Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Hi there, today I am going to blog about Too Faced Shadow Insurance. It's a silicone based primer to go on your lids before you put eyeshadow or eyeliner on to prevent creasing and transferring:

 Above is what the tube looks like. I love the fact that this is a squeezy tube with a small, nib-like end, unlike Urban Decay's primer potion, which is in a genie shaped bottle/tube and has a wand, and does pretty much exactly the same job BUT with one big difference: you can get ALL the product out of a Shadow Insurance tube eventually - whereas with Urban Decay's tube you literally have to cut the bottle open to get out the last remaining primer - would you want to do that just so you get your money's worth? No, I didn't think so haha! Also for those really wanting to save their pennies, Too Faced is 50p cheaper than UDPP in Boots... So, anyway, I need my eyeshadow (when I wear it) to last at least 14hrs minimum due to work, I can't be dealing with unsightly creases and I certainly don't have time to reapply eyeshadow. Ok, so here is a picture of my closed eye at the beginning of my work day at 4pm:

 Ehem, please ignore my very visible pores lol - but see how the colour looks relatively vibrant (well, for browns I suppose!). So off I head to work, do my nightshift, then get home at 6am. I was very tired so please also forgive the fact that I took a picture of my other eye (also shut) but don't be dissuaded; they both looked the same at the end of the night/morning, and here is my other eye 14hrs later:

I took this picture in a darkened room with a flash (as it was 6am after all) but as you can see, there are no creases and the colour still looks great. Too Faced Shadow Insurance definately does the trick for me. All you need is to squeeze a very small drop of the flesh coloured primer onto your finger, dot onto clean lids (I pat my eyelids very gently with a clean tissue to absorb oil before application) and then blend very gently - try not to drag or pull at your eyelids. It dries quickly and easily and leaves a wonderful base for eyeshadow :)
       I just thought I should say here that I don't think it's very healthy to be putting silicone primers over your eyelids all the time - try to give yourself at least two or three days a week where you let your eyelids breathe, treat them with rich creams or even a tiny bit of vitamin E oil to keep them supple. Have fun :)

My Basic Look

Well, here I am on blog number three - apologies to all for not having blogged sooner; life has been keeping me busy!!
      I have decided to show you my basic look for when I am out and about. I am wearing eyeshadow, mascara and a tiny slick of lipgloss too but for the moment I'm just going to talk about the makeup I wear on my face haha! Ok, so here are the four basic things I wear on my face (and they're ALL drugstore and relatively cheap - yay!):

Ok, from left to right is Superdrug Vitamin E Illuminating Moisture Cream with SPF 15, Revlon Colorstay Liquid Foundation for Combination/Oily skin in 110 Ivory SPF 6, Revlon PhotoReady Powder SPF 14 and last but not least MaxFactor Flawless Perfection Blush in 220 Classic Rose. Because you can't really see the MaxFactor properly, I'll add another picture of the back so you can see :)

Ta-dah! Hehehe :) The moisturising cream is super cheap at under £3! It has light reflecting particles in it to "give your face a glow" but on my face it just makes it look super oily haha, but it makes for a wonderful makeup base. I use it everyday under my makeup, even with my acne-prone, combination skin. Also it has an SPF 15 which is VERY important to keep your skin protected from the sun, even in winter!
      The Revlon liquid foundation costs about £12.50, maybe a little more than some people are willing to spend and boasts a semi-modest SPF 6 - again, important! It is quite a thick liquid with medium to full coverage which is a must for me. I use my fingers to blend it into my face and it doesn't take long to blend and dry. The Revlon Powder to set the foundation has an SPF 14 (more cheers from my protected skin!), costs about £13 and it comes with a little brush you can sweep the powder on with which is quite handy, although the brush loses its bristles fairly easily - no matter though - I have other brushes!
      MaxFactor Blush costs about £7 has no SPF but that doesn't bother me much, I use just a little bit because too much makes me look gaudy and doll-like.
      So you've all seen me from my last blog with *shivers at the memory* no makeup on, so I'm going to spare you from a before and after fiasco and just show you what I look like with the finished look :)

 On an more-than-basic-makeup-day I would normally set my liquid foundation with Lily Lolo mineral foundation powder in Porcelain, but I'll blog about that in the near future.
      I would just like to say to all that don't include an SPF in their daily skincare routine to please start using one, it'll do your skin wonders and protect your skin from damaging, harmful rays. I always look for makeup products that contain some kind of SPF :) Ok, that's it from me for now - stay tuned for blog number four...

Solait Tinted Bronzing Foam

Now for my second ever makeup blog. Oh, happy days! I went out to town and as usual found myself in Superdrug, perusing the isles of makeup wondrousness and came along the self tanner section. The offer was two of these bottles (150ml each) for just £7 so I thought "hell, why not?" I bought them in "light/medium" for my pale, pale skin!

This is what the bottle looks like in the shops. Take a good look - and then please avoid it if you ever see it, even if it's on sale... And here's why...
         I scrubbed my face and neck nice and clean, pumped the tinted foam out on to my fake tan mitt and started to apply it. The tinting is kind of useful, so you can see where you've applied it and gives you a strange, browny, shiny complexion that I wouldn't be caught dead outside my house with - it almost looks dirty and greasy in one go. I waited for a good few hours for the tanner to do its tanning magic under the tint and then headed off to the shower, washed the colour off my face, neck and chest with warm water... And the pictures below show what happened... Please keep in mind that the first picture was taken in daylight, unlike the second two, which required a camera flash...

                       Eurgh... Me with NO makeup. Gross. Only my husband normally sees me like this...

That's what I looked like with the tinted mousse/foam/rubbish on my face, chest and neck. As you can see my shoulders aren't coloured with tanner, and are their natural milk white colour hehe! Please forgive my bareness by the way *shivers*... After a few hours I headed off to the shower...

 Ok, so I am fresh out of the shower and... almost nothing had happened. I was a TEENY bit darker than I had been before I put it on, and I seriously mean teeny. In fact now I have the right tint to my skin to wear my Lancome Photogenic Lumessence foundation which in it's palest shade is still too yellow for my skin. I am now wearing said foundation and now I don't have the telltale "tidemark" on my jawline because I now have a yellow toned pale complexion instead of a pale pink tone complexion.
         I am so glad that I only spent £7 because if it had been near twenty I may have cried... I think from now on I'll stick with Xen-Tan (My-Tan, I like to call it haha) and St Tropez... I think high end sometimes pays :) I don't think I'll ever use such rubbish fake tan again unless I want to look 1/4 shade darker than I really am.
         That's my second makeup blog. I'll be blogging again real soon, so stay tuned!

The Beginning

So this is my first ever blog. Gosh, I'm not sure where to begin! My name is Xen and I am 26yrs old with the joys of having combination, acne prone skin which is actually rather pale and with weird, red cheeks. I live in Cornwall and I love living here.... And I am a makeup addict - I can't help it - I am forever buying new makeup and am on my own little voyage of cosmetic discovery and skin care discovery too. I have been on this journey since I was twelve, and it's like an addiction I can't stop. I am not a 'natural beauty', I am not slim or amazingly good looking (although I sincerely wish I was haha), I'm short, rotundly plump with dark hair and a round face. But I would like to blog about my experiences with high end and drug store makeup, take photo's and upload them to show you all the before and after of each new thing that I buy. I want to take you on my journey of addiction of makeup and skin care, so here I am, tentatively reaching out to anyone that will care to read :-)


RED LIPSTICK

Ok, so since I was twelve years old (I know, too young to be buying makeup) I have been compulsively buying red lipsticks. Due to my pale skin colour red lips are supposed to be very complementing to us 'English Roses' and that red lips never go out of style - but let me tell you something that we're NOT told: Finding the perfect colour red lipstick can be an absolute nightmare! It's all very well checking the colour of your veins to tell whether you're warm or cool undertoned (I'm a definate cool) but trying to find a red on your own that doesn't make you out to look like a cartoon or a vampire (unless of course that's what you were aiming for) can be like looking for a needle in a pin stack. Not good, by any means!
          I went out two days after I turned 26 *sigh* and with trepidation made my way to a M.A.C counter, for the very first time in my life. I must tell you now that I am rather intimidated by the beautiful, trim ladies that float around their Lancome and Clinique booths with their impressive, well cut clothes and perfect makeup. Don't get me wrong, I love high end makeup - who doesn't? But I like to grab the offending mascara or foundation quickly before one of those ladies can swoop down on me and ask me if I need help! So I went up to one of the ladies that I spend half my time trying to avoid and asked her if she could please help me find the perfect red lipstick.
         She helpfully pointed out two colours that would be the closest match to my skin colour; Russian Red, a slightly blue based matte lipstick, and Lady Bug, a shinier, slightly blue based lipstick also. I can tell you now that I had done it. After fourteen years of searching (hangs head in shame) I had found them (or more honestly been directed to them). My husband obligingly bought them both for me and I fairly pranced home.

         Russian Red is a highly pigmented colour, rich and wonderfully smooth; I apply it with a lip brush for an even finish. Yes, I have a monroe piercing, I got it done about a month and a half ago. Needless to say I love it! This picture was taken with a flash so the colour looks a tad brighter than it does in real life. I would suggest that you don't smudge it, because this baby transfers like a bad boy! I put my foundation on my lips before applying this colour to give it a little more staying power, and wow, does this lip colour just keep on going, even with it's amazing transfer abilities (like to my poor husband's lips)! I don't mind reapplying my makeup throughout the day so I wear this every day (except for at work but that's a long story), and sometimes for a nice, shiny change I wear M.A.C's Lady Bug. These lipsticks cost £13.50 each, relatively expensive if you think about it, but they're cheaper than Lancome's lipsticks by far - not that I'm dissing Lancome at all - I love their cosmetics, but you know what I'm getting at.
         Wowza, that was a long first blog! I'll leave it there for now... But I'll be back...