in complete denial about my oily skin) for £28 from my local chanel counter. I love love love this foundation - I love the consistency and the beautiful finish it leaves on the skin. A light dusting of powder and et voila! However, for those with oily skin, this is not a feasible day to day foundation - I had to re-powder at least 4 times a day or it would very quickly look oily. I then discovered that if I didn't moisturise prior to using it, it would set perfectly. That lasted about 3 days before I started breaking out in dry sore spots. So if you have 'normal' skin, then the Pro will be perfect for you. If you have dry skin, try Pro or Vitalumiere. If you have oily skin like me, then Mat will prob be best.

I had somehow managed to convince myself that the Mat was 2nd best to Pro (I don't know why) and resisted buying it. But last week, I finally conceeded defeat and got a bottle in 05 (a PERFECT match for my skin). Now, I can moisturise and use the Mat and get a perfectly dewy, non-shiny finish and I'm not hating on my skin type.

It is much less runny than Pro - the one on the left is Mat, on the right is Pro. But, once you're applying with a brush, it smooths and glides in the same way as the Pro.

This is how much I wanted to press home that Chanel foundations are awesome - I've posted a pic of me wearing NO make-up!!

Before (moisturised only!)
These are the 'after' pics. The only addition, other than the foundation is a slick of mascara, white liner and lip balm. No powder - not required with the Mat.

Now I was also asked if I could do a post on 'how to' apply foundation. I'd love to, but I don't think the pics would sufficiently do it justice and there's no way I'm doing a vid!! FashionFaceTV have a brilliant tutorial on foundation application and actually it's done using Mat Lumiere, so if you're interested check it out here

My only tips would be... If you're going to use your fingers, make sure they're clean. If you're using a brush and find it leaves streaks, try applying your moisturiser with your brush and then using the same one for foundation. Try 'cross-hatching' where you brush the foundation in lots of different directions, or try lightly buffing in small circular motions.

My Favourite Brushes Part 2

Eyeliner Brushes
My 'go to' brushes when I want to create a sleek line are Bobbi Brown fineliner brush and Chanel no13.

I got the Bobbi Brown brush when I first purchased Bobbi Brown Long Wear gel liner as I was advised by the SA that it was the brush to use. If it hadn't been for that advice, I probably would never have even looked twice at it due to it's unconvential design but I am glad I have it. The brush is quite difficult to handle; the length of it is massive - I occasionally find it difficult if I am applying without wearing my lenses as I need to be closer to the mirror and this brush gets in the way. The tip is kind of like a caligraphy pen so you can create all different thicknesses just by simply rotating the handle when you are applying. The tip is also quite firm and is almost more like a sponge tip applicator you tend to get in bottles of liquid eyeliner.

The Chanel brush is a much more conventional style and will work brilliantly with both liquid and gel liners. I don't tend to use cake liners, but I suppose this would work with them too. This tends to drag the product a little less as the bristles are more flexible than the BB brush, meaning you are less likely to get a streaky application.

Brush Cleaner
I clean my brushes about once a week (eyeliner brushes get cleaned more often and brushes I use on others are cleaned before and immediately after), using generally whatever gentle detergent I have to hand whether that be silk handwash liquid, baby shampoo etc. However I find the BB Brush Cleaner an excellent product to have handy - especially if you don't have that many brushes. You use this in between proper washes just by spraying a small amount onto a tissue and then wiping the brush onto the tissue. The amount of product that comes off always amazes me!

Finally, I thought I would just say a few words about how much I dislike this brush! I think I got this about 18months ago and unfortunately I was unable to find out what the bristles are made from but from the irritation on my eyelid after using it, I'd suggest a kitchen broom would be more gentle. It is dreadful at picking up and retaining pigment long enough to get the brush from pallette to eyelid and then as soon as it touches your lid, all the remaining pigment discards onto your cheek. This is like trying to put E/S on using a hairbrush. It is absolutely beyond me how a team of experts would have tried this out and decided it was a good idea.

Anyway, hope that's been useful!
Amanda xx

My Favourite Brushes Part 1

After I posted a few days ago about my new UD Big Buddha Brush, one of my 'followers' suggested a post about some of my other fave brushes. So here it is! I've had to split this into 2 parts so it isn't one mammoth post. Part 2 tomorrow...

Foundation Brushes

I love everything about using a foundation brush. I love the coverage it gives you. I love the even-ness of the coverage. I love the fact it means I'm not smearing my fingers all over my face (for someone with oily, spotty prone skin this alleviates the guilty thought that 'touching my face makes my spots worse...) and I especially love the fact that it means I don't have foundation all over my fingers & hands. My MAC 190 (I think that's the right number!) is brilliant - the bristles are packed in so the brush is super soft but super firm. The R&M Brush pictured is rubbish for a full, smooth application as the bristles are too long and floppy, but is good for gently buffing in small circles for a lighter coverage.

Bronzer & Blusher
I use the GOSH brush for dusting bronzer over my face - I think when it's for bronzer, the bigger the better the brush. Some may disagree but I like to eliminate the chance of any streaks. A big fat powder brush should do this. The Benefit brush is what I use for popping some blush on the apples of my cheeks or for contouring. The angle brush is great and I have a couple.

Eyeshadow Brushes
I have dozens of variations of E/S brushes. I don't feel it's something I care to spend a lot of money on and tend to find that as long as the bristles are soft and don't shed all over my face, it'll do. MAC 249 is excellent as it's massive and is great for giving a wash of colour across the whole lid. The UD brush is a medium size and the QVS (which was only about £2 from Superdrug!) is small which is great if you either have small eyelids or want a bit more of a precise application.


Eyeshadow Blending Brushes.
Good for blending out hard lines on your lid or good for adding shadow, definition or a contour into your socket. Find one that you like and buy a few - blending brushes shouldn't really add colour, so having a few clean ones available when trying to smoke up an eye is a must! The REVLON brush is quite fat and is great just for softening hard edges. The GOSH brush is brilliant and adding definition to the socket and blending and I have 4 of these.