Stila [ HD Illuminating Beauty Balm ]

 

You know when you just see a product, read about it  and just know you are going to love it before you even touch it? Well this happened with the Stila 10-in-1 HD illuminating beauty balm. The words *HD* and *illuminating* sing to me in a Barry White voice, and as I intitally swatched the product onto the back of my hand, I couldnt wait to get it on my face. I am really into illuminating products, they do a 'normal' version of this, so non-illuminating, but this is definately the one for me.

I need to also point out that I'm not really feeling this BB cream vibe , but for me I just look at this like a tinted moisturiser with more oomph. Although you could use tis straight onto your cleansed skin, (it has moisturing and anti-ageing properties) I always still use my normal skincare routine first.

 

10-in-1 ? The 10 benefits:

So with most beauty balms, this has multiple functions and benefits.

1) Contains microspheres which hide imperfections and reduce wrinkle depth
2)  Enriched with tri-peptide 37 which reduces skin inflammation, improves texture  and stimulates collagen production
3) Infused with Antioxidants to protect the skin
4) Broad spectrum SPF30 protection
5) Hydrates
6) Reduces pore size and controls oil
7) Reduces redness
8) Seamless coverage with tiny coated pigments
9) Illuminates
10) Oil-free , Paraben-free, dermatologist tested and suitable for all skin types.

This beauty balm is also water resistant , up to 80 minutes...so maybe this should be called be 11-in-1 Stila peeps?!

 

 

So this can be used in a variety of ways, straight onto the skin as your skincare and makeup, after your skincare (like me), and also you can use it as a primer for further makeup. This is a great prep for the skin as it will give radiance and also is oil-free so will help foundation stay on. You will also use less of your foundation as this will start to even out the skintone and reduce redness. If you have great skin, this on its own will be absolutely perfect. I usually will need a dab of concealer here and there to help. Below is me without anything - Stila BB on it's own - then with concealer and a touch of blusher. Look how it refines my pores!

 

 

This is hands down, 1000% my favourite BB-type cream I have used. Not that it's super relevant but I also love the squishy bronze tube it comes in and it's a generous 40ml which costs £26.

www.stila.co.uk

If you like Stila, I also have a review of their convertible colors here. I think I have every single shade of these now.

Makeup look [ MAC old gold ]

 

 

Last week I was messing around with some new MAC pigments I had just bought and ended up using old gold and vanilla for this look. Old gold is a beautiful yellow /gold that I actually don't use on myself much..or enough. I actually really loved this look. Pretty full on, so obvs more for an evening or special occasion.

As it is a really strong eye, can look great with a nude-ish lip and this is the obvious option but also pretty good with an bold lip. Here, I used a really deep berry which I love at the moment. This is a 'Moxie' lipstick which is a brand new collection from BareMinerals. They are absolutely beautiful - great buttery rich texture and the colours are great. I think they have launched now or anytime soon. This shade is 'Lead the Way' and the matching lipliner is 'Electrified'. I like to double up on my products and this lipliner I would actually also wear in my brows.

Step-by-Step

1) Prep /prime the eyelids

2) Apply MAC pigment old gold straight onto the eyelid from the inner corner and graduating it softly to the outer corner (you don't need lots of this product towards the outer corner as this is soon going to be black!)

3) Use your eyeliner to get the 'flick' shape and from here work around this. I used a pointed liner brush and the Shu Uemura M Black painting liner. Aim to follow the direction of your bottom waterline as if it continued outwards. You want it also pointing upwards and towards the end of your brow. DON'T follow your top lashline downwards as this will give you a droopy eye, you should be looking at the bottom lashline and following this up. I wish I did youTube it would be so much easier to explain!! I hope that kind of makes sense??!

4) Once your feline flicks are even-ish and you are happy with the shape, then use the same gel liner, onto a synthetic flat, rounded brush. Apply the gel onto the outside of your eyelid, this is now your eyeshdow. You have around a minute to blend, buff and smudge this so it becomes 'one' with your already-applied old gold. I then use a natural hair brush to buff the gel - something similar to MAC 224.

5) Fix up your brows. I used brow ink from Cosmetics A La Carte and darkened in to near-black with a sharpened MAC smoulder pencil.

6) Sharpen your brows. I used Benefit 'It Stick' under the brow arch to give it lift. (**more of this below) I then applied MAC Vanilla pigment just underneath these and then blended this into my eyelid colours of black and gold. Just keep buffing and blending and your colours will slowly melt in to one another.

7) Apply an red /coppery tone to the middle of the lids, where the black meets the gold. I used MAC 'Cranberry'. Now it's a beautiful blend of three tones.

8) I then also used MAC smoulder on my lower lashline/ waterline, old gold in the tear duct and blended out AND MAC Cranberry. So the same shades on top and bottom.

9) Curl lashes, apply mascara, apply lashes. Tweak liner on the top of the eyelids so you cannot see any joins of the false lashes.

10) Now onto the skin: I swept a load of concealer under my eyes: my no.1 at the moment, Benefit 'Fake up'.

11) Apply foundation all over the skin and buff in until you get your desired coverage. For this look, a full coverage works best. I used Kevyn Aucoin.

12) Contour the skin with NARS Cap Vert cream colour.

13) Bronzer (cheeks, temples, nose, neck)

14) Highlight (cheekbones, cupids bow, down centre of nose)

15) Lips (colour of choice)

You can use any combination of colour for this, obvs! :-)

A good tip is to also have a cleansing water and cotton buds handy to clear up any mistakes and sharpen up lines. Also, when doing a strong eye makeup look like this, I will always do the eyes first, so there is no droppage onto foundation /concealer, giving that unglamourous *black eye* effect.

** You will also notice under the brow and just inner the flick of the eyeliner, it is very clean/bright and for this I swiped around with my cleansing water/ cotton bud and then used a really pale concealer to contrast with the darkness. Benefit 'It stick' is absolutely perfect for this. (although just found out this had been discontinued?!Not sure when....) So any really pale/off white cream/ concealer, eyeliner will work really well for this. For extra zaPOW then add a touch of white matte eyeshadow over the top of this.

Products used:

Below is all the products I used for this look. Looking back at the photos, I really should have used a powder at the end, as my skin is already starting to look oily after like 3.56 seconds. I would have used a translucent loose powder.

 

Mac old gold pigment

Mac vanilla pigment

Benefit 'Fake up' concealer 02

Illamasqua lashes (eee there is no number/name on them)

NARS 'Cap vert' multiple

W7 bronzer

W7 showing out mascara

Kevyn Aucoin sensual skin foundation/ concealer '10'

MAC smoulder (brows)

Cosmetics a la carte Brow ink

Shu Uemura 'M black' painting liner

Bare minerals new Moxie lipstick 'Lead the way' and lipliner 'Electrified'

W7 lipgloss Go!Go!Go(for the nude/pink lip)

Superdry highlighter

Mac cranberry eyeshadow (in palette)

Benefit It stick

Bioderma water & cotton buds

 

What do you think of this look? Pretty full on, but lots of fun for a night out. Leave any feedback, comments or makeup questions.

Superdry Beauty.

 

I was intrigued when I heard that high street clothing brand Superdry had launched a beauty line , and read quite a bit about it from beauty bloggers attending London fashion week. I am slightly suspicious when established clothing brands launch into the beauty , but from a selection of the products I have tried, I am actually suprisingly impressed.

Packaging : The packaging incorporates textured cross-hatching, some flashes of metal tubes and neon bright prints. Functionality , easy, on the go, multi use, no fuss. Superdry beauty fits in with the whole brand ethos of industrial retro coolness.

 

I have tried a number of things from the beauty range, and I want to show you my favourite three. I am a sucker for colour and neon clashing thangs....so I really love the cosmetics bags. They do a number of different colour 'clashes' and I like the fact it is see-through, it is tough wipe-clean plastic, the colours, and the size, for me, is perfect for makeup and a few beauty bits for my day-to-day touch up bag.

The bronzer I have , terracotta, has a beautiful texture and I really like the colour of it - no orange ones, and a hint of shimmer, a slightly paler version of laguna bronzer from NARS, slightly less gold. You also get a wristband thing with it, wrapped around the bronzer, which is a cute touch.

 

The highligher is another product I really like and am using a lot at the moment. A dupe for benefit's high beam, and in very similar packaging, so nail varnish bottle styl-ee with a brush to dab and blend the product on. I use this on browbones, cheekbones, after blusher and also I mix a good dollop in with my tinted moisturiser or foundation.

 

It's a really beautiful subtle sheen, not TOO shimmery which I like. It stays on really well, and is not bank-breaking at £12. For darker skintones these would probably be too pale and would look very silver, so am not sure if they are doing a slightly warmer tone of this highlighter? A golden/ bronze would be beautiful!

www.superdry.com/womens/beauty

TIGI Catwalk Your Highness [Volume Collection]

 

My flat and fine hair is something that I have just accepted and taken begrudgingly onboard. I often wear clip-in hair extensions to add volume and length, but this is not something I can be bothered to do every day. So days that I am 'au natural' I like to make the most of my fine locks by using volume boosting styling products. I have tried LOADS.

Some of my new favourites are this little lot from the TIGI 'Your Highness' catwalk range. First up, I absolutely LOVE this packaging, very luxe looking and feeling and I love the huge salon style bottles. I have been using the thickening gel, the root boost spray and the hairspray. All of them smell delicious and they are a pleasure to use. (They have a soft jasmine, violet and vanilla fragrance er YUM.)

 

 

How do they work?

So I have been layering these products, which usually, if you are using a good quality brand, is absolutely fine, it won't be loaded full of nasties and horrednous amounts of silicones so layering the products is beneficial.

 

 I use the thickening gel lightly all through my towel-dried hair, I then flip my hair upside down and spray the root spray all over the roots and I massage this in with my fingertips. The root spray comes out in a fine mist foam. Now on the instructions you should blowdry your hair after (both products have heat protection in them), but I often just air dry it (healthier!) and I still see great results. My hair has more texture and plumpness and it is much easier to style. If you have fine hair like me you will know as soon as your hair is freshly washed and then dried.....it is so soft and fine that it is difficult to do anything with it. With these volumising products my hair has more grip to do things with!!

Above: The light pink gloop that is the thickening gel. It smells lovely and feels light on the hair.

 

TIP: If you have fine hair, when it is freshly washed, add some kind of volume spray/gel before you dry your hair. Once it is dried, if it is still feeling too 'soft' for styling then spray dry shampoo straight onto the hair and brush through. This will give a bit more texture and grip.

The firm hold hairspray also has a beautiful soft fragrance which I love, and seems to linger lightly for a few hours. It is a really nice light spray formula , infused with protective botanicals that doesnt feel sticky or crispy. Easy to brush out at the end of the day and hair goes back to kinda normal. I have to wash my hair pretty much everyday anyway so then I just start the same process all over again the next day!

 

 

Any fine-haired peeps out there who have tried anything spectacular? TIGI catwalk also do a volumising shampoo and conditoner which I am going to try after I have finished up my Shu Uemura stuff I'm currently using.

 

www.catwalkbytigi.com

May Giveaway [ £200 worth of beauty products ]

 

I haven't done a giveaway on my blog for ages so wanted to make it a good'un. A selection of some of my favourite makeup and skincare products that you can WIN!

 

You will win all the 20 (waaaah) products seen here, including:

 

- 1 x Caudalie Beauty Elixir (travel 30ml)

- 1 x Caudalie body lotion (travel 30ml)
- 1 x Dr Brandt BB cream
- 1x NARS cream cleanser
- 1x NARS oil-free moisturiser (travel 15ml)
- 1x REN phytoactive veil SPF15
- 1x Kiehls coriander hand and body lotion (travel 65ml)
- 1x Bumble and Bumble color-minded shampoo (travel 60ml)
- 1x Bumble and Bumble color-minded conditioner (travel 60ml)
- 1x Rodial Glambalm 'Thrill'
- 1x Barry M lipstick shade 144
- 1x W7 mascara
- 1x smooch bronzer
- 1x NARS longwear eyeliner 'Abbey Road' (Bright Blue)
- 1x GOSH eyeliner (Navy Blue)
- 1x GOSH eyeshadow quad (Brown)
- 1x NARS lipgloss ( small size! Easy lover)
- 1x Laura Mercier lipgloss
- 1x Crownbrush C422 Crescent eyeshadow
- 1 x Nail Wrap set from Elegant touch

A bit of everything for your face, body, hair and nails, worth well over £200.

To enter:

1) Just follow me via Google Friend Connect (GFC) if you don't already.

2) Leave a comment, answering my nosey question.

Nosey question: What's your best brand discovery this year? As in something you have only recently started using and love - whether it be an old brand you have never used or a newbie one. Mine would probably be Cosmetics A La Carte.

For an EXTRA entry, follow me on twitter @LauraLouMakeup then Tweet this

'I have entered @LauraLouMakeup 's blog giveaway to win 20 gorgeous beauty products worth £200, enter here: http://www.lauralouisebeauty.co.uk '

*Open to UK only, sorry*

This is open from today (6/5/13) closing in 2 weeks Sunday 19th May. Winner will be selected by random.org as per usual, until I can be arsed bothered to set up this Rafflecopter thing for the next giveaway.

Best of luck everyone.

Kiko makeup [Brows]

Italian makeup brand Kiko have been in charge of my brows this last week with these two products : The eyebrow expert and  the eyebrow wax pencil.

 

The eyebrow expert is a compact brow kit which has an eyebrow wax and 2 powders. I am using the 01 shade which is the paler of the two, and suitable for brunettes, blondes and redheads. The 02 kit is darker, and better for dark brunettes to black. I think this one may be a little better for me, but either way the 01 is still working well on my brow colour although I do have to add a touch of darker powder from my old one to get it parfait.

 

The wax is lightly pigmented and is perfect to groom and fix, and the two powders are for filling and shaping. It also has some handy little tools in the compact, including mini tweezers (which are actually pretty good!), a slanted brush and a mini spoolie / wand.

 

Now the way that I use this, not sure if this is right or wrong but it's the same way as I used to use my Benefit brow zings (I used this for about 6 years)....wax first to shape and then followed by the powder. I know some people do it the other way around, but whatever works for you. I always like quite a strong looking 'fierce' brow and I find if the wax is applied first, it gives the powder something to adhere to.

 

The eyebrow wax fixing pencil is a fabulous product and is particulary good , I find, for people with slightly unruly brows / long brow hair and MEN! It is a clear wax in a jumbo pencil form that can be used straight over the brows to groom, slick and tidy. I have used Givenchy's Mister Eyebrow (£16) in my kit for years for male grooming, and this is a great (and cheaper) dupe for that. This is going straight into my male grooming kit.

I don't really need to use when I am using the eyebrow expert kit as that already has a pigmented wax in it. However, this is great when you want a more natural brow look or just for a quick slick through the brows to make them look groomed and you haven't got much time.

Below is a slightly more exaggerated/ fashion brow that I have done for a look I will be sharing with you this week. So keep your eyes peeled if this also interests you. My tips on shaping, highlighting and the different products I use will be included.

 

Eyebrow expert kit: £13.90

Eyebrow wax pencil: £5.90

www.kikocosmetics.co.uk

Cargo makeup.

I had never heard of Cargo makeup until very recently so maybe you haven't either. This is an american makeup range, made by professional makeup artists, and launched in the UK online at BeautyBay and Debenhams, and as from now (May) also in-store at Debenhams. It has been around for 15 years so this speaks volumes.

I was sent a blusher and lipgloss to try, and my initial thoughts were all about the packaging. It's very different to most brands I have used....I guess it's not too girly or pretty, the boxes the products come in are quite plain and simple (bordering non-descript) and the blushers and eyeshadows come in savvy-looking metal tins. I guess it's reflecting the brand's practical and no-nonsense approach to makeup. This is not a bad thing at all, I'm more interested at what's inside the boxes.

The blusher comes in a HUGE oversized silver tin and you get 8.9g of blusher. This is £19 which isn't the cheapest but if I put this into context......MAC blushers are 6g (£17.50), NARS are 4.8g (£21) and Chanel are 4g for (£31). So you gedda lotta blusha for your dollar.

 

The shade I have is 'Tonga' which is a cool pink terracotta shade. This is a blusher shade that is perfect for that natural flush and one that I would use in my professional kit a lot. The texture is very silky soft and you get a great bit of colour from just one sweep of your blusher brush.

The lipgloss I have is 'Rio' which is a lovely coral pinky tone. The formulas feel nice and hydrating, not too sticky and something in it smells /tastes nice! They have a bit of texture/richness to them so I can tell they will stay on well. Although it looks super bright, the colour applies a lot more sheer, as you can see below. Here, I am wearing the 'Rio' lipgloss. There are 18 shades of gloss and they cost a friendly £7.50.

 

I've had a look on their website and I'm really interested to try some more products for this range - The BLU-RAY bronzer (amazing!...) is a high definition super fine bronzer, the colorsticks and the contour palettes all look great. 

www.cargocosmetics.com