Illamasqua Glamour Nude Lipsticks

Illamasqua lauched the Glamore collection, a collection to celebrate the classics, a way for everyone to redefined what glamourous is to them. This included satin lipsticks, that were developed to be less drying than their well known matte lipsticks. Within this they also launched the Nude collection, 7 Nude satin lipsticks to match every skintone.

I have 3 of the 7 shades; Naked described as a creamy nude (less beige and more pinky brown than Tease), Tease described as a pink beige and Buff, the darkest in the nude range described as a fudge brown, it's a dark muted pink brown.


Illamasqua Nude Lipsticks in Naked, Tease and Buff

These lipsticks are gorgeous and creamy, you still need to ensure lips are well prepped, but once applied they last well. I enjoy using Naked applied with a pinky liner underneath or mixing Tease and Buff together, to offer versatality and prevent Tease looking to pale on my darker skin tone. Check out pictures of me wearing these on my instagram; Aallexxy.

 

Have you tried any of the nude range yet, or the satin lipsticks in general available here. What do you think of the direction Illamasqua have been going in recently?

 

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

 

Alex

 

black|Up Paris CC Cream; Multi-Action Complexion Correcting Foundation!!!

I have heard of the brand black|Up Paris for a while, but this is the first product I've actually tried and I love it. I don't have many CC or BB creams, as there are not many that cater to darker skintones, as some can have quite a grey cast to them or just not run dark enough. I was actually in the market for a tinted moisturiser, a light weight base I could use daily, so popped into Debenhams on my lunch break and came across this.

The black|Up Paris CC cream claims to hydrate, mattify, reduce excess sebum, rebalance skin, minimise pores, boost radiance, unify skin tone and have a lightweight finish. My initial thought was how can something hydrate and mattify, but as you apply this CC cream it feels like a drink of water to the skin, without leaving skin shiny or greasy. It lasts well during the day with or withour primer, even on my combination skin in these warm sunny days we've been having I can go all day without touching up, with only minimal shine coming through. Usually around my nose, which is typical for me.

This gives light to light medium coverage, you won't be able to build it up much more than that, so perfect for what I was looking for. It's a great colour match for me, it has a great amount of orange in the undertone that is very flaterring on darker skin tones. CC04 runs more red in the undertone, so this maybe more suitable if that describes your skin tone.

The black|Up Paris CC cream comes in 5 shades, I have CC03 and it cost £27. It's paraben, oil and fragrance free.

Have you tried anything from this brand before?

Thanks for visiting the blog today.

Alex

Tom Ford's Unabashed Eye and Cheek Palette on darker skin.

My first ever Tom Ford beauty purchase comes in the form of this limited edition eye and cheek palette, it contains 3 eyeshadows, a blusher and highlighter/bronzer. I figured it was a great way to sample a few different things from the brand in one go, and with House of Fraser offering 10% off with an additional £5 off code that I had, reducing the high end price of £68, I justified this purchase to myself. Plus I had been searching high and low for swatches on a darker skin tone, with very little success, so here they are.

As this palette is limited edition I wanted to get this post up as soon as possible, as of writing this it was still available on the Harvey Nicholls, Selfridges and House of Fraser websites.

Sunlight through a windowThe palette is huge, with a mirror in one end, it comes in a gold box with a dust bag. The white and gold compact is gorgeous and screams luxury.

Flash

Flash

Sunlight through a window

It only arrived this afternoon, so I haven't had a chance to play around with this palette on the eye. While swatching the eyeshadow's felt extremely smooth, the glitter shade felt almost wet in the pan, and the pigmentation of the blue shade is intense. I can't wait to start experimenting with looks and I'm super excited to delve into the Tom Ford beauty arena.

 

I'll be updating this post once I've had a good play and posting looks on instagram (aallexxy), come and have a look.

 

Have you splurged on this palette yet? Are you tempted?

 

Thanks for visiting the blog today

 

Alex

 

 

Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer!!!

The Kevyn Aucoin SSE is not new to the beauty world, but it's one of those products that can take a while to get the hang of how to use it, it's so versatile that it can actually be rather confusing and if used incorrectly can make you look very cakey. It's a small pot of richly pigmented product that can create a very light tinted moisturiser type coverage or full no skin on show coverage, it can also be used as a concealer.

    

 

This small 18g tub costs £36, but you need such a small amount that it will last quite a while, I have two out of the fantastic 18 shades (SX12 and 15). As you can see from the ingredient list it does contain mineral oil and its the first ingredient on the list, so this maybe a problem for some, its available in SpaceNK stores and on there website.

With flash and without.

I've had shade SX12 (lighter shade) for a while and its still going strong, although I don't use it daily, I use it as an under eye concealer or all over my face, it blends well when used as a light coverage. It has strong yellow undertones, I either dot it lightly and blend with a brush or damp beauty blender sponge or mix it with a clear primer, like the one from elf and set it with Mac's mineralise skin finish powder in dark (this warms the product up slightly and tones down the overly yellow undertones. SX15 is a more recent purchase (January '13), I use it to contour my face, it blends well into the skin and the colour can be controlled by how much product is used and how well blended it is. I scoop out a small amount of product and place it in a small tub, to maintain the hygiene of the product, and since I've taken the first scoop I have not had too go back for more. Again these are not used on a daily basis, just because I'm a beauty junkie and have a few options of other products to choose from, but they are great products and I love them for there versatility.

Heavily swatched, with flash, without flash below.

Blended into the skin, with and without flash.

If you have a medium black or asian skintone, with strong yellow undertones this will work well for you, buying more than one shade also means you can mix to get your desired colour making it work all year round. You can also mix these with other bases, tinted moisturisers, foundations etc to adjust the colour and/or coverage.

Have you tried the sensual skin enhancer yet? How do you use yours? Any further tips on how to use this product?

Thanks for visiting the blog today, if you have any further questions put them in the comments section below and I'll do my best to answer.

Alex