Foundation reviews and Tola's Engagement Party

First of all, this post is long overdue! Oops - bad blogger! Anyway, I've been testing out a few foundations lately and I wanted to let you know my opinions of them.


With my recent E.L.F order I got the Studio Line Flawless Finish Foundation, £6.50, in Porcelain. I'd heard good things about this foundation and was eager to try it. First I concealed with my favourite bargain concealer, E.L.F's All Over Cover Stick, £1.50, which is full coverage, non-greasy, and better than most expensive concealers I've tried. I patted it on with a damp foundation sponge, and was immediately struck by how greasy it was. There's no way you can get away without setting this one! However it disguised my eczema beautifully, and had a nice full coverage, despite feeling like I was wearing a face pack. I set it with a generous amount of powder, and looked in the mirror. My skin looked clear and even, but not as smooth as it does with my regular foundation. I checked my face again around 5pm, and found it had caked and settled into the lines around my eyes and mouth. A quick pat with the sponge and some more powder took care of it. I would recommend this foundation if you have dry skin and don't mind touching it up during the day, but avoid it if you have bumpy or oily skin. I am concerned that this foundation may be breaking me out slightly, (perhaps due to the it's high content of mineral oil) but this could just be down to my weird hormonal skin! 

I also bought their Mineral Foundation in Fair, £3.50. I used it over the all over cover stick, buffing it in with my ecotools powder brush. It provided a beautiful, natural, matte finish. It is fairly light coverage though, so it may be better suited to people with clearer complexions. I like to use it over my foundation to give a little extra coverage and keep it in place all day.

The final foundation I've tried lately is OCC Skin Foundation. I haven't airbrushed it yet, but stippled it using a damp sponge. The texture takes a bit of getting used to, as it's a thin liquid and can feel wet at first if you apply too much at once. Applying thin layers a little at a time seems to work best, giving it buildable coverage. This foundation has a beautiful finish – it looks just like fresh, clear skin - love it! Can't wait to airbrush it. I not only used it on myself, but used it on the gorgeous Tola when I did her make-up for her engagement party!

Tola and I have been friends since secondary school, and she's one of the loveliest, funnest people I've ever met! I managed to snap a couple of pics of our FOTDs, but I soon got caught up in the fun of the day and forgot about taking pics!

FOTD - OCC foundation in Y0/Y1, ELF eyeshadow, BWC Blush & Lippie.

My setup.

Tola's before and after - so pretty!!!
Kett Fixx Creme as concealer, OCC Foundation, Barry M Blush, Yaby Shadow, Barry M Mascara, Revlon Lashes and custom mixed OCC Liptar.

Bonus shoe pic! Seriously how awesome are Tola's shoes? Major heel envy!

It was a very pleasant day, and I actually got quite soppy seeing how genuinely happy the couple were. Congrats <3 


You need to check out Tola's blog here. She is très chic, and always looks fashion forward without flashing flesh, which is refreshing when a lot of girls these days tend to have a 'less is more' attitude about clothing.


Remember to sign and share the animal testing petition!


Til next time!


Emma
xXx 

E.L.F Review and Petition Update

I bought some bits from E.L.F in January, and I figured it's about time I reviewed them! 


The main thing I wanted was their Mineral Eyeshadow Primer, £3. I used to use and love Urban Decay's Primer Potion, but over a year ago UD removed it's vegan 'Marley Footprint', after it transpired that one of the ingredients is derived from lanolin. This also means that their Vegan Palette is not vegan, as it comes with a mini primer potion! I don't understand why they didn't just include a mini brush instead, or even rename it. 

Darn you, Urban Decay!!!

So now that I'd finally used up my remaining Primer Potion, I needed a replacement. I did my research online and it seemed that the general consensus was E.L.F's Mineral Eyeshadow Primer to prevent creasing, and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy for foiling* shimmery shadows. Sobe Botanicals' Primed and Proper had good reviews too, but I decided to try E.L.F first as that's easier to get in the UK. 

(*Foiling - Applying shadow mixed with water or mixing medium to enhance the colour and metallic shine)

It comes in a tube with a doe-foot applicator. The primer appears beige but goes on clear, and is more liquid than UDPP, which is quite sticky. It has a silky, silicone texture, more like a facial primer, and when I first tried it I wondered whether it'd live up to it's reputation. 

E.L.F Mineral Eyeshadow Primer,  swatched heavily (left) and blended out (right)

It makes my shadow more vibrant, and a dream to blend. I really put it to the test on 4th February. I applied my make-up at 7am, then headed off to IMATS. Went clubbing with friends that evening, partied into the night, and by 7am the following morning I was on the bus home wearing day old make-up! Yes, I know - gross! Bad me! So after IMATS, clubbing, plus lots of walking around in the snow without an umbrella, how did my eyeshadow fare? Not bad - very minimal creasing, it still looked decent! Win! I would have taken a picture, but in my sleep-deprived state it I was barely able find my own house, trundling through the blizzard! Thank god I don't drink, or I might never have been seen again!


My next purchase from E.L.F was the 48pc Eyeshadow Collection, £3.75. I needed a small palette for myself (i.e not my pro kit) with lots of colours ranging from nudes to smoky to brights. After a lot of umm-ing and ahh-ing on the website, I settled on this, as it's small enough to fit in my handbag, and has a good variety of shades. I liked the packaging - the box was covered in silver glitter! The palette itself is covered in smooth patent-style plastic, with a small mirror inside. It comes with a double-sided foam applicator, which I promptly lost, using my EcoTools mini eye brushes instead.

I was kind of disappointed in the quality of this palette. Most shadows were chalky, many had poor colour pay-off and every shade was full of chunky, silver glitter that caused epic fallout all over my cheeks. I suppose I was expecting a lot from a £3.75 palette, but I really wanted this to be great. Overall not a terrible purchase, as there are a lot of nice colours, but the quality is what you'd expect for a palette of this price. 

Palette and Swatches over primer (apologies for my sasquatch arms)

I also wanted to mention the petition I wrote about on my last post. At this very moment, as I post this, we have 7,689 signatures! That's amazing! So many people from all around the world standing up for these defenceless creatures. But it's not enough, not yet. More people need to sign and boycott - they won't do anything until they see a significant drop in purchases. Sadly, this issue is being ignored by the beauty blogging/youtube guru world, probably due to sponsored posts and affiliate income and the like from the offending companies. That's why it's so important to spread the word - if you have a blog, post about it, make a video response to your favourite guru, comment the link on your favourite blog. It's truly vital that this receives more coverage! We won't give up until the animals are safe! 


http://www.change.org/petitions/boycott-este%C3%A9-lauder-companies-avon-and-mary-kay-for-animal-testing

Remember to buy cruelty-free. If you're not sure about something, you can always Google the company on your phone before buying! 


More posts to come,


Emma
xXx

Animal Testing Bombshell - Step Backwards for Cruelty-Free

I am SO annoyed and frustrated after learning that Peta has struck Estée Lauder, Mary Kay and Avon off their cruelty-free list. After many years being at the forefront of the cruelty-free movement, these companies have backtracked and started animal experiments again. 


Why? Why on earth, after proudly claiming 'Not Tested on Animals' on every website, box, and leaflet, would they suddenly U-turn and start maiming mice? 


Greed.


China is a massive market for cosmetics. In order to sell their products there, they have to conform to China's requirements - many products have to be tested on animals before they can be marketed there. No testing - no money from China. And so they caved. 


Now unless you've swotted up on your beauty company knowledge, you might not realise the enormity of this policy change. It's just three companies, there's plenty of others, right? Well Estée Lauder owns 28 of the most popular beauty and fragrance companies, including M.A.C Cosmetics, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Smashbox, La Mer, and many more! (click here for a full list)


As you can see, this is a large chunk of the beauty industry that has gone to the dark side. So I got to thinking, what can we, the consumers, artists, beauty gurus, and bloggers, do to stop this? We have to talk to them in the only language they'll understand - money. We need a boycott. In order for them to listen, we need a large enough number of people to stop buying their products until they change their minds. 


This needs to go viral. If you're a blogger, blog about it. Gurus, post videos about it. Tweet #ELauderAvonMaryKayBoycott , facebook it, stick it on reddit. I've started a petition, so please sign along with Peta's petition. If this gets big enough, we won't have to go without our beloved Mac for long, as they'll soon come round! 


I'd really appreciate if you help me out in this. We, as consumers, have the power to change things according to where we spend our money. 


Sorry for going all soapbox-y on you, I promise I have more, less rant-y posts on the way!


Emma
xXx

IMATS haul and something awesome...

When I did manage to squeeze through the droves at Imats, I made a couple of purchases.

I got a palette of Kett's Fixx Creme in neutral for concealing for £53. I also bought a Cozette eyeshadow blending brush for £10.40.

I'm very excited about buying OCC's airbrush kit! For £250, I got a Sparmax compressor and airbrush gun, 2 sets of 5 mini foundations (red based and yellow based) a set of mini highlighters, contour/bronzer and blushes, a set of colour correctors/adapters, a full size primer and a full size mixing medium! Here it is -

I've booked an airbrush course at Mink London on 2nd March to hone my skills.

When I went to the OCC stand, David Klasfeld, the owner, recognised me immediately. "I remember you, you're the girl with the nail varnish from last year!"

Last year at Imats, we got chatting and he admired my nails, taking a picture of them on his phone. I was wearing GOSH holographic nail polish -

Image by http://www.lacquerized.com

It turns out, my nails were the inspiration for OCC's Mirrorball Glitter, a beautiful rainbow holographic glitter! He gave me one for free! (my camera doesn't begin to capture its colourful shine.)

So from one vegan make-up artist to another, thanks David!

Emma
xXx

My thoughts on IMATS...

So on Saturday 4th I went to Imats. I had a lot of fun, and meant to take lots of pictures, but my camera ran out of battery! Ugh!

The demonstrations are always amazing, but the scheduling is so annoying. Take this example -

10.15 - 11am -Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics presents David Klasfeld HD Make-up Techniques: Airbrush And Beyond


10:30—11:30 a.m. - A Design and DuPont present Damien Dufresne Artistic Make-up: From the Studio to the Finished Image

So you have to pick which to watch, when I would have liked to see them both. Plus a lot of the timings are set so that if you want to catch the beginning of one demo, you have to miss the end of another, which tends to result in a mass exodus 15 minutes before the end of a presentation. For a presenter, it can't be very nice to see people leaving halfway through your make-up.

Personally, I think the days should be lengthened to end at maybe 7 or 8pm, and sectioned so maybe fashion and beauty demos go on in one area, theatre and film go on in another, and Special FX in another. None of the demos should overlap other demos from the same section, and there should be enough time to move between demos without missing any. This would annoy artists that work in more than one field, but as most artists specialise, there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I do, however, love the idea of the pro-only day. I was invited to go by Illamasqua, but something came up and I couldn't make it. I was gutted because I would have relished the opportunity to shop without fighting through the crowds!

Emma
xXx

It's been a while...

I'm back! After the world's longest hiatus, I am now back to blogging! I had some drama in my life so decided to take some time off from blogging, and subsequently from make-up, until things were sorted. So it's about time I got back in the swing of things!

There will be no more of this -

Instead, there will be this -

And lots of this -

Anything you want me to post/blog about?

Emma

xXx

[All pics from weheartit.com]

I'm back! And I've got a new trick!

OMG, sorry for neglecting this blog for the last month! Life kept getting in the way, but hopefully I'll be back on track now with some posts I've been meaning to do for a while.

Firstly, I wanted to share with you a video by Vintage or Tacky  on false eyelashes. Apparently, this is the method the legendary Billy B uses - and if it's good enough for Gaga, Beyonce, J.Lo and Pink - it's certainly good enough for me!

 Let me know what you think!

 More posts coming soon! Promise!

Emma
xXx